Starting AVs from Seeds: Part 4

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/AfricanViolets/comments/1lo8gsn/starting_avs_from_seeds_part_1/ 

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/AfricanViolets/comments/1m31r24/starting_avs_from_seeds_part_2/

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/AfricanViolets/comments/1mo7b81/starting_av_from_seeds_part_3_including_lessons/

Brace yourselves. This is going to be a long one with a couple of lessons learned. I’m trying to keep regular posts since there are a couple of people starting seedlings and there is precious little information online about starting AVs.

A few things have happened since my last post (Part 3).

1. I lost about 30 of my 85 seedlings
2. I’ve become a pro at setting up mini wick systems

Last weekend, my well-meaning husband built me some plant shelves in the window of our sun-room. My intention was to put my mature AVs there, since it’s east-facing and they would thrive in all the light. After he built the shelves, he moved my seedlings there. At the time, they were still encased in their egg cartons to create a humidity dome.

The seedlings closest to the window deteriorated rapidly. Mold started to grow in the soil, and they started wilting. I moved them out of the window when I noticed it (the morning after he moved them), but it was too late. Within 36 hours of being moved, they rotted. When I looked at them, their root systems were entirely rotted, and there was no salvaging them.

I lost 30 of my 85 seedlings. I’m down to 55.

I wasn’t entirely sure what killed them. I think it was a combination of heat (they were in more direct sun, and the ones closest to the window were the ones that died), and their environment fostering mold (which wasn’t there prior to being moved).

So, I transplanted all of them: 16 to a bottom-watered set-up, and the rest to mini wick systems. None of them have a humidity dome anymore.

Which brings me to my lesson learned for this post: 

1. There is very little wiggle room with seedling AVs. They take a while to grow large enough to become robust. Their root systems are small and fragile, and any mistake in their environment leads to a rapid decline in plant health, and eventual death. Within 36 hours of being moved 18 inches, a third of my seedlings bit the dust.
2. Consistent conditions are crucial. I lost an additional 2 seedlings that were supposed to be bottom-watered, because the soil wasn’t low enough in the container to wick up the water. It only took 2 days of no water for them to die (reiterating point 1, they are very fragile).

All of that being said, the survivors are growing and thriving after adjusting to the lack of humidity!

My mini-wick set up:

• Potting mix: ⅔ perlite, ⅓ seed starter mix
• Reservoir mix: 25% diluted fertilizer in filtered water
• 2 oz condiment cup in a 3 oz plastic cup
• 1 strand of acrylic thread (I pulled apart 4-stranded yarn)

(No husbands were harmed in the making of this post)