When most people think of gardening, growing plants outside immediately comes to mind. But for some, growing houseplants is an important gardening activity.
The African violet (Saintpaulia) is one of the most popular. African violets are hybrids from species native to Central and East Africa. Plants form clusters of roundish or pointed succulent, fuzzy leaves that are dark green on top and paler underneath. Flowers appear any time of year and can be blue, purple, white, pink or magenta. The plant's shape may be single, semi-double or fully double. Some are even rimmed with white.
African violets need a moisture-retaining, yet fast-draining potting mix. I use commercial African violet potting mix, but some Master Gardeners combine three parts peat moss with one part perlite and one part compost or sterilized loam.
Normal household temperatures are great for growing African violets. The plants need good light but shade from direct sunlight. These plants also do very well in office settings under fluorescent lights.
It's easy to start your own African violets from leaf cuttings, just ask the staff at the Master Gardener office. Our counters are decorated with cute pots containing violets of all sizes. Some are huge and loaded with blooms, others contain leaf cuttings. Mature leaves are used for cutting and are taken with the stems. They may be rooted either in water, being careful to keep the leaf itself dry, or in potting mix. Each cutting usually results in several plants.
However, I have successfully rooted them in water, only to lose them after transferring them to mix. One reason is that roots formed in water differ from ones formed in soil. Now I dip all my cuttings into rooting hormone,
stick them four per 4-inch pot of mix, then water well. Further watering is done on the same weekly schedule as my mature potted plants.
Patience is helpful because it may take several months for new plants to emerge. When little plants crowd the pot, the plants are carefully separated and individually repotted into 4-inch pots, in which the plants remain until the outer leaves begin to extend over the rims of the pots. I repot one more time into 6-inch pots, the size used for all my mature African violets.
Water on a weekly schedule with room-temperature water containing commercial African violet fertilizer diluted to package directions. Violets may be watered either from the top or from the bottom. If watered from the bottom, do not let water stand in the saucer more than two hours.
Have you noticed the double plant pots that are so popular in the stores? These are perfect for growing African violets. Just be sure to check the water level every so often.
Pick off old blooms and limp, faded, lower leaves. When plant stems get too elongated, it's time to repot. This is easy to do. Remove plant from the pot, pick off lower leaves to reshape the plant and simply repot deeper. New roots will form along the stem, and your plant will suffer little or no shock.
沒有留言:
張貼留言