Growing African Violets

How to Care for African Violets

African Violets are delightful houseplants and will brighten up any room with their purple, pink, or white colors.

Pennsylvania State University

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African violets are small houseplants that produce clusters of white, blue, or purple flowers over fuzzy leaves. Here’s how to care for African violets in your home!

African violets will bloom with lower light, though medium to bright indirect light is best. They can be a bit fussy, so check out more tips on how to make sure your African violets bloom.

Planting

How to Plant African Violets

You can use an actual African violet potting mix or an all-purpose potting soil. Here’s how to create your own mix.
Keep them planted in small pots and re-pot once a year to mix in fresh soil.
The soil should be loose and well-drained, and high organic matter content is beneficial. Learn about organic soil amendments.

Care

How to Care for African Violets

Keep the soil lightly moist and use room temperature water.
Leaves are susceptible to rot if kept in high humidity, so water African violets from the bottom to avoid getting excess water on the leaves.
Dust dirt off the leaves with a small, soft brush.
Fertilize every 2 weeks with a high phosphorous plant food, but only during the spring and summer growing season. Only start to fertilize when the plant appears to need an extra boost. Over-fertilizing is a more common problem than under-fertilizing.
Many varieties prefer warm conditions (65°F / 18°C or warmer) though some can tolerate cooler conditions. Keep away from drafty windows in winter.
Thin, dark green leaves and leggy stems tell you that the plant is getting too little light; light green or bleached leaves indicate too much light.
Plants should be shifted to larger pots as they grow, but keeping African violets slightly root-bound can encourage them to bloom. The optimal time for repotting is after some leaves have wilted a bit.

For more information on African violets, visit the website for the African Violet Society of America at www.avsa.org.

African violet flowers

Pests/Diseases

Cyclamen mites can occur. They are nearly impossible to remove completely, so disposal of the infected plant and isolation of nearby plants is recommended.
Powdery Mildew
Various forms of rot and blight

Recommended Varieties

There are hundreds of varieties and hybrids, from miniature violets to trailing varieties! They differ mainly in the colors of their flowers, which range from white to purple, though some varieties have variegation in their foliage and flowers as well.

African violets are typically classified by size, based on how wide they grow:

Miniature: less than 8 inches across
Standard: 8–16 inches across
Large: more than 16 inches across

Wit & Wisdom

Violets—though unrelated to African violets—are one of the February birth flowers, so a potted African violet can make a bright gift for a February birthday.
African violets originally come from Tanzania. Find out more about these dainty flowers here.
The violet symbolizes loyalty, devotion, and faithfulness. Find out more flower symbolism here.

Reader Comments

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Odd violet growth

I'm fairly new to growing violets. I have four (one I propagated myself, YAY!) and they've all done reasonably well. However on two of them, the central "crown" of leaves are growing in a tight clump, rather like a cabbage or something. It looks to me like there are far too many leaves on each plant, too. Weirdest thing. I've watered more, watered less, fertilized, not fertilized, turned, changed the location and lighting, all to no avail. Oh, and they've stopped blooming, too. I'd appreciate any help you could give me at all! Thanks in advance.

African Violets

It’s normal for violets to grow with a tight crown that spreads out over time, but it sounds like your plants’ new growth could be stunted, which would cause a “traffic jam” of sorts in the center of the plant. Stunted growth can be caused by a number of things, but because you’ve tried adjusting your care in multiple ways already, you may want to try treating the plants for pests, specifically cyclamen mites. Cyclamen mites are tiny, nearly-invisible mites that attack new growth and can cause stunted growth if their numbers get out of control. Other symptoms of mites include grayish leaves and twisted leaves in the center of the plant.

First, you should isolate the affected plants away from other plants, then try a few rounds of treatment with an insecticidal soap spray, which you can find in most garden or hardware stores. Make sure it’s meant for mites and other houseplant pests. Before you treat the whole plant, try the pesticide on a leaf or two, then wait about a day to make sure that there is no adverse reaction.

African violets

My grandma could grow the most beautiful violets ! Me not so much.She had up to 30 different plants in her east window seat turned violet heaven.

Violets

Can u plant violets outside in shade. Very little sun

1 yr old African violet

The outer leaves are turning light brown and there are tiny, tiny white powder-like on a few green leaves. Are these mites? They are heavy on one leaf and sparse on another, The plant is still blooming. I have other plants and don't want my other plants to get anything. I will appreciated your advise on this, please.

Pests

It sounds like you could be describing mealybugs or spider mites. Spider mites create thin webbing on the plant, while mealybugs look like tiny white, cottony spots. In either case, the first thing you should do is separate the infected plant away from others and check the plants around it for signs of the pest. They like to hang out on the undersides on leaves and in the center of the plant, where they feed on new growth. They both spread by crawling from plant to plant, so ensure that the infected plant is sufficiently far from other houseplants.

The pests can be wiped off or squished with a paper towel (or your fingers), but there are likely more than just the ones you are seeing. Try treating the plant with horticultural soap or neem oil. These can be bought at most garden centers or hardware stores, and are organic pesticides. It’s important to test the pesticide on a single leaf and wait 24 hours before using it on the rest of the plant, just to make sure that the plant won’t react negatively to it.

