Timely Tips Summer

By Sharon Rosenzweig

• ·       Reduce the number of hours under lights
• ·       Run the lights at night when temperatures are cooler
• ·       For window growing, draw the curtains or blinds to prevent sunburn
• ·       Plants need more water but less fertilizer. Use on 1/8 tsp to a gallon of water
• ·       Place a fan near your growing area to circulate the air (but not blowing on plants)
• ·       If humidity is low, mist the plants in the morning with very warm water. Keep plants out of direct sun until leaves are dry
• ·       Variegated plants may turn all green in warm weather. Move variegated plants to the lowest shelf and use a fertilizer with a low nitrogen until cool weather returns
• ·       If the white variegation has turned pink, this is also due to higher temperatures. Move plants to the lowest shelf
• ·       This is not a good time to start leaves. The heat may cause rotting
• ·       Birthmarks are irregular blotches of red/green on the leaves. The cause may be due to stress from the change to warmer temperatures. Or, it may be just a genetic trait
• ·       During the summer, you should not open any windows near your plants to prevent outside insects from invading the plants, especially thrips

Be a Good Sport

By Carol Hess

 You have acquired a leaf of a plant that you loved, but when the plantlet reached the flowering stage, the plant was not what you expected. There was a change in blossom color or the leaves were different. Your first thought might be that the leaf was incorrectly labeled. But many African violets are unstable and can “sport” or mutate. Approximately one in every one hundred leaf propagations will produce a plant radically different than the parent.

What is a sport? Jeff Smith of AVSA defines a sport as “an unexpected mutation from a leaf propagation that results in changes in the plant’s physical appearance.” I propagated a leaf of B-Man’s Etna and grew three of the plantlets. This plant is described in First Class as single medium pink ruffled blossom with purple fantasy and medium green, quilted leaves. Two plants grew as described, the third had single blue flowers. All three plants were grown under the same conditions.

What is not a sport? The plant that had fantasy flowers at the last blooming and now the blossoms are a solid color, or the variegated leaf that has changed to all green. These changes are likely due to stressful changes in growing conditions or culture. Unfortunately, once a plant changes it will not normally change back when the stress is removed.

Sporting is not always a bad thing. Many of today’s violets were mutations that occurred naturally. The first double blossom, ‘Duchess’ was a natural sport of ‘Blue Boy’. The first white, ‘White Lady’ was a sport, as was ‘Tommie Lou’ introduced in 1959 with its variegated foliage. Sporting has also produced girl foliage, chimeras and yellow colored flowers.

You have determined that your new offspring is a sport. Are the differences in this new plant a marked improvement over the original? Is the blossom color unusual, multicolored, or have a chimera pattern? Is there an abundance of flowers? Are the leaves different in shape and color such as chimera variegated? If you think this new plant deserves recognition and you would like to register it with AVSA, it should be propagated through three generations to prove it will continue to maintain the new characteristics. My sport is a pretty plant but does not demonstrate anything new and exciting. It won’t be entered in our show nor registered with AVSA, but its flowers will brighten my plant shelf while other show plants are disbudded.

In the March/April 09 issue of AVM in response to the question of where sports and mutants should be entered into a show, Bill Foster's reply was "The Handbook states that sports and mutants must be entered into the class for new cultivars. However, any sport or mutant that is simply a solid color version of a two-tone or multicolor of an existing multicolor or two-tone variety will have 5 points deducted immediately for no improvement over existing varieties."

 

The Question Corner                                                                   By Nancy Manozzi

Question: What is that slimy green stuff I see in my wicking reservoirs and is it harmful to my African violets?

Answer: Algae! Algae is one of the simplest organisms among plants. African violet growers may recognize it as a green slime noticeable on clay pots or floating in the water of self-watering containers. In most cases, algae is more unsightly than it is harmful. However, in certain types of watering devices, algae can inhibit the absorption of water into the soil. And, Dr. Jeff Smith has found that algae on the soil can be a problem with seedlings. Anytime he got an algae mat growing on the germinating bed or on the soil of a young seedling, the seeds or seedling didn’t germinate well.

