I've never gotten any of my store bought violets to rebloom and my cat has done an absolute number on the ones I didn't kill myself. She currently has cat grass to keep her happy.
The first one looks the healthiest, but is starting to look less healthy recently. I tried putting the second one in a smaller, plastic container after my cat attacked most of the outer leaves. The third one looked nice a week ago at the store, but started dying immediately after I brought it home.
I water from the bottom and use fertilizer with every other watering. They are potted in violet soil and I recently started putting them under grow lights during the day. I acknowledge that terra cotta pots aren't the best for violets and I'm trying to locate more suitable containers.
Are any of these salvageable or will they just continue to deteriorate?
by Kai_Bakes_Cakes
2 Comments
They are planted too deep.
All of these are 100% savable however, most of them have very different issues going on. Here’s some of what I can pick out 🙂
1.) The soil looks too compact and wet in all of them. I would repot into something with more aeration. A good and accessible mix for starting it is 50% potting soil and 50% perlite (I do more perlite).
2.) Terracotta is not a good planter for violets, they are better for succulents and cacti.
3.) the one in picture 5 may be okay but it also looks very possibly like powdery mildew. If it were me I would remove the inner leaves and treat it and isolate it immediately (and try repotting it into more aerated soil now so that it’s not too far gone later). Unless it’s variegation in which case ignore me, but it’s a little hard to tell. But the center leaves look like they’re on their way out so I would just get rid of them. Is your airflow good? Stagnant air, wet, soil, and cool winter temperatures are like the perfect storm for powdery mildew. Do NOT put it in a dome or bag, air her out!
4.) I would really try to repot the one in photograph three. Give it like a day or two and then get a humidity dome or bag over it. Remove bloom stalks/blooms and leaves that are too far gone so it can enter recovery mode better.
5.) I really honestly think that most of the issues can be solved with better soil and some grooming.
6.) do not fertilize any plants that you feel are sick. Please get them healthy before hand. Thoroughly check roots while repotting. I would definitely wait on fertilizing five and three for a while until you get them into better condition. The rest should be fine.
Sorry for the essay, but I hope it was helpful and good luck!