How to Rescue A Violet
I have a lot of plant rescue stories. If it were not for neglected, half dead Optimara violets that I got from a well known local hardware store, I would never have learned how to keep them alive and make them thrive. Some of them I got to come back from the brink of death and those are my favorite violets. So I'm grateful that there are local violets that I can get even if they are in bad condition, it's good proving ground for violet grower training... and sometimes I just can't resist them.
ANNABELLE
This is a violet I rescued in May 2018. By late July it looked like this. I don't do this too much any more and I will only rescue Optimara violets that I either don't already have and really want - or that look really, really healthy and have some potential. This one is Annabelle and she definitely had potential when I rescued her from the inch of cold water she was sitting and dying in.
This is what she looked like after re-potting her and cleaning her up a bit when I first got her. She actually looked more beat up than this picture before I cleaned her up. She only had three flowers blooming on her and a bunch of dead ones. She doesn't hardly look like the same plant only two months later with some TLC and a grow light. I also put her on wick watering in my DIY wick mix you can make it yourself. Go get my "not so secret" recipe. It's free. Your violets will thank you for it.
PATRICIA
This one was dry as a bone so I gave it a little drink from a fountain display before I left the store. She's not in as good a shape as Annabelle was so she may not make it. One of the open flowers was drooping but I just couldn't resist those pretty frilly two toned flowers!
I'm trying to be more selective when I see violets because I only have so much room so I won't rescue a violet that I can't identify. I won't rescue a violet that looks too far gone. I won't rescue a violet that has no flowers blooming and I won't rescue a violet that has thrips or obvious signs of insects or disease. There has to be some hope of saving or taking a viable leaf there. Would you rescue this violet? It looks pretty puny and droopy. The sparse leaves and the break in culture tells me it has been watered unevenly and it is stretching for more light. I bought it on July 8, 2018.
No more pink and white Opti's for me. No more generic purple, pink or red ones for me either. They are just too hard to identify because they either revert back to "whatever" or change color with the temperature and bad treatment they get in the stores, thereby making it nearly impossible to tell what they are suppose to look like. I don't currently have any NoIDs or unstable varieties any more, I gave them all away or they didn't live long. A NoID is a violet that doesn't have a grower's tag so you have no way to identify the variety. If it has a grower's tag, you can ask the grower to identify it for you. It's only important to have a name for your violet if you are selling, hybridizing or competing for show ribbons.
I didn't have this one and before I got it home, I identified it on myviolets.com/varieties . It is called Patricia. It is the only red-violet colored (pink) pansy violet with frilled edges and a darker center that they have so it was pretty easy to identify as an exact match. That's just the way Optimara does it so you can identify your violets and I'm cool with it.
First thing I do if the plant is dry, is to give it a little drink of water, not too much, just gradually get it wet again. If it's too wet, I take it out of the pot and put it on a stack of paper towels. Either way, I get ready to repot it right away.
The next step is to repot the violet. I crumble all the old soil off over a waste basket until I get it down to the roots.
I put my wick mix into the pot and spread the roots on top and fill in the pot. Then I spray the plant with an organic 3 in 1 fungicide, miticide and insecticide as a precaution. I am proactive with the spray as a preventative. I don't wait until I see a problem. I also spray all my violets with an organic 3 in 1 fungicide, miticide and insecticide about every other week starting with the day it comes into my house.
After I repot it, I put it on a wick and reservoir and give it just enough water to get it going.
Then I isolate it away from my collection under a warm LED light. I don't pick the flowers off my violets until they fade. Re-potting should energize your plant, not cause it to droop. They don't go into shock unless you've damaged the roots so be gentle. Also, you can repot a violet in bloom. The plant does not need to re-direct its energy to the roots if you don't damage them. It can easily handle both.
My spray treatments don't burn or affect the flowers and leaves. And that's all I did the first day I rescued Patricia. I will update the page when Patricia has some good news.