If you find algae growing on the side of your pot, use warm water to wipe the pot clean and increase the amount of air circulation between your plants. A glazed or plastic pot is best since they will cut off the water supply that otherwise soaks through an unglazed pot.

If you find algae growing in the self-watering device, empty the water, clean the container, refill with fresh water and replace the wick with a new one. If you’re using capillary matting as a wicking method, run the matting under warm, soapy water, being sure to rinse ALL the algae off the material. Dr. Ralph Robinson (Rob) has learned to use dark colored, acrylic blankets since algae is less likely to grow on dark surfaces.

To prevent the growth of algae in your self-watering containers, the safest method is to simply cut off its supply of light. The type of algae that grows in these containers needs a lot of sunlight. By shading the area around the device (though not the plant), you will cut off the supply of light that algae needs to thrive. This can be accomplished by using opaque or colored pots.

And, a last good preventive measure is Physan 20, a relatively safe algaecide. Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon to every gallon of water used to water your African violets. Physan 20 may also be used to keep your capillary mats from turning green.

 

 

 

 

DRYING FLOWERS IN THE MICROWAVE

 Edited by Suzanne Ress (from a posting to the AVConnection )

All those beautiful blossoms do not have to “go to waste.”  They can be dried and used decoratively in crafts – on greeting cards, as a mounted display, or any way you can imagine. Basic supplies for drying in the microwave can be bought at Home Depot and a fabric store. I have seen kits available in some garden supply catalogues.

General Directions:

The microwave flower drying kit consists of two terra cotta tiles, four pieces of white felt, and two pieces of white cotton fabric.

Take your flowers and sandwich them in between the pieces like a flower sandwich:  tile, 2 felt pieces, cotton piece, flowers, cotton piece, felt pieces, and top with the remaining tile.

Microwave for the appropriate time. You will need to experiment to find out what works best. I got good results with single blossoms by microwaving at full power for 1-minute, waiting about 5-minutes, microwaving for 30-seconds, waiting, then a final microwave for 30-seconds.

After microwaving, let the whole thing cool, until the tiles are just warm, before removing the flowers. Then carefully peel away the layers of material, and you have a beautifully dried, onionskin-thin flower.

If the flower breaks apart, you have microwaved it for too long. If the flower still appears too moist, cover it back up and stick it back in the microwave for a bit longer. Experiment first, don’t try to use your last favorite flower to experiment with. When drying larger blossoms, you will need to microwave more than with smaller blossoms, but use a shorter microwave time, like 20-seconds, and wipe extra moisture off the inside of the tile.

If the flower is dried properly, it should peel away easily from the cotton fabric in one piece. Drying flowers of the same size together should give more uniform results, rather than trying to dry a big, double blossom along with a smaller single blossom.

Important Information:

Some “fading” characteristics can’t be avoided. For example, purples tend to turn darker, and whites tend to brown out slightly.

The white pieces of cotton will stain from the flowers’ drying. You should wash them every so often.

Why Many African Violets are Unnamed Reprinted from the AVConnection (avconnectionn@egroups.com) and the July 2001 Ye Bay Stater, By Dr Jeff Smith                                         

I've been watching the discussion of having named plants from the commercial growers. You might not like to hear the following, but...Part of the problem with having the "correct" name and plant on Optimara and other commercial growers has to do with their growing system. When the plantlets are separated from leaves, they ESTIMATE how many pots will be needed for that cultivar. If they run out of plants, they just keep using the pots (now with an incorrect label) on the next batch they are potting up. Just because the pot has a label doesn't guarantee that the label is the CORRECT one for the plant. Always go back and match to their descriptions and catalog if possible to confirm the identity.

