How To Restart An African Violet
CHOP! CHOP!
Why would you want to or need to restart an african violet you might ask. Well, what that really means is cutting off all the roots to regrow them. As leaves grow out from the crown or top of the violet, older leaves on the bottom of the stem just naturally die off. And when they do, you pick them off the bottom of the plant. That will eventually leave you with a long exposed bumpy stem on your violet.
THREE GOOD REASONS
(1) If you suspect root rot. Sometimes you can save a violet if the rot is not very advanced by cutting it off until you reach good green stem at the bottom of the plant before repotting it. When I restart a plant for rot, I always dust the stem with sulfur to help dry up and stop the rot. Cutting off the roots seems like a drastic step but it works.
(2) Failure to thrive If you have a violet that just doesn't seem to respond to all the care you've given it, for some reason it isn't thriving and you've tried everything else - you may want to re-start it before you toss the plant in the trash. Also a plant might have soil mealies or broad mites in the soil that cannot be easily treated and you may want to just get rid of all the roots and soil at one time and just treat the top leaves instead of starting all over with just one leaf.
(3) Long stem neck on your violet. Long exposed stems under the leaves are not desirable, not only for aesthetic reasons but because your violet may tip over or the stem might break off easier. Sometimes a long stem will make them "wobbly gobbly". It's not a disaster for them to have a long stem but to rejuvenate the plant and put it in a healthier place, you need to cut it off. I remember the first time I re-started a violet. I hate the word decapitate - a violet doesn't really have a head or a neck. :)
NOT AS TRAUMATIC TO THE PLANT
To restart a violet is more traumatic to the grower sometimes than the violet. But once you do it and see how good it is for the violet and how well they respond, you will not hesitate to fix other violets that need restarted.
First you need to get rid of all the flowers and buds. You can wait until it gets done blooming before you do this if you like. But when you bag it for humidity after cutting the roots off, the flowers and buds will start to rot so you will want to remove them.
HOW TO DO IT
Next you will cut the root with a sterilized blade at soil level and examine it. If it has any rot or dark spots, cut it a little higher until you get to green healthy stem. Remove the lower leaves until you have about one to one and a half inches of bare stem.
Then using the back side of a knife or blade, gently scrape all the little leftover pieces of leaf stems off the root stem. This is where the new roots will grow from. Put some fresh mix into your pot up to about a half inch from the top and just stick your violet into the soil up to the bottom row of leaves. Give it a little drink to get the soil damp, but not wet.
If the plant is leaning or the stem is crooked, put it in the dirt with the stem straight up and down and let the plant lean while it develops new roots. It will be O.K. if you turn it evenly under the light or in a window while it gets its new roots it will straighten up on its own.
HIGH HUMIDITY
For roots to grow on any plant, they need to be in a high humidity environment. You just put a bag or dome over the whole plant and set it back on the shelf to take root. That's all there is to it! If you have a plastic deli dome from a long gone cake, that will work too.
Check it every few days and if the dome has too much condensation on it, open it a little. I always provide a small hole in the top of my dome. The plant will still get enough humidity to grow its new roots while the excess moisture escapes to avoid mold and fungus.
You will be able to tell when the plant has established new roots. In a week or two you can gently tug on the plant to see if it easily lifts out of the pot and if it resists, then you know it has taken root. After it takes root you can gradually open the bag (or remove the dome) until it has adjusted to the regular growing environment.
Now your plant has been rejuvenated and will look and perform like a young plant again. And that's how you restart an african violet. After you do your first one you will be an expert. Nothing to it, really.
MORE ABOUT ROT
I have had a few plants do really well on wick watering for a while and then all of a sudden for no apparent reason, just start to rot. I still don't know why. I check my violets every day and sometimes I will pick one up that looks a little "off" and the last time I did that, the leaves started dropping to the floor! What? It had been doing great for a couple of months.
All I could do was pick up all the leaves and put them down hoping the rot had not reached to my angled cut on the stem and some would survive. Then I cut off the stem at the soil line and took a look. I actually had to cut up pretty high to get healthy green stem but I think I saved it by restarting it. I removed some more leaves and scraped the remaining root and dusted it heavily with sulfur to help dry it up and stop any remaining rot. Then I repotted it into fresh slightly damp soil and domed it. What else could I do?
It was a favorite but I already had some baby plants of it if I needed to replace it so I'm covered on that. But I still don't know why after a couple of months it did that. There was no warning. It looked fine one day and the next it was rotting. So always put down leaves of your favorites. If the pets, pests and your care don't get them, something else eventually will.
I've come to the conclusion that although 99% of my plants love being on wicks and reservoirs, some varieties just may not like wick watering and some varieties are just fussier than others. That OR I didn't get all the old vermiculite mix off of all the roots when I repotted from bottom watering to wick. And after a period of time, it mattered that too much water was being held in the roots. Vermiculite does hold water. At least that makes some sense to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2, 2018 - Last May I restarted my original Hiroshige that had gotten a long neck over the winter. Today it looks like a new plant. I've done several since then and they all look great.
