Learn From My Mistakes
I really messed up big time with this one and I'm surprised that it's still alive. OOPS! You can't always know the right thing to do but this much I've learned. First I have to say that I only have 2 chimeras, Yukako and Ness' Peppermint Stick. They are unique in my collection so when things went downhill, I probably panicked. You'll notice that the flowers have edges that look burnt from spraying the plant too heavily with a permethrin before the buds were even set.
It looked healthy as could be when I got it so I don't actually know how it got thrips. I've since learned that they can come in through window screens and you can also carry them in from the garden without knowing it. Oh boy... that means that you have to spray and use preventative. That's one of the first things I learned about violets.
The second bloom that opened up on this was crawling with thrips. I panicked, I was still learning about bug sprays and didn't realize how delicate african violet tissues are. I did the right thing by first spraying with my 3 in 1 neem oil spray. I do that to all my violets now weekly and any plant I bring in gets a three way treatment too. It doesn't hurt them at all.
I also had read to pick off all the buds and flowers and use imidacloprid in the soil because it will prevent future thrips but it won't go up the stems so to dis-bud. I have learned different now but back then, I also read to use permethrin to kill them too. But look what it did to the leaves.
My mistake was not spraying the soil with the permethrin, but I sprayed under the leaves and it burnt (pitted) the tissues on the plant. It also had the bad side effect of making all my blooms on the next blooming period produce deformed. If I didn't know better, I would think it had insect damage. But I know exactly what happened to it. In fact, I had two chimeras and they both had thrips. The other one is damaged too but not as bad as this one and its flowers are not deformed. It really made my Ness' Peppermint Stick bloom and look bad too. I only hope it recovers but I've taken stem cuttings from both just in case.
The reason I panicked is that you can't get a new plant from a chimera by simply taking a leaf and you can't do a stem cutting when it has thrips! So what I've learned the hard way is:
1) Do not spray your violets with permethrin or pyrethrin directly. Put it in the soil.
2) Take a stem cutting as soon as you can of your chimeras if you want to keep them going because you never know what will happen.
3) Always use imidacloprid in the soil and spray regularly with neem oil as a preventative. Don't panic if you see thrips on your violets.
I've also learned that you don't have to disbud your violets with thrips. A light dusting of diatomaceous earth on your flowers and leaves (where you can hardly see the dust) will kill active thrips on a plant. Diatomaceous earth will work wet or dry. Put some in your soil when you pot them up, on top of the soil and puff it lightly on your plants.
You're going to make mistakes with your violets as you grow them. You're going to experiment with different treatments, that's how you find out what works and what doesn't. That's just how you learn. Hopefully after reading this, you won't make the mistake I made by directly spraying your plants with too strong a bug killer and your violets will be happy, happy.
It looked healthy as could be when I got it so I don't actually know how it got thrips. I've since learned that they can come in through window screens and you can also carry them in from the garden without knowing it. Oh boy... that means that you have to spray and use preventative. That's one of the first things I learned about violets.
The second bloom that opened up on this was crawling with thrips. I panicked, I was still learning about bug sprays and didn't realize how delicate african violet tissues are. I did the right thing by first spraying with my 3 in 1 neem oil spray. I do that to all my violets now weekly and any plant I bring in gets a three way treatment too. It doesn't hurt them at all.
I also had read to pick off all the buds and flowers and use imidacloprid in the soil because it will prevent future thrips but it won't go up the stems so to dis-bud. I have learned different now but back then, I also read to use permethrin to kill them too. But look what it did to the leaves.
My mistake was not spraying the soil with the permethrin, but I sprayed under the leaves and it burnt (pitted) the tissues on the plant. It also had the bad side effect of making all my blooms on the next blooming period produce deformed. If I didn't know better, I would think it had insect damage. But I know exactly what happened to it. In fact, I had two chimeras and they both had thrips. The other one is damaged too but not as bad as this one and its flowers are not deformed. It really made my Ness' Peppermint Stick bloom and look bad too. I only hope it recovers but I've taken stem cuttings from both just in case.
The reason I panicked is that you can't get a new plant from a chimera by simply taking a leaf and you can't do a stem cutting when it has thrips! So what I've learned the hard way is:
1) Do not spray your violets with permethrin or pyrethrin directly. Put it in the soil.
2) Take a stem cutting as soon as you can of your chimeras if you want to keep them going because you never know what will happen.
3) Always use imidacloprid in the soil and spray regularly with neem oil as a preventative. Don't panic if you see thrips on your violets.
I've also learned that you don't have to disbud your violets with thrips. A light dusting of diatomaceous earth on your flowers and leaves (where you can hardly see the dust) will kill active thrips on a plant. Diatomaceous earth will work wet or dry. Put some in your soil when you pot them up, on top of the soil and puff it lightly on your plants.
You're going to make mistakes with your violets as you grow them. You're going to experiment with different treatments, that's how you find out what works and what doesn't. That's just how you learn. Hopefully after reading this, you won't make the mistake I made by directly spraying your plants with too strong a bug killer and your violets will be happy, happy.
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