STREPTOCARPUS

First and most important, isolate your plant. Put it in a bright spot, far away from your other plants, preferably a different room. Watch it for at least one month. If you don’t have a separate room, enclose it in plastic bag. Watch for insects and mildew.

Look for spilled pollen. This is most evident on dark single or semi double flowers. Gently flick the pollen sacs with a fingernail. Watch for thrips. Thrips are slender-bodied insects, 0.5 to 5 mm in length. They are yellow or tan.

Look for mite damage. Leaves may twist, curl and become brittle. The center of the plant may appear excessively fuzzy with a gray coloring. Do not confuse mite damage with over watering or over fertilization. This will appear in the center leaves also. But the leaves will be brown and crusty looking.

CHECK THE ROOTS

Soil mealy bugs are wide spread in the commercial African violet market. Look for cottony masses in the root ball, these are the egg sacks. You may also see white waxy material in the root ball, on the pot, or floating in the water reservoirs. Soil mealy bugs are only 1-4 mm in length so they are hard to see without a magnifying glass. (The wire of a medium size paper clip is about 1 mm in diameter).

This is a photo of soil mealies floating in a container of water. I found these guys in the reservoirs of a plant that I had owned for a year. Soil mealy bugs are so small, it is easy to have them and spread them throughout your collect before you know it. Even if your new plant looks 'clean', keep it on it's own reservoir for a year or two.

Aphids are pear shaped sucking insects. They are 1-5 mm in length (about 1/8 inch). They can be green to yellow, black or pink. They have long legs and antennae.

Foliar mealy bugs are white and mealy. They can be found on the foliage, stems, and crown on the plant. They lay their eggs in cottony masses.

If you find a problem, contact the cooperative extension service or your favorite nursery or gardener.

When you first bought your African violet it was probably blooming. That’s the reason you bought it, and it’s frustrating if it won’t flower again. Well, blooming your plant is easy, you just need to give it what it needs. African violets will bloom almost constantly under the right conditions.

Ask yourself the following questions, and decide if you need to make any changes.

Is my plant getting enough light? If you’re growing your plant in natural light, it’s probably not blooming right now because of our short winter days. As daylight increases in February, you should start seeing buds. In the winter, give your African violets all the light you can. If you want blooms year around, you can supplement with a fluorescent light fixture. Hang it 10 to 12 inches above your plants.

African violets need bright light, but direct afternoon sunshine can burn them. They will take a little direct sunshine in the morning or evening, so an east or west window would be perfect. North windows are usually too dark in Alaska. A south window will get too hot, and by March the leaves of my plants burned in my south window.

You also need to consider how much light is coming in the window. There could be trees or a building blocking the light. Or, the neighbor’s house could reflect extra light into your windows. Test the light by placing your hand between the light source and the plant. If your hand casts a defined shadow, the light should be okay.

Is my plant too dry or too wet? African violets like to be evenly moist. They prefer not to dry out., and should never sit for days in a saucer of water. The soil should be kept damp, but not soggy. If the pot seems light when held in your hand, it is probably time to water. Stick your finger in the soil to feel for moisture. Water when needed, not when it is convenient.

Is my plant too cold or too hot? African violets like the same temperatures we do, 60 to 80 degrees is ideal. In the winter, remember it might be 65 at the thermostat, but 55 next to the window.

Does my plant need more fertilizer? Use a bloom booster type fertilizer. These will have a higher middle number, which is phosphorus, I use Peters African violet food, which is 12-36-14. Use only ¼ tsp. per gallon every time you water. This will provide your plant with regular constant fertilizer.

Is my plant healthy? First bring it to the kitchen sink and give it a luke warm shower. That’s right, it’s okay to get the leaves wet. Use the sprayer and gently rinse away dust and dirt. Two things to remember now. Don’t put in back in direct sunshine. This will cause spots. And don’t let water set in the center crown of the plant. Use a paper towel to dab it out. Water in the crown could rot your plant.

Now that it’s clean, take a good look at your plant. Are the leaves fresh and green? If not, remove any old, yellow or limp leaves, and any old bloom stalks, too. Remove enough leaves to form a symmetrical plant.

