I have been taking care of my five African Violet plants with extreme care for one year.

I water from the bottom a little over every week when they need it. I only fertilized with African Violet food once, because I heard it burns them.

I bought a nice plant stand for them where they have adequate indirect light.

At once point, I cut back their leaves, because they looked lumpy and weird. They have since grown flush with new growth and the leaves are plump and beautiful with a brilliant green.

They are everything African Violet plants should be minus the flowers.

What's worse is I just read an article online that says African Violets should be blooming YEAR ROUND, not just in the spring or twice a year.

What can I do?

Thanks for your help.

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I'm not too good at this, but @Gerris2 might know about it

I'd say to fertilize but dilute the fertilizer for the waterings.

This page may be helpful.

https://africanvioletsocietyof...

My African Violets bloom year around when the plants receive the proper amount of light. I have mine in sunny indirect light from windows. If the plant does not grow and bloom, move it into brighter light. If the plant leaves looked burned or the leaves curl up to protect the crown, move it back away from the light.
I fertilize with Miracle Gro Hi Bloom, diluted, about every 3 or 4 months. I repot in fresh soil once a year, usually in the fall. Soil goes sour after a while.
I water the plants when the soil is dry. I tend to neglect them.
Hope this helps..

Gerris2 said: This page may be helpful.

https://africanvioletsocietyof...

Thanks, this website is helpful.

The leaves are going straight up. I have no idea where to put my AVs, because of lack of space.

They are 2 feet from the window, not 12 inches. It would be so awkward to put them a foot away from the wall, because of the shape of the room. Also, the sun moves and ut might shine on them.

I also didn't know I can repot them because on the AV FB page everyone says don't repot or they will get stressed and die. They've even provided pics of dead or dying AV plants. Yet, your webpage says to repot them to stress them out slightly so flowers will be stimulated! Also, fresh soil is important!

Also, the AV FB page says to only fertilize once a year or they will get burned and die, yet your webpage suggests I should fertilize weekly at a very low strength!

I can't believe how helpful your page has been. I might join the AV society. Thanks!

I think the AV FB might be talking about really concentrated solutionS?

ratchet said: My African Violets bloom year around when the plants receive the proper amount of light. I have mine in sunny indirect light from windows. If the plant does not grow and bloom, move it into brighter light. If the plant leaves looked burned or the leaves curl up to protect the crown, move it back away from the light.
I fertilize with Miracle Gro Hi Bloom, diluted, about every 3 or 4 months. I repot in fresh soil once a year, usually in the fall. Soil goes sour after a while.
I water the plants when the soil is dry. I tend to neglect them.
Hope this helps..

Thanks for these tips. I will look for Miracle Grow in the stores.

In my experience, the No 1 reason an African violet does not bloom is insufficient light. Contrary to 'many' sites and articles, African violets are not a low-light plant. In actuality, they prefer very bright light, but cannot tolerate direct sunlight ... putting them in line with a very bright window, but simply using a sheer curtain to moderate the intensity of the light, may be just what you need to stimulate the blooms.

Secondly, they should be watered (for the most part) from the bottom, but that can lead to fertilizer salts accumulating in the potting mix ... several times per year, I (carefully) water thoroughly from the top of the pot, taking great care 'not' to get water on the leaves (which can lead to spotting or rotting) to flush the potting mix.

And yes, you absolutely can repot ... usually about once per year, although I can go up to 18 months before some of them indicate a need. Size of the pot also matters: the pot should be roughly no more than one third the diameter of the plant. In other words, if the African violet is a 12-inch plant, the pot should not be larger than 4 inches. And the 'soil' mix should be slightly acidic, with more peat and perlite / vermiculite than soil (which is too heavy for the delicate roots and can retain too much water, leading to root rot).

I happen to be fortunate enough to have a long-established African violet grower in my county (about 1 1/2 hour drive away). They have created / registered numerous AVs, in business since the 1950s. They have great info on their website. I am including a link to their 'hints' page.

https://www.lyndonlyon.com/hin...

Good luck!

