So glad I found this page.. I have been trying to keep my AV alive for about a year. I was watering from the top. The room they are in is always about 70-72 .. and I found that I was having to water them almost every other day as the tops would be dried out. So - i switched to a water mat under the pot the other week and have having some difficulties as well. I will post pics and maybe someone can give me advice. I use AV soil from an AV store (online) and they are on a windowsill with east exposure -- indirect sunlight. One of my faves just died - with black roots and I cut them off.. and repotted the crown. Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong is greatly appreciated.. I will post pics of the 2 that are doing the worst.

They don't look too bad to me. Perhaps floppy leaves due to under watering.
Indoors they will dry out quickly due to temperature and low humidity. If you have to water every other day, you may be underwatering. I water mine slowly and deeply. African violet soil is very fluffy. You need to water it slowly. I have grown them with saucers under the pots to collect water and it gets absorbed.
Watering from the bottom so that the water "wicks" up is not a good way to water. It takes a good deal of water to get the water to wick up to get the roots moist at the top of the pot. You should water from the top and water the soil, not the leaves.
My home is very dry during the winter due to the house heat being on, but even so, I am not watering more often then that.

thank you very much. that is very interesting. I read on an AV site that people had a lot of success with the water mats that sit in a saucer made for the mat. Before that I was watering from the top with a small necked watering can. When you say to water "slowly" - can you tell me what exactly you mean? And the room - I realized - is probably closer to the mid 70's in temperature - it is the "hot" room in our house and where my office is. I thought my problem was that I was over-watering - because the top of the soil seems to be dried out every other day. Hence - the water mats. Should I be watering from the top until the plant is completely wet/soaked? I have never found a direct answer to that -- whether the soil (which I bought from an AV store online (african violet barn - and is very porous) should be watered until it is completely soaking wet? I did have saucers under all of them to capture any water. I may take them off the mats and try top watering again. Thanks again.. appreciate it.

I water slowly and by that I mean, a little water, let it soak in, a little more water, let it soak and so forth.
You are not suppose to get water on the leaves unless they dry off quickly.
I am not an advocate of watering at the bottom of the pot and have it "wick up". I can never be sure how much water the roots are getting. I believe the roots are fairly shallow so I water from the top where the roots are.
Mine are underlights and bloom repeatedly. My room temperatures here in Michigan are 64-67 degrees typically. Underlights they dry out very quickly. But my rule of thumb has always been to top water any plant but the ones with Hairy leaves can have a problem if water sits on those leaves.
No, I never really soak them! Mine are in 4" shallow plastic pots and maybe they get like 6 ounces of water once every 5-7 days. They are never soaked but they will tolerate bone dry for a short period of time.

deblynng said:One of my faves just died - with black roots and I cut them off.. and repotted the crown.

Black roots are root rot. AV's should be planted into pots that are 1/3 the diameter of the plant and planted in a 50/50 mix of AV soil and perlite. Water only when dry. I water from the bottom until the top is wet and then I dump out all excess water. AV's don't like wet feet. There are times where one will need to water from the top to flush out all of the salts and accumulated minerals (I currently need to do this with mine). Leaves collapsing and curling are also a sign of root rot - I would take a couple of leaves and root them in water in the event you lose the plants.

You indicated that you repotted the crown - may I ask what was left root wise of the crown? My thoughts are that you need to cut the roots off until you see no rot in the stem of the plant and remove any rotting leaves, repot and then bag your plant in a ziplock bag - blow some air into it before sealing. You don't want the leaves touching the sides of the bag. You should see the leaves start to regain some turgidity. In about a month or so, you can remove the plant from the bag - acclimating it slowly to the air outside of the bag.

I have seen where a number of people like to wick water and swear by it - I don't. I never got that far and what I am doing now is working well for me.

An Eastern exposure is good - although my question to you is how cold does it get on the windowsill? I am in North eastern Penna and right now, my windowsills are still cold.

It is all a learning experience. I cannot tell you how many AV's I have lost in the past with my 'learning experiences'. You will get there and have gorgeous blooming African Violets before you know it

thank you both for responding. I took away the mats.. and gave them a thorough, slow watering. They look happy right now. With regard to the one that had root rot - I cut away all the black root up to the crown where there are a few leaves left -- although they are definitely wilted. I have transerred it now in soil in a plastic bag - let's see what happens. I'm not expecting any miracles with this one -- not sure why out of the 6 or 7I have - t hat it developed root rot - since I care for them all the same way. One more q uestion - the pic of the one plant that has a lot of leaves - and the bottom layer was drooping.. would you think I need to prune that plant? I don't know if its a type of AV that has a lot of leaves --and its ok.. Or I should be pruning? It had 2 flowers about a month ago bloom. I started to prune off the lower leaves - but only took 2 off -.I'm still learning how to identify "suckers" but I"m not great at it. I can't tell if all the many little leaves throughout are suckers and should be removed - or if it is a type of AV that just grows like that.. hope that makes sense - and thanks again!

I looked at your photo and I see at least 4 plants in there. It could be a trailer, but I think the leaves on a trailer tend to be smaller. I would unpot and divide all of the little plants in that pot with a sharp knife. I would also bag the plants that you repot. It should take about a month or so for both the plant that only had a crown and these plants that you divide and bag. I generally see a plant bounce back after bagging soon afterwards.

Good luck to you.

I have taken rootless African violets with just a few leaves and a viable core or trunk. I dip the trunk into root tone powder. Within a few short weeks, some rooted, a few didn't. There are no guarantees.
I would never use a plastic bag to root something.

Bill -

Too each their own and I totally understand that and I respect that. What works for one, will not necessarily work for another and there are no hard and fast rules.

I have lost very few AV's after surgery since I started bagging them. I also bag or dome them when propagating them and it works well for me.

I have bagged a few andbthey ended up in the circular file!
If it works for you, that is what counts.

So - I"m happy to report that my AVs seems to be doing pretty well. I have 3 in great big bloom... 2 with flower buds ready to start.. and my 2 little babies are growing (I had to move the babies off the window sill as they could not tolerate the sun and some leaves burned). But my question is now.. for the 3 in full bloom - are they ready to be moved in to a bigger pot yet? they are all in either a 4-5" pot. And also... just FYI - I have to water these guys like every 3 or 4 days.. probably because they are on the window sill getting East sun? Not sure - but they seem pretty happy with the water and AV food I use.