Does my plant need repotting? You should repot your plant every year. Spring is the perfect time! Because of the peat in most potting mixes, the mix breaks down and becomes too acid with time. Fertilizer salts and minerals in the water begin accumulate in the pot. Your plant needs fresh potting mix!

Use a light potting mix. If you buy the prepackaged African violet mix, you still need to add perlite and vermiculite! A good basic mix is 1 part peat based potting mix, 1 part perlite, and 1 part vermiculite. I like to add ½ cup horticultural charcoal and 4 Tbs Super Sweet dolomite lime per gallon of my finished mix. Make sure your potting mix is predominantly Canadian peat. This is the good stuff. If you are using one of the self watering containers for African violets, you need to use an even lighter mix. I use 2 parts peat based potting mix, 2 parts perlite, and 1 part vermiculite.

A common mistake is to overpot an African violet. They don’t have very large root systems, and African violets like to be a little pot bound. If you have too much soggy soil around the roots, they will rot and succumb to fungus and bacteria. A good rule is that the plant should be three times the diameter of the pot. So a 4” pot is large enough for a 12” plant!

When repotting your African violet, never press the potting mix into the pot. Simply fill the mix around the roots, and tap the pot on the table to settle the mix.

African violets should be grown with only one crown. If you have multiple crowns or sucker plants growing from the main crown, you need to remove them. The extra crowns can be rooted in a pot of their own. Cover them in a plastic bag until they root. It will take about one month, and you’ll have plants to share!

This is an interesting observation on the effects of lighting. Both trays of plants were grown in west facing windows over the summer in Alaska. Amazing how few blooms are on the first tray, especially considering how easily Streps bloom.

This one was in my bedroom window. It was quarantined there in May. It is on the second floor, and has an overhang blocking the light.

This one was in my son's bedroom window. It was quarantined in June. It is in a daylight basement. There is a sidewalk directly outside the window, which helps reflect light.

A chimera is a plant with blossoms that have stripes that radiate from the center, also called a pinwheel blossom.

A chimera is a mutant, which has developed plant tissues, where the individual cells differ genetically from each other. The cells with the material to cause the pinwheel blossom are found in the crown of the plant, and not the leaves.

If you try to propagate a chimera from a leaf, your plantlets will not have the stripes. You must wait for a sucker plant to grow from the crown to propagate it.

Chimeras are just as easy to grow as any other African violet, but they cannot be propagated as quickly or easily. You must wait for a sucker plant to develop, then carefully remove and root it.

Streptocarpus are in the Gesneriad family, the same family as African violets. They have the same requirements as African violets for light, fertilizer, watering, and potting soil. They tolerate the cooler temperatures in Alaska quite well. They prefer a temperature range of 55 to 75 degrees.

There are different sizes available. There are standard sizes, compact, and a few miniatures. The standards can get quite large, with leaves two feet or longer.

They love natural light, but do fine under artificial lights. They thrive in an east window, but also do well in a slightly shady west window. A large bright, north window in the summer would be fine, too. A south window in the summer will burn them. In the winter, since our days are so short, they can take all the light they can get. When you find the right spot, they will bloom from February through November.

Propagation is successful by leaf cuttings or division. Use the same method to root leaves as you do for African violets. To divide a plant, simple cut the root ball in half and repot.

BASIC POTTING MIX

POTTING MIX FOR

WICKING WATERING

When repotting your African violet, never press the potting mix into the pot. Simply fill the mix around the roots, and tap the pot on the table to settle the mix.

7. Place in individual pots, and cover it again with a plastic bag for one month. When it's time to take it out from under the plastic, just open it slightly for a few days to allow it to adjust to the lower humidity of your home. Then remove the plastic bag.

Shorten the stem to 1 1/2".

Cut the stem at an angle. The babies will grow out of the cut area. You want them to grow in front of the leaf. If they come up in back, they will be shaded by the mother leaf.