UPDATES - This is Pattycakes on August 2, 2018 and you can see the improvement and all the new leaves. I think she's gonna live. By August 15, 2018 the newer leaves have developed and are growing rapidly. I removed the older outer leaves so the plant could put all its energy toward new growth and put her back under a full spectrum light.
August 27, 2018
September 19, 2018
October 3, 2018
October 21, 2018
July 13, 2018 - I've noticed a flower bud coming up from the center now getting bigger on Patricia. Two of the outer leaves were brittle and broke off. But the two original flowers are still blooming so that's a good sign.
July 20, 2018 - The flowers finally faded on Patricia and I picked the bud and a few outer leaves off too since it hasn't made much progress. I'm going to leave it alone for a while and see if it comes back or takes a turn. Sometimes no matter what you do, you just can't save them. They are so neglected and mis-cared for in the stores that all you can do is put a leaf or two down and keep your fingers crossed..
July 26, 2018 - There is definitely new growth coming up from the center so Pattycakes is recovering. She was in worse shape than I originally thought but I think she might make it. It's just going to take more time. It's all good.
August 15, 2018 - I'm extremely pleased with the growth of this plant. I thought I might just have to take a leaf and call it a day but I'm happy it's turning out good. I've decided to take pictures of Patricia every few days as she recovers and then make an animated gif of her growth over 2 months or so. That's what the white dot is. It's how I line up all the pictures of her growth. Don't know what I'm going to do when her leaves cover the dot... I'll have to think of another way to line up the pot in each shot.
August 19, 2018 - The full spectrum light is my go to light for any plant that looks pale or is having a growth problem. Artificial and grow lights are good but sometimes a full spectrum light or a little eastern sun in the morning will do wonders for a plant. The full light spectrum helps it make chlorophyll to self heal.
September 19, 2018 - Well, my little Pattycakes has come a long way and now has flower buds coming up again. She's been under a full spectrum light for the last month but I may move her to a grow light. She's very healthy now and her leaves are shiny. Hoping for some pretty flowers soon.
October 3, 2018 - This is a much healthier Patricia who has grown out to flower again. Rescue successful.
ANNABELLE
This is a violet I rescued in May 2018. By late July it looked like this. I don't do this too much any more and I will only rescue Optimara violets that I either don't already have and really want - or that look really, really healthy and have some potential. This one is Annabelle and she definitely had potential when I rescued her from the inch of cold water she was sitting and dying in.
July 25, 2018
This is what she looked like after re-potting her and cleaning her up a bit when I first got her. She actually looked more beat up than this picture before I cleaned her up. She only had three flowers blooming on her and a bunch of dead ones. She doesn't hardly look like the same plant only two months later with some TLC and a grow light. I also put her on wick watering in my DIY wick mix you can make it yourself. Go get my "not so secret" recipe. It's free. Your violets will thank you for it.
May 27, 2018
PATRICIA
This one was dry as a bone so I gave it a little drink from a fountain display before I left the store. She's not in as good a shape as Annabelle was so she may not make it. One of the open flowers was drooping but I just couldn't resist those pretty frilly two toned flowers!
I'm trying to be more selective when I see violets because I only have so much room so I won't rescue a violet that I can't identify. I won't rescue a violet that looks too far gone. I won't rescue a violet that has no flowers blooming and I won't rescue a violet that has thrips or obvious signs of insects or disease. There has to be some hope of saving or taking a viable leaf there. Would you rescue this violet? It looks pretty puny and droopy. The sparse leaves and the break in culture tells me it has been watered unevenly and it is stretching for more light. I bought it on July 8, 2018.
No more pink and white Opti's for me. No more generic purple, pink or red ones for me either. They are just too hard to identify because they either revert back to "whatever" or change color with the temperature and bad treatment they get in the stores, thereby making it nearly impossible to tell what they are suppose to look like. I don't currently have any NoIDs or unstable varieties any more, I gave them all away or they didn't live long. A NoID is a violet that doesn't have a grower's tag so you have no way to identify the variety. If it has a grower's tag, you can ask the grower to identify it for you. It's only important to have a name for your violet if you are selling, hybridizing or competing for show ribbons.
