African Violet plant the leaves are curling.

Joan
by Joan
The plant is about 25 years old and I re-potted it last year. Perhaps the pot is to big? I water when it is dry .
I would hate to lose it after having it all this time.
  8 answers
  • Robyn Garner Robyn Garner on Oct 25, 2017

    Did you put it back in the same location? The pic looks like it's happy & healthy! I don't really see anything of concern to me but...she lives with you.ofDid you put it back in the same location? The pic looks like it's happy & healthy! I don't really see anything of concern to me but...she lives with you.


    Generally, curling leaves indicate lack of enough water.

    When watering, do you place the entire plant in a sink and water several times until it flows out the bottom drainage holes.

    I say "several times" as often when a plant is left to totally dry out, the first watering can create small "streams" in the dry dirt where the water does drain out the holes. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that ALL the soil has been wetted down.


    I found that once I began repotting my A.V. into larger pots, they suddenly grew much more quickly! I started to treat them as if they were any other outdoor flowering plant - watering a bit more frequently and moving to larger pots far more quickly.


    At this point, I began moving them to larger pots as soon as the leaves reached the edges of their current pots. I ended up with far larger A.V.'s that "they" claim is normal!


    As you repotted about 1 year ago and she looks so healthy, I would begin with watering fully (as described above) and a bit more often. Stick your finger in the soil and if it's dry down to the 1st or 2nd knuckle, water. You can give her a dose of direct sun for a couple of hours/day.


    OR....it may be that you only need to repot it into the same pot if you've got an elongated "neck".

    "...when potting down a neck, you do not use a smaller pot. Instead, you use the same pot. The time to use this procedure becomes apparent when the neck of an African Violet becomes elongated. This happens, most often, when an African Violet is subjected to a disease or nutrient imbalance which predominantly affects the oldest leaves. These are the bottom-most leaves of an African Violet. As these leaves die off, the neck (sometimes called the stalk or main stem) of an African Violet becomes more and more exposed until it appears abnormally elongated, i.e., more than 1/2 inch long. Since all new growth originates from the center of the crown, the only way to correct this is to pot down the neck."

    http://www.optimara.com/africanvioletcare3.html

    Read the above along with their other pages. Too much info to repost here but you will learn everything you need to know.

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  • Robyn Garner Robyn Garner on Oct 25, 2017

    Perhaps this page will sound familiar to you:

    "humidity is vital to the health of African Violets. In their native habitat, in the Usambara Mountains of East Africa, the relative humidity is generally about 70 to 80 percent. While this level of humidity would be difficult to maintain in most homes, you should try to provide your African Violets with at least 50 to 60 percent humidity. If the level of humidity is much less than this, an African Violet's transpiration rate will be greater than its ability to absorb water. As a consequence, buds will fail to open, plant growth will be slow, and leaves will begin to appear dry and shriveled."


    http://www.optimara.com/africanvioletcare1.html#anchor460712


    " it is important to remember that African Violets need at least eight hours of darkness, each day, in order to bloom. While African Violets need a sufficient duration of light to produce florigen (floweringhormone), florigen itself does not trigger blooming until it is dark. For this reason, African Violets should receive light for no more than 16 hours a day."


    "While African Violets need a certain amount of essential elements to grow and reproduce, too much can be harmful......Such imbalances in the elements that are absorbed by African Violets can cause a number of additional problems, such as droopy or chlorotic leaves, leaf tip burn and diminished flowering."


    AHA!!! This page is so you and Lady A.V. can visit with Dr. Optimara!

    http://www.optimara.com/doctoroptimara.html

  • Janet Panos Janet Panos on Oct 26, 2017

    Helli! Most African violets cannot thrive if the temperature is below 60°. If you are putting your African violet in a window in order for it to get the sunlight needs, perhaps it is too cold next to the window in the evening when temperatures drop . If it is too cool for the plant in the evening, this can be the reason why the leaves are curling .

  • Christina Yates Christina Yates on Oct 26, 2017

    I wouldn't presume to be as knowledgeable as the other contributors but my mam had an African Violet for many years and always watered from underneath never into the plant. She also gave it cold tea, her plant flourished. I have one which I've had for a few years and try to follow my mam's lead. I had mine passed on to me from an old friend so I have no idea how old it is. Oh and deadheading is quite important too


  • DiannaLynne DiannaLynne on Oct 26, 2017

    so many good answers but I'd like to add one thing. So many people are afraid to get the leaves of AVs wet, but they do enjoy a lukewarm shower, too. I set mine in a tub and rinse off the dust, then water well and let sit in the tub, allowing them to soak up water from the bottom, then let them drain well. Occasionally saturating the soil this way, and rinsing off the dust helps them to thrive.

  • Hausfrau Hausfrau on Oct 26, 2017

    With so many blooms, the plant is basically happy and healthy. It looks like the stem has gotten too long. When an African Violet starts to look like a palm tree, it should be repotted lower in the same pot. (It doesn't need a bigger pot, just lower.) Snap off any really old lower leaves and trim the bottom of the roots so the plant will sit lower in the pot. Fill in new soil with a long-handled spoon. New roots will grow out of the stem that is now below "ground level".

    I used to cut off almost the whole root ball of overgrown violets and then put the plants into "intensive care" for a week inside a jar or clear plastic box to protect them from drying out until new roots could form. If the surgery is not so drastic, you can just leave the plant in the open air, but be sure to keep the soil damp.

    Damp means: Not wet, not dry. Stick a finger in the soil. If it comes out with soil stuck to it, that is damp. If it has mud on it, it is too wet. Soggy soil smells moldy and will kill an African Violet.

    You seem to be doing everything right. Just repot, and water enough to keep it damp.


  • Nancy Nancy on Jun 06, 2019

    I have curly under leaves as well but the plant is healthy and blooming real good I just moved them last year in a bigger pot and they don't seem to be as curled! As you can see in the picture one is curled the other is not they share the same window I don't do anything different from the other. No bugs either. Do they need to be moved again?