Ultraviolets plants may be the seedlings grown out of the hybridizing programs. They don't make the cut for further propagation, but they are perfectly fine plants. In these cases, you'll never be able to get a correct "name", because as seedlings they don't have one. They have also found that they can get seedlings to blooming size about as quickly as plantlets from a leaf. It's yet another way to produce a crop for sale as fast as possible. Only their "best" seedlings get named and propagated by leaf. If an Ultraviolet pot has a name, its one of these later plants, but here again the name on the pot may not match the described cultivar. Before all of us who want "named" violets condemn the commercial growers for their practices, you must remember that they are a business that only stays afloat if it shows a profit. The role of "named plants"for the commercials is entirely different than it is for the hobbyist growers. And a response to Jeff Smith's article on unnamed violets by Mary Walbrick is printed below:

Thanks to Dr. Smith for more information about how a large violet grower processes their violets. It is really difficult to envision processing thousands of plantlets as opposed to the several that we pot occasionally at our kitchen sink. Recently, I spoke with Dennis Kinzler who is with Color Star Growers, another large wholesale company with violet operations at Sanger, Giddings, and Austin, TX, and Ft. Lupton, CO. Their violets had absolutely no names. He went into detail about the huge machinery they used. Color Star sells to the Walmart and Lowe type of distributors who sell hundreds of very economical plants to Suzy and John Public. Just the people who do not care if a violet is named or unnamed.

 

• The Question Corner By Lisa DiMambro 

Question: I am having problems with wicking my plants; how much wick should I use and what type? Do I let the reservoirs dry out? What about soil?

Answer: The number one problem most have after starting to wick their plants is rot, which is a result of the root ball being too wet. I suggest that you start with a soil mix containing at least 50% added, extra perlite; if the plants still seem too wet, add more. The goal is to keep the soil slightly moist. I don't recommend wicking a newly repotted plant if most of the roots have been taken off, or babies that are newly potted up as they do not have the root growth to absorb the water and the result will be rot.

 There are many different types of wicking material, from acrylic yarn, to panty hose strips to nylon cord. There is much debate over which one to use and whether to use one or two ply, or even to split the yarn or cord you are using to make it thinner. I have used many types over the years and have come to one conclusion--the type or thickness of the wick doesn't matter, unless it is too small to pull up enough water for the plant causing the plant to dry out. I have personally found that the #18 nylon Masons twine works the best for wicking. It is able to pull up enough water for even the heavy drinkers like large Chiritas in bloom, which is an advantage over yarn. If you let the reservoir and plant dry out (who, me??) you can just add water to the reservoir, and even a dry masons twine wick will pull up the water. Therefore, soaking wicks for 10 minutes to restart dry wicks is no longer necessary.

Another important issue in wick watering is your reservoirs. You should empty and rinse them with plain water at least every 3 weeks so fertilizer salts don’t build up to high levels.

In summary, your soil is the deciding factor. The wick will pull up as much moisture as your soil will hold, no more. So if you are wicking and your plants stay too wet, add more perlite to your mix. I also don't believe that the amount of wick that is in contact with the soil or water makes any difference, for the same reason. Also, if you have the correct balance in your soil, you do not need to let the reservoir dry out between waterings.

 

 

More Powdery Mildew Talk

By Nancy Manozzi

Powdery mildew distracts from the appearance of your African violet. While not always a major threat to the life of a violet, any unchecked disease or condition can have a negative effect on your plant. Powdery mildew can rapidly go through a collection. The mildew looks like a white or grayish powder, dusted all over the leaf of the plant. This mildew will affect all parts of your African violet, including new and old leaves, the leaf's undersides, petioles, flower stalks, and petals. The mildew spores have a small sucker that penetrates the surface of the plant. It sucks the sap of the leaves for food. Powdery mildew spores are always present in your plant room. It is the environmental condition that triggers the activism of airborne fungus of the disease. The conditions listed below are major causes:

1. High humidity

2. Temperature fluctuation -- high temperatures in the day and very cool temperatures in the evening and night

3. Stale air (old air)

4. Poor air circulation

5. Plants crowded too close together

6. Low light intensity.

You can prevent powdery mildew by changing the environment of your plant room. The two most important aspects of growing conditions that prevent powdery mildew are air movement and spacing your plants. Adding a fan into the room is a good idea. Space the African violets so that the leaves do not touch each other.

Another non chemical treatment is Lysol spray. This is a decent alternative if you don’t want to use a chemical. DO NOT spray directly on the plants, but around the growing area. The propellant is very cool and can kill the tender leaves.

