Repotting African Violets
By Carolee Carter
Repotting your African
violets should be a regular part of your basic care to these plants.
While the plants love to be root-bound in their pots, there comes a time when
the potting mix becomes stale, fertilizer salts accumulate and the mix no
longer provides the roots with nutrients. Additionally, as your plant
ages, the lower row of leaves eventually dies. As you remove those
leaves, a “neck” will begin to appear on the plant. Once you repot and
sink that neck below the surface of the mix, new roots will be formed around
the neck, giving the plant a boost of energy.
Here's what you do: remove the
plant from the pot. Inspect the roots for any damage. They should
be grayish or whitish in color, not brown and mushy, which indicates that the
soil has been kept too wet. Remove any older, yellowing leaves.
Then remove any soil that easily falls off in your hands. If there is a
neck, cut off an equal portion of soil from the bottom of the plant so that
when you replace the plant in the pot you can "sink" it up to the
bottom row of leaves. Generally, the size of the pot should be no larger
than one-third the size of the diameter of the plant. Most standard-size
plants do well in 4-inch pots. Some of the very large standards can be
potted into a 5- or 6-inch pot. If you are using the same pot, make sure
that you scrub all of the debris from inside the pot before you replace the
plant into it.
Most of the commercial African violet soil mixes on the market are fine.
Open the bag and put the mix in a lidded container. Mix some tepid water
into the mix until it feels damp to the touch. Depending on your watering
methods, you should add some perlite to the mix to "lighten" it
up. If you are top or bottom watering you would not add as much as you
would if you have your plants in those attractive china automatic watering
containers that are so popular today. Start with 2/3rds mix to 1/3rd perlite.
Once you've watered the plant, pick it up to see if it feels heavy.
You'll know after experimenting whether the mix is the right consistency.
The roots of African violets need to be able to move readily through the mix,
and if it becomes too heavy from water, it may impede the roots' progress to
the sides of the pot.
Now to the actual repotting: Put about a half-inch of mix in the bottom
of the pot, then place the plant in the pot and fill around the sides and up to
the bottom row of leaves, which should now be sitting just above the rim.
Once the repotting has been completed, water the plant lightly.