Avoid THE Fungus
There is something more deadly to your violet collection than any other pest and if you've grown violets for a while, I'm sure you've heard of it. It can wipe out your whole collection in a matter of days and is very hard to stop once it gets in. It is called... botrytis.
Botrytis is a fungus that attacks flowers, stems, leaves and roots of your plants. It looks like grey fuzzy mold and causes your plant to turn to mush. You cannot grow african violets (or any other plant) and not run across botrytis sooner or later. You have to deal with pests and fungus to have beautiful plants.
It's better to attack pests and fungus from a preventative angle. Preventative measures include brushing on, puffing or mist spraying sulfur or another fungicide to control mold spores and prevent infecting other plants.
You may not even know your plant has it until it's literally too late that's why most african violet growers advise you to destroy all plants that have it. But, sometimes a mushy leaf stem is caused from over watering. You just can't take any chances if you find a mushy outer leaf. You must remove the leaf all the way down to the stem and apply a fungicide or powdered sulfur. If the stem is mushy, you probably will not save it, it's too late. All plant material from botrytis must be discarded and destroyed.
But some people have been able to stop and eradicate it by drastic surgery, removing and repotting the violet after cutting away all affected parts of the plant and roots and dusting with sulfur. Keep the plant a little on the dry side, isolated from all other plants until it starts to recover. Once recovered, it must be treated for the rest of it's life. In fact, it's a good idea to treat all your plants on a regular basis as a preventative.
It is devastating to lose your whole collection but there are african violet enthusiasts out there who are more than willing to donate leaves to help you to build another collection. All you have to do is ask. The good thing about growing violets is that you learn more and more each time you grow them.
Botrytis is a fungus that attacks flowers, stems, leaves and roots of your plants. It looks like grey fuzzy mold and causes your plant to turn to mush. You cannot grow african violets (or any other plant) and not run across botrytis sooner or later. You have to deal with pests and fungus to have beautiful plants.
It's better to attack pests and fungus from a preventative angle. Preventative measures include brushing on, puffing or mist spraying sulfur or another fungicide to control mold spores and prevent infecting other plants.
You may not even know your plant has it until it's literally too late that's why most african violet growers advise you to destroy all plants that have it. But, sometimes a mushy leaf stem is caused from over watering. You just can't take any chances if you find a mushy outer leaf. You must remove the leaf all the way down to the stem and apply a fungicide or powdered sulfur. If the stem is mushy, you probably will not save it, it's too late. All plant material from botrytis must be discarded and destroyed.
But some people have been able to stop and eradicate it by drastic surgery, removing and repotting the violet after cutting away all affected parts of the plant and roots and dusting with sulfur. Keep the plant a little on the dry side, isolated from all other plants until it starts to recover. Once recovered, it must be treated for the rest of it's life. In fact, it's a good idea to treat all your plants on a regular basis as a preventative.
It is devastating to lose your whole collection but there are african violet enthusiasts out there who are more than willing to donate leaves to help you to build another collection. All you have to do is ask. The good thing about growing violets is that you learn more and more each time you grow them.
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