Let's go back to #1, Use a fresh, healthy leaf. This means not the old yellowed leaves from the bottom row. These belong in the compost pile. Old leaves may root for you, but they may never give you babies. You don't want the young leaves in the center of the plant either. These leaves will probably not root at all. Choose a leaf that is from the middle row. These leaves will root quickly and reproduce. Don't worry if there's a gap, the other leaves will quickly fill in the hole.

This is an article I wrote for our club newsletter. The calculations were based on the cost of electricity in Anchorage, Alaska. You can figure it out for your area.

I've been figuring out the benefits of growing a few extra plants for our club sales. Lets say you have three 4' florescent light fixtures running on your plant stand for 12 hours per day. Using the following formula, I come up with $3.43 per light, per month. That means $123.48 a year to enjoy your hobby in electricity alone.

To use this formula insert the wattage of your fixture. For the really old ones with the heavy ballast use 88 watts. For newer fixtures, check the box of one at the store. Our cost per KWH is .108218 according to my last statement. (Check your statement for your cost per KWH)

Appliance Wattage* x 1 (one hour's use) divided by 1,000 = kilowatt-hour (KWH)

KWH x Cost per KWH = Cost of Operation per hour

Example: How much does it cost to operate a 1,200 watt hair dryer for an hour?

1, 200 (wattage) x 1 (one hour's use) 1,000 = 1.2 kilowatt-hours (KWH)

1.2 (KWH) x .08* * (cost per KWH) = .096 (about 10 cents per hour)

* Wattage may be found on the nameplate.

*The price you pay for each KWH may vary depending on any city or county taxes and franchise fees.

Okay, back to the plan. So now you start 12 leaves of your favorite varieties. This is going to take up 1/2 tray on your plant stand. Three or four months later when you separate them, they'll fit in 2 trays. Only save 24 to 30 plants. Three months later, they'll need 3 trays or 4 trays depending on how many you saved from the garbage. I told YOU to only save 24 to 30.

In one years time they should be blooming and ready for sale. Let's say you saved 30 and sell them each at $6.00. That's $180.00! How about 24 at $8.00 each? That's $192.00. So....$180.00 minus $123.48 equals $56.52. That should pay for your pots, dirt and fertilizer needs for the whole year with enough left over to buy yourself more plants!

This is a mature plant of Little Jayhawker Sport. This is how much of the crown I plan to remove.

I want to leave enough of the original plant to sucker. It was difficult to do this the first time because I was unsure as to how much to cut off. You need to control your cut. Cut away a crown with more leaves than you think you need. The bottom row will not make it. A very sharp knife or exacto blade it important. I cut it off like cutting down a tree. First part way in from one side then I cut from the other side.

Here it is, cut in half. This is the bottom half. I took off all the blooms and any loose leaves.

I know it looks pretty ugly, but it will fill itself with suckers. You will then

This is the crown. I removed all those leaves to the left of it. They were loose. If there are too many leaves left on the crown, they will just wilt. Since you took away it's root system, it will not be able to support too many leaves.

Next, I fill a 2 1/2 inch pot with moist soil mix and just set the crown in it. Then I cover the plant with a baggie, or put it in a covered tray or container from the salad bar. It will be rooted in a month or so. After one week, go ahead and peak at the new roots coming. In a few weeks you will be able to gently tug on the plant, but the roots will hold tight. When it's covered in plastic, don't set it in direct sunlight. It needs bright light, but not to strong.

When it is well rooted, you need to gradually reintroduce it to the humidity of your room. It's under plastic at 100% humidity, and it will be in shock if you just take the baggie off and it has to deal with 30-40% humidity. So just crack the baggie for a couple days. If it's still crisp, open it half way for a few days. Still crisp? then you can get rid of the baggie.

Today is 6/23/2004. You can see all the suckers growing from the crown of the plant.

I am holding the sucker away from the crown so I can get in and cut it off with the exacto knife.

You can see what is left now. I have a small tray with 5 babies and will again set the mother plant aside to make more suckers. I did have to remove some leaves. It's better to loose old leaves than a baby.

Want to read more about growing African violets? Check out Barb Werness' site at