African Violets

One of the most widely grown of all indoor plants, and readily available to buy online are the African Violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) and yes they were discovered in Africa, but have been highly hybridized for many years. Often seen as 'old fashioned' they are in fact very much in demand and are available for sale both online and at retail nurseries.

They have been grown in Australia for many years and if you follow a few basic ideas on how care for them they will flower magnificently.

Low growing, compact with attractive dark green, thick, hairy leaves and the violet-like flowers borne in small panicles just above the foliage, (see picture right) African Violets are readily available for sale as plants or leaf cuttings from online specialists.

They prefer a constant warm to hot temperature and high humidity. African violets need plenty of filtered sunlight to thrive and should be planted in humus rich soil or special potting mix.

Caring for African Violets

The three most important care factors for African Violets are light, humidity, temperature and moisture, if you can control these your plants will be picture of health.

Light.
Although they do not like direct sun they do need a strong filtered light to flower well. If you can give them around 8 hours of good light a day they will do well, if not bring in the artificial lighting like the commercial growers do, a fluorescent light will do the job. With proper lighting these wonderful plants will flower for many months.

Humidity
The natural climate was humid, so African Violets require humidity, a saucer of water beneath the pot is a great way to start, some pebbles in the saucer to lift the pot above the water will help keep the roots from getting to wet. A little spray bottle that can act as a misting spray will increase the humidity, but make sure its a fine spray and do not soak the plant.

Temperature
The ideal would be to have a temperature of around 25 C during the day. Most homes are a little less than this, but as long as they do not get to cold at night they should be OK. If you are using artificial light then the temperature will be raised by that, perfect. These plants are a little fussy, they do not like draughts especially cold ones.

Water
If you can use rain water, that's what they were brought up on, no chlorine, no salts. Water should be a room temperature and remember to water the soil, not the foliage, that's why people have those nifty little watering cans with a long skinny spout. A wick watering system is ideal for African violets.

Fertilize 2 or 3 times a year using a specialist African Violet fertiliser.

Use the right size pot for the right plant.

Try not to 'overpot' any plant, it ends up providing the wrong environment and to mush water.

Special African Violet pots are available for sale. These are ceramic or PVC, self watering pots that use a wick system.

Some pot systems also use a ceramic pot with a PVC or plastic pot insert,