I'm having a problem with this AV, and I don't really know how to go about fixing it. I've had her for a good 7-8 months. She's planted in a 6" self watering pot, which was probably too big from the start, but here we are.
She's about 3' from a South facing window, I don't have any North facing windows to put her in. There are "grow lights" attached to the bottom on the shelf above her, and they're on at least 12 hours a day.
I can clearly see that she's reaching, but she gets plenty of light. I have 3 other AVs that get the same amount of light and aren't reaching like this.
I also know that there's at least 1 sucker I need to remove, but I've never done that before and I'm not sure where to start. I had AVs in the past, like 25 years ago, and I never had any of these issues. I also can't remember why I had such good luck in the past but not now. Any advice would be appreciated. I really want her to flower because she's so pretty with her crinkle leaves!
*Edit – Spelling
by CowEmbarrassed3759
2 Comments
Well, the good news is that she’s apparently blooming now. I saw a few young blooms among the leaves.
The problem is that you are giving your AV too much light. That reaching is more like hiding…trying to fold up the leaf surfaces to reduce the amount of sunlight exposure.
You also will see shorter petioles sometimes, and smaller leaves. If variegated, you would get more white in the leaves.
Southern windows are really too harsh for AVs. Can you set her further back from the window, or provide some shading?
The 3 feet from a south window is probably fine. It looks to be too close to the grow light. Not all African Violets require the same lighting. I’d try to move her down from the light. Start with a foot below the light. The wait a few weeks and see what happens. Best of Luck.