I didn't have this one and before I got it home, I identified it on myviolets.com/varieties . It is called Patricia. It is the only red-violet colored (pink) pansy violet with frilled edges and a darker center that they have so it was pretty easy to identify as an exact match. That's just the way Optimara does it so you can identify your violets and I'm cool with it.
First thing I do if the plant is dry, is to give it a little drink of water, not too much, just gradually get it wet again. If it's too wet, I take it out of the pot and put it on a stack of paper towels. Either way, I get ready to repot it right away.
The next step is to repot the violet. I crumble all the old soil off over a waste basket until I get it down to the roots.
I put my wick mix into the pot and spread the roots on top and fill in the pot. Then I spray the plant with an organic 3 in 1 fungicide, miticide and insecticide as a precaution. I am proactive with the spray as a preventative. I don't wait until I see a problem. I also spray all my violets with an organic 3 in 1 fungicide, miticide and insecticide about every other week starting with the day it comes into my house.
After I repot it, I put it on a wick and reservoir and give it just enough water to get it going.
July 08, 2018
Then I isolate it away from my collection under a warm LED light. I don't pick the flowers off my violets until they fade. Re-potting should energize your plant, not cause it to droop. They don't go into shock unless you've damaged the roots so be gentle. Also, you can repot a violet in bloom. The plant does not need to re-direct its energy to the roots if you don't damage them. It can easily handle both.
My spray treatments don't burn or affect the flowers and leaves. And that's all I did the first day I rescued Patricia. I will update the page when Patricia has some good news.
UPDATES - This is Pattycakes on August 2, 2018 and you can see the improvement and all the new leaves. I think she's gonna live. By August 15, 2018 the newer leaves have developed and are growing rapidly. I removed the older outer leaves so the plant could put all its energy toward new growth and put her back under a full spectrum light.
August 2, 2018
August 17, 2018
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NOTES
July 09, 2018 - Patricia has perked up just sitting overnight. The droopy flowers and leaves that it had when I bought it are standing up a little more than they were. That tells me there was no transplant shock and the plant is trying to adjust to its new growing conditions. It's a fighter! It was the only one out of a dozen plants in the store that had flowers still blooming and not dead. Go Patricia!NOTES
July 13, 2018 - I've noticed a flower bud coming up from the center now getting bigger on Patricia. Two of the outer leaves were brittle and broke off. But the two original flowers are still blooming so that's a good sign.
July 20, 2018 - The flowers finally faded on Patricia and I picked the bud and a few outer leaves off too since it hasn't made much progress. I'm going to leave it alone for a while and see if it comes back or takes a turn. Sometimes no matter what you do, you just can't save them. They are so neglected and mis-cared for in the stores that all you can do is put a leaf or two down and keep your fingers crossed..
July 26, 2018 - There is definitely new growth coming up from the center so Pattycakes is recovering. She was in worse shape than I originally thought but I think she might make it. It's just going to take more time. It's all good.
August 15, 2018 - I'm extremely pleased with the growth of this plant. I thought I might just have to take a leaf and call it a day but I'm happy it's turning out good. I've decided to take pictures of Patricia every few days as she recovers and then make an animated gif of her growth over 2 months or so. That's what the white dot is. It's how I line up all the pictures of her growth. Don't know what I'm going to do when her leaves cover the dot... I'll have to think of another way to line up the pot in each shot.
August 19, 2018 - The full spectrum light is my go to light for any plant that looks pale or is having a growth problem. Artificial and grow lights are good but sometimes a full spectrum light or a little eastern sun in the morning will do wonders for a plant. The full light spectrum helps it make chlorophyll to self heal.
September 19, 2018 - Well, my little Pattycakes has come a long way and now has flower buds coming up again. She's been under a full spectrum light for the last month but I may move her to a grow light. She's very healthy now and her leaves are shiny. Hoping for some pretty flowers soon.
October 3, 2018 - This is a much healthier Patricia who has grown out to flower again. Rescue successful.
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