Garden Club Hosts African Violet Presentation
Mountrail County Garden Club hosted a special presentation on African Violet Propagation. Nicki Maruski of Battleview has, through a triage of unexpected events, has become an African Violet enthusiast as she claims she isn’t an expert.
Nicki started researching how to care and propagate, after she said she kept “killing off” her mother-in-laws prized plants, which she felt terrible about. African violets can be a bit temperamental (although some say easy) in keeping them thriving, but are beautiful plants if cared for properly.
Nicki showed the participants the many types and varieties of African Violet plants she has grown. Then demonstrated the materials used and how to propagate a leaf in soil to get new plants.
She even quizzed the group on her ‘problem children’ as she called them, for us to determine what the problem was with each plant. She had the group puzzled and then pointed out the issues with each of those plants. After the presentation was finished, she answered some questions and then sold some of her beautiful plants to participants.
She shared some great advice on African Violets and we each hope we are able to keep our plants thriving as she has done. The following is a short synopsis of her presentation. African violets are of the Gesneriaceae family and new growth comes from the center in three’s, rosette style. The crown should be kept at soil level. Nicki has found that wick watering is the best and also using a soil mixture of half African Violet soil or Promix HP (high porosity) and half perlite is recommended. The perlite helps to provide better drainage and aeration for wick watering. There were ten original varieties of African Violets registered with the African Violet Society of America (AVSA) which are categorized by different size and further into different varieties of African Violets:
• Standard are usually 16 inches or taller, but some also include 12 inches - 16 inches in height
• Small Standard are 9 inches - 11 inches tall
• Semi-Miniature are 8 inches or less in height
• Miniature are 6 inches or less in height
The materials needed for growing African Violets are:
• Soil and perlite as mentioned above
• Vessel - Plastic cups according to size of plant with water reservoir. Ones with windows to reservoir are ideal.
• Yarn - synthetic blend
• Pest Control - Systemic Granules (apply ~1/8 tsp every 3 months)
• Water with DynaGrow fertilizer- ½ tsp/gallon rainwater best, can let faucet water set out for a day if needed. Room temperature water is best. Avoid water on leaves. Fill water reservoir for vessel weekly or as needed.