If this doesn’t improve the situation, you may need to dispose of the plant, unfortunately. But preventing a larger infestation should be the #1 priority!

How long do African Violets live?

I'm seeing comments that some African Violets are quite old. With proper care, how long can I expect my violet to live?

African Violet life span

I have an African Violet that is 25 years old and doing well.

African violet

African violet. After rooting a single leaf and planting it the plant has started, do I remove the single leaf? Can I root the single leaf again?

African Violet Leaf

It’s not necessary to remove the old leaf, but in theory you could use the same leaf again if you carefully separated it from the new plant. Depending on how young the new plant is, the old leaf may still be supporting it, so it would be wise to wait until the new plant is well rooted and is big enough to sustain itself.

African violets

I have one violet that has a growth like thing in the middle of my violet. Originally the violet was full of leaves but they are turning brown at the base,getting soft and die. My violets are in a east window about 24 inches from window and gets no direct hot sun. I water mostly from base but occasionally will water from top if they appear really dry. Never had this before so don’t know what to do or what is causing the growth.

leaves turning brown

We can’t explain the “growth like thing”—at least sight unseen. However, wet leaves or too much water can lead to the brown-edged leaves and softness you describe. It may be that the soil is not draining. The African Violet Society (linked above) may have more detail about these specific conditions here on its “101” pages: http://www.avsa.org/learning

Unusual growth on african violet

I have an african violet that is several years old and has always done well. Recently I noticed two brain like growths at the base. I haven't been able to find any information about a growth like that so I am not sure if it needs to be treated or how to treat it. The plant seems to be starting to suffer. Can you provide any information about growths like this?

Violets

I have large violets and on one violet plant, there are two stems with flowers. On a couple of the flowers are green-like pod. Are these the seeds of the flowers or what might they be? Can I repost those pods like seeds or??

African violet seeds

Yes, it does sound like the green pods that you are seeing are actually the seedpods of the African violet. These form once the flower is fertilized and the petals fade. Pods may contain 200 to 300 seeds, or some might contain few or none. The seeds are extremely tiny. A seedpod must remain on the plant to mature, which takes about 3 to 6 months. The bright green pod will eventually dry and brown, and the stem will shrivel. Once this happens, you can harvest the pod (be sure to harvest before the pod splits open) and let it sit in a cool, dry place for a week or two before sowing the seeds or storing the pod in an airtight container. The seeds, once planted, will probably not produce the same characteristics as the parents. To sow them, open the pod and scatter the seeds on moist growing medium, such as peat moss mixed with vermiculite and perlite. Cover the growing medium with plastic wrap; place in light, such as by a window with indirect light or about 10 inches under fluorescent lights for around 10 or 12 hours. Keep warm, about 75F. Keep moist by misting with water every so often. Germination, which depends on several factors, may be between 1 and 4 weeks, or even more.

Blooms

My blooms died off and I snipped them, will the new blooms sprout from those same stems, or will new ones pop up? This is my first African violet.

African Violet Blooms

New flowers will not emerge from an old stem, so you may snip the flower stem back to its base once all the buds have opened and faded. This will help to encourage the plant to send up new stems with new blooms.

Here are a few more tips that might help your African violets bloom.

African. Violet

How do you take care of African. Violet

African violet care

The tips on how to care for an African Violet are on this very page! if you have further questions, please let us know.

African violet in the Photo

Where can I get an African violet exactly like the one pictured here please?

Should Be Easy

Hi, Dayshauna: Just check with your local nursery or florist… they’ll know! Thanks for asking!

leaves growing over blooms

How do I get the leaves to stop growing over the blooms? The leaves are growing straight up.

African violets

How do I stop the leaves from growing straight up over blooms?

I just love all the

I just love all the information you have. Just from reading old questions and answers I have solved so many problems with my violets and other plants. Thank you.

You are ...

… very, very welcome!

wilted leaves

I have a medium-sized African violet that blooms with trailing flowers but the leaves turn brown and wilted-looking. The stems of these leaves are solid. What is wrong with this plant?

Make sure that you don’t

Make sure that you don’t overwater and that the soil drains well. If you have the African violet in a bright window move it to a spot with indirect sunlight for a while. If you are using tap water for watering you may want to switch to bottled water and see if that helps. Many public water supplier use chloramine to treat the water and there are concerns that chloramine may cause African violets not to thrive and leaves turn yellow or brown.

I would love more information

I would love more information on African violets

African Violets

Hi Jean, You may enjoy this other article about African Violets: http://www.almanac.com/blog/gardening/gardening/african-violets

root growth out of pot

I have an African Violet Plant about 10+ years old. It has always bloomed beautifully. It was growing so large, so I transplanted it into a larger pot. It stopped blooming and the root has come out of the soil. I covered it back with soil and it came out again. So, I left it alone. Now it is about 4 inches out of the soil, and grows towards the sunlight. It is growing out of the pot and I am afraid I will break it if I try and bend it back into the pot. what do I do?