Why would you want to or need to restart an african violet you might ask. Well, what that really means is cutting off all the roots to regrow them. As leaves grow out from the crown or top of the violet, older leaves on the bottom of the stem just naturally die off. And when they do, you pick them off the bottom of the plant. That will eventually leave you with a long exposed bumpy stem on your violet.
THREE GOOD REASONS
(1) If you suspect root rot. Sometimes you can save a violet if the rot is not very advanced by cutting it off until you reach good green stem at the bottom of the plant before repotting it. When I restart a plant for rot, I always dust the stem with sulfur to help dry up and stop the rot. Cutting off the roots seems like a drastic step but it works.
(2) Failure to thrive If you have a violet that just doesn't seem to respond to all the care you've given it, for some reason it isn't thriving and you've tried everything else - you may want to re-start it before you toss the plant in the trash. Also a plant might have soil mealies or broad mites in the soil that cannot be easily treated and you may want to just get rid of all the roots and soil at one time and just treat the top leaves instead of starting all over with just one leaf.
(3) Long stem neck on your violet. Long exposed stems under the leaves are not desirable, not only for aesthetic reasons but because your violet may tip over or the stem might break off easier. Sometimes a long stem will make them "wobbly gobbly". It's not a disaster for them to have a long stem but to rejuvenate the plant and put it in a healthier place, you need to cut it off. I remember the first time I re-started a violet. I hate the word decapitate - a violet doesn't really have a head or a neck. :)
NOT AS TRAUMATIC TO THE PLANT
To restart a violet is more traumatic to the grower sometimes than the violet. But once you do it and see how good it is for the violet and how well they respond, you will not hesitate to fix other violets that need restarted.
First you need to get rid of all the flowers and buds. You can wait until it gets done blooming before you do this if you like. But when you bag it for humidity after cutting the roots off, the flowers and buds will start to rot so you will want to remove them.
HOW TO DO IT
Next you will cut the root with a sterilized blade at soil level and examine it. If it has any rot or dark spots, cut it a little higher until you get to green healthy stem. Remove the lower leaves until you have about one to one and a half inches of bare stem.
Then using the back side of a knife or blade, gently scrape all the little leftover pieces of leaf stems off the root stem. This is where the new roots will grow from. Put some fresh mix into your pot up to about a half inch from the top and just stick your violet into the soil up to the bottom row of leaves. Give it a little drink to get the soil damp, but not wet.
If the plant is leaning or the stem is crooked, put it in the dirt with the stem straight up and down and let the plant lean while it develops new roots. It will be O.K. if you turn it evenly under the light or in a window while it gets its new roots it will straighten up on its own.
HIGH HUMIDITY
For roots to grow on any plant, they need to be in a high humidity environment. You just put a bag or dome over the whole plant and set it back on the shelf to take root. That's all there is to it! If you have a plastic deli dome from a long gone cake, that will work too.
Check it every few days and if the dome has too much condensation on it, open it a little. I always provide a small hole in the top of my dome. The plant will still get enough humidity to grow its new roots while the excess moisture escapes to avoid mold and fungus.
You will be able to tell when the plant has established new roots. In a week or two you can gently tug on the plant to see if it easily lifts out of the pot and if it resists, then you know it has taken root. After it takes root you can gradually open the bag (or remove the dome) until it has adjusted to the regular growing environment.
Now your plant has been rejuvenated and will look and perform like a young plant again. And that's how you restart an african violet. After you do your first one you will be an expert. Nothing to it, really.
MORE ABOUT ROT
I have had a few plants do really well on wick watering for a while and then all of a sudden for no apparent reason, just start to rot. I still don't know why. I check my violets every day and sometimes I will pick one up that looks a little "off" and the last time I did that, the leaves started dropping to the floor! What? It had been doing great for a couple of months.
All I could do was pick up all the leaves and put them down hoping the rot had not reached to my angled cut on the stem and some would survive. Then I cut off the stem at the soil line and took a look. I actually had to cut up pretty high to get healthy green stem but I think I saved it by restarting it. I removed some more leaves and scraped the remaining root and dusted it heavily with sulfur to help dry it up and stop any remaining rot. Then I repotted it into fresh slightly damp soil and domed it. What else could I do?
It was a favorite but I already had some baby plants of it if I needed to replace it so I'm covered on that. But I still don't know why after a couple of months it did that. There was no warning. It looked fine one day and the next it was rotting. So always put down leaves of your favorites. If the pets, pests and your care don't get them, something else eventually will.
I've come to the conclusion that although 99% of my plants love being on wicks and reservoirs, some varieties just may not like wick watering and some varieties are just fussier than others. That OR I didn't get all the old vermiculite mix off of all the roots when I repotted from bottom watering to wick. And after a period of time, it mattered that too much water was being held in the roots. Vermiculite does hold water. At least that makes some sense to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES
August 2, 2018 - Last May I restarted my original Hiroshige that had gotten a long neck over the winter. Today it looks like a new plant. I've done several since then and they all look great.
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