The one product that most people use today to control powdery mildew is Phyton 27, a copper sulfate based product. Application is to spray every 7 to 10 days when the disease appears. Always read the instructions first. Follow the directions for one gallon of water with Phyton 27. Other chemicals that may be used are benomyl and funginex.

A few words of wisdom: the best situation is to NOT get powdery mildew in the first place by following the suggestions above and do not use any method on all of your plants. Try your method of choice on a few plants first. If all looks OK after a week or two, you’re probably safe to use the method on more of your collection.

Wick Watering African Violets

By Sharon McLaurin

 You can learn a lot from your fellow club members. A few months ago, Bay State met at a member’s house. She was gracious enough to let members see her collection. What I noticed mostly was that she was wick watering. Her plants were health and happy. Hum! I think I should try it.

Materials needed:

Container for a water reservoir:

Deli containers with lids, Canning jars, Containers Siamese fighting fish are sold in, Prescription containers with lids that invert and screw on are perfect for minis in Dixie cups 

Wicking material

Acrylic yarn, Nylon twine

The yarn and twine come in multiple plies. You need to use just one ply for wicking. Synthetic wicking material is best. Organic material will deteriorate quickly and stop functioning.

Hard ware

You can use crochet needle or a long upholstering needle to set the wick in your pot. I use the long upholstering needle to set my wick. I push the needle up from the bottom of the pot. I pull the wick through so it just reaches the top of the soil. I tap the wick down a little and cover it with soil.

Soil preparation

You need perlite filling ¼ of the base of your pot. The soil mix I use is 3 cups Sphagnum Peat, 3 cups Vermiculite, 3 cups Perlite, ¼ cup charcoal, 2 tbsp. Dolomite lime, 1 tbsp. Bone Meal, 1 tbsp. Superphosphate. Shake ingredients together so that everything is well mixed.

Watering

1/8^th of a teaspoon of fertilizer to a gallon of water

I found the benefit of wicking over the summer was that the plants were less stressed and had a continuous supply of water. Your pots should never touch the water. Only the wick goes in the reservoir.

What I am experimenting with for the winter months is putting water in the trays to up the humidity. Since the pots are up on the reservoir not touching water, the water in the tray will not touch the roots. When the dry house environment started early November, the flower buds were drying out. With the water in the tray the humidity is reversing this problem. Time will tell how they fair in the spring.

I love my violets and will try anything to keep them happy. Wicking makes it easier on me as I do not have the frequent watering chore. I examine, rotate and groom. Don’t forget that praising your little green friends can go a long way.

Happy Growing.

Anyone have any favorite books on  raising these glorious beauties?  I have resently moved and my plants are not happy. It's time to step up my knowledge to sooth them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Kelli

Powdery Mildew by Eleanor MacIver

In the January/February, 2003 issue of the African Violet Magazine, one method of combating powdery mildew is described as using 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water, as a spray. I have tried this method, using very warm water, since water cools rapidly as it comes in contact with air. Cold water could mar the foliage. I sprayed only a few of my plants, all of which I had duplicates, and was quite pleased with the results.I tried this method as I use no toxic chemicals on my plants. 

After a 3 week period, I then sprayed all violets that showed any symptoms of mildew. I sprayed very generously, with the solution dripping from the leaves.

The result after 2 weeks of observation was interesting. The mildew was eliminated with no damage to any leaves except a light, milky appearance on some of them, which was easily rinsed off. However, all blooms that were close to going by, succumbed to the treatment, and a few of the healthy blooms received milky, mist spots.

The newer cultivars showed much less damage, and for the most part, none. The vintage violets and original 10, suffered the most noticeable damage. I did not spray my species, as oddly enough, none of them contacted powdery mildew, so I do not know how they would have responded.

This is a treatment that kills mildew on contact, and at the same time, refreshes the plant with nice, warm moisture, which they love. I’m sure the mildew will reappear as the treatment is not systemic, but, so far my collection is much happier.

If you try this method, please test your results on only a few plants at first, as growing conditions vary.