Gardening the Garden

Question:

<<   I just recently purchased several afr. violet plants <<1. When I mist my orchids will the water hurt the foliage of the violets? <<3. What in the world are suckers on these little plants?      4. How do I water them? Chastity, Why are you misting your orchids? The effect on the humidity is negligible. If your humidity is too low, you need a humidifier. If you have hard tap water, both the orchids and the violets will get a coat of white powder on the leaves from misting, which is very unsightly and may be harmful. Any fertilizer that is good for orchids is fine for African violets. A high phosphorus content (the middle number) will promote blooming. Use a pinch of Epsom salt a few times a year, and make sure you use a fertilizer with trace elements occasionally. The suckers on African violets are essentially branches (shoots) which appear at the leaf axils. Check under the leaves periodically, especially near soil level. Remove them as soon as they appear, using a knitting needle, pencil point, etc. Except for trailers, African violets should be kept to a single stem. Water African violets from the top down with a watering can, same as your orchids. Avoid getting cold water on the leaves and try not to leave drops of tap water standing on them. When you are through watering, remove water standing in the crown with a tissue or by blowing, same as your phalaenopsis. Don’t forget to turn your African violets periodically, to get nice symmetrical growth. Good luck. Iris "It is forbidden to live in a town which has no greenery." Jerusalem Talmud, Kiddushin 4:12.

Response:

    I just recently purchased several afr. violet plants and have several questions I hope someone can help me with.  I have a large growing area for my orchids.  It is under full spectrum lights, (flourescent). My questions are:     1. When I mist my orchids will the water hurt the follage of the violets?

It won’t hurt them in the sense of endangering them but water left on AV leaves will discolor them. If you mist them and want the foliage to look nice, you have to gingerly wipe them off. You might want to put them out of the way of the the mister. Btw, the light setup should be wonderful for them.     2. I got ferterlizer that is 8-14-9, name Schultz-Instant, is that good or should          have I gotten 7-7-7?

No two fertilizers marked as specially for AVs seem to have the same numbers! Most are lower in nitrogen than in phosphorus or potassium but the one put out by Optimara, which is the Grand Maven company of AVs, in fact is pretty high in N. I’d say the one you got sounds fine. If the plants don’t flower well, you can always switch to something else.     3. What in the world are suckers on these little plants?

Not sure what you mean. Did someone say to remove the suckers and you’re wondering what they meant? If so, suckers are baby plants that grow at the base of the plant. The received wisdom on AVs is that (at least for non-trailers) there should be only one plant per pot — that’s the only way you’ll get the symmetry that people like. So you’ve got to pinch out the suckers as soon as they appear, before they distort the growth of the mother plant.     4. How do I water them?  I have heard to just put a bowl of water under them for          a hour or so.  I have also seen them in little clear containers, but I have never          seen the little things again.  Is there a cheap way that I can rig of from home          equipment?

The cheapest and simplest — tho also ugliest, IMO — is to take a margarine  (or whipped butter ) tub, clean it out of course, and poke some holes in the cover. Fill it with water and cover. Then get some nylon cord and cut a short piece, threading one end into the potting mix thru the/a drainage hole and the other into one of the holes you’ve poked in the top of the margarine tub. Then you just place the plant on the tub cover and it waters itself by capillary action up the nylon cord and thru the soil. If you want addresses for where you can buy various kinds of self-watering pots/saucers for AVs (some much more esthetic than the margarine tub ), let me know. Oh, if you go the self-watering route, put half the recommended amount of fertilizer in the water every time you fill the reservoir. One cautionary note: I don’t know if orchids are susceptible to thrips but AVs very definitely are. And a huge percentage of AVs I’ve seen in supermarkets and garden centers and even one AV-only dealer have thrips. Check what you buy very carefully — and very very carefully if they would pose a danger to your orchids. Their other main pest is cyclamen mites but that’s much less frequent, IME, maybe because the symptom is so much more obvious — hard, curled, and somewhat stunted new foliage. (The symptom of thrips is specks of pollen on the petals. If you look very carefully at the blooms in bright light, you can often see with the bare eye the tiny hyphen-size and hyphen-shape critters moving about.) Good luck! If you can grow orchids, AVs will be a piece of cake! (They’re even pretty simple for those of us who can’t grow orchids. ) P.S. It sounds like you’ve got space for streptocarpus, a delightful plant that’s a close relative of AVs, requires the same growing conditions, and has some really knock-out blooms, much nicer IMO than AVs. And they don’t even suffer from water on the foliage (since it’s smooth, not fuzzy like AV foliage). Let me know if you want to hear more.

Response:

     I just recently purchased several afr. violet plants and have several questions I hope someone can help me with.  I have a large growing area for my orchids.  It is under full spectrum lights, (flourescent). My questions are:      1. When I mist my orchids will the water hurt the follage of the violets?      2. I got ferterlizer that is 8-14-9, name Schultz-Instant, is that good or should          have I gotten 7-7-7?      3. What in the world are suckers on these little plants?      4. How do I water them?  I have heard to just put a bowl of water under them for          a hour or so.  I have also seen them in little clear containers, but I have never          seen the little things again.  Is there a cheap way that I can rig of from home          equipment? Thank you for any help, Chasity Please email my account if you would.

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