What kind of soil is best for African Violets
Today, I will introduce the introduction of the herbaceous flower African Violet, what kind of soil is best for African Violets, and the following editor will introduce to the netizens.
In recent years, more and more friends have started growing African Violets, but some friends can't seem to grow them well. Let's take a look at the planting material, maybe it's because the wrong material is used. This article is a friend's experience in caring for the plant, and I believe that friends can learn valuable experience from it.
Let's first talk about the planting material. African Violets still prefer loose material, such as peat, grass charcoal, and very fine decomposed leaf soil (I have used all these). The last two, after proper disinfection and removal of insect eggs, mixed with half proportion of perlite, make excellent soil for African Violets. Do not consider garden soil and sand.
Let's also talk about the pot. As African Violets have weak roots and not very developed root systems, a pot that is too large can easily cause root suffocation and long-term vegetative growth. African Violets will only feel the pressure to survive and use the absorbed nutrients for reproductive growth when the roots touch the pot wall and cannot expand further, at which point they will bloom. If you really want to use a pot with a large mouth, the solution is to have a shallow pot with a thin layer of soil. In general, a large pot is not conducive to growth. The benefit of a small pot is that it is less prone to root rot and can bloom earlier, but the downside is that it is easy to accumulate various waste and quickly acidify or alkalize the soil.
The most fundamental solution is to change the soil every half a year and trim some of the roots and remove some of the old soil. For young seedlings, just transplant them to a pot one size larger. For old plants that have been growing for several years and have undergone several soil changes, the entire plant has seriously aged, and it is best to cut the top to regenerate roots and activate its vitality.
The timing of changing soil is after the temperature stabilizes at around 20℃ in March and in the autumn when the temperature is the same. At this temperature, new roots will generally grow within a week.
For friends who cannot change the soil every half a year or every year due to constraints, my solution is to do a "root wash" every half month when the plant is growing vigorously, which means浇watering with a lot of water to flush out the waste accumulated in the potting soil, thus giving the roots a clean environment. The various mineral elements in the water, when accumulated to a certain value in the potting soil, will severely affect the metabolic function of the root hairs.
At first, I used grass charcoal soil as the planting material for African Violets, and there were no problems, and it grew well. After the flowers, I normally changed the soil, and some seedlings were transplanted to larger pots. But soon after, these plants would suddenly die. At first, I suspected it was a fungal problem, but those in the same environment that had not been transplanted were fine. Later, I suddenly realized it was a problem with the planting material. What happened was that my old material was made of grass charcoal, and the new soil was made of peat. As an experienced grower of succulents for many years, I overlooked this problem in growing African Violets. The plant's roots had completely adapted to the pH and concentration of various elements in the original pot. In other words, this kind of root grows under this kind of material. When fresh soil is introduced, the old and new soil in the pot are completely different environments. The huge contrast causes the roots to be completely unaccustomed, and the weakened roots are easily infected by bacteria, leading to the death of the whole plant. Therefore, when changing new soil, it is necessary to use the same soil as before. For plants that have been grown for too long, even if it's the same soil, the properties of the old soil have changed too much, and direct transplantation may also cause uncertain consequences. So it is recommended to cut the top and regenerate.
The depth from the pot edge to the soil surface, at first, I left about one centimeter of pot edge depth like other flowers. After growing for a while, I found that the bottom leaf stalks were bruised, which was caused by the pot edge. This can easily cause fungal infection. The leaves of the violet are flat and long, and in strong light, they will even flip over. The pot edge contacting the leaf stalk can injure it when you touch the plant. So now, after potting, the potting soil is almost full.
The above [] introduces the complete content of what kind of soil is best for African Violets. Have the green plant enthusiasts understood?