Dianne

If I lived there I would have a hard time with not buying more plants!~

Incredibly difficult to stay away from there! (Especially since the shipping cost is so high, and I can drive there in just over an hour.)

One more note, re: not blooming. I have 'read' that AV will absolutely 'not' bloom if they do not get at least 8 hours of 'dark' each night. It's a "must have" requirement in order to bloom. If there is a streetlight or other lighting near the window that gives the 'bright light' it might simply be that it needs a shade for night.

And really, just putting a 'sheer' curtain on the window eliminates 90% of the fuss over lighting. You don't have to worry about the leaves burning, and it's also a buffer against colder nights, cuts down on drafts, etc. I leave my plant stands right up to an inch or so from the sheer curtains, no worries.

Where did you read this, about needing 8 hours uninterrupted dark nights? AVs are so popular, it ought to be all over the web... but I'm not finding anything?

8-hour 'rest period' / darkness is needed to stimulate the hormone that promotes blooming...

https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Af...

https://www.plantindex.com/get...

https://www.almanac.com/conten...

https://africanvioletresourcec...
"Darkness promotes blooms in African violets, so it's crucial to make sure your plant gets some reprieve from sunlight and grow lights."

https://perfectviolets.com/pag...

"At night, let your African Violet relax in the dark. Darkness acts as a bloom cue for these plants, so it's important that they get an ample amount of time without bright lights. We recommend no less than 8 hours of darkness each day."

A lot of plants track the amount of darkness to keep track of seasons and blooming times, so yes, it is important to give AV's period(s) of dark time

Thank you, Dianne. Not surprisingly, only one out of your five links provided any credible sourcing, but we only need one! Yes, at least 8 hours of complete darkness seems to be the magic number.

Reading through the light sections of the links, I kept finding phrases like "AVs need a minimum 11 or 12 of light to bloom". I will agree that more light duration (up to the 16 hour max, of course, to provide the 8 hrs dark) will increase flowering simply due to great energy production, but it is not necessary. Grandma's AVs reside in Ely, Minnesota at the 48th parallel where the winter solstice day is 8 hrs 3 minutes. Her violets (one of the old original cultivars) never stop blooming.

Similarly, the daylight hours (notwithstanding any dark requirements) do not affect the ability to flower for Sinningia or Primulina, in my experience where at winter solstice the day is 8 hrs 42 minutes.

sedumzz said: A lot of plants track the amount of darkness to keep track of seasons and blooming times, so yes, it is important to give AV's period(s) of dark time

I know what you mean, but that's not what you said. You are claiming that since a lot of widgets (but not all widgets) do "x", therefore widget "A" does "x". There is no correlation.

This is exactly why I was looking for credible evidence of the need for darkness. People on the net always think they are writing what is in their head, but what comes out, not necessarily so.

You are correct: it is difficult to find credible 'source' info ... not uncommon for many sites to recycle the same info in a slightly different format, but very nice when they give the 'why' behind a blanket statement. Research done in a lab or by university gardens tends to be under controlled and (often) rigorous restrictions to make certain that cause/effect are genuinely linked.

https://www.allaboutgardening....

Also references need for 8-hour period of darkness. "In additional to daily sunlight, violets also need at least 8 hours of darkness. Flowering is stimulated by plant hormones, and these hormones are triggered by darkness. Providing the right amount of darkness will help encourage long-lasting beautiful blooms.

Natural darkness is fine, you don't need to move them into a completely blackened room every night, just be sure to turn off grow lights or other bright lights where your plants may be growing."

links to another page, which states - "The amount of indirect light they receive is equally important. These plants need between 10 and 14 hours of light a day to thrive and blossom. As odd as it seems, they also require 8 hours of darkness at night. The dark triggers florigen, their flowering hormone, which in turn helps them bloom more frequently."

Searching 'florigen' leads to more articles...

https://extension.psu.edu/why-...

https://www.hortzone.com/blog/...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

https://www.plantindex.com/afr...

And, perhaps the gem of all, the discovery of florigen...

https://www.scq.ubc.ca/florige...

Yes, I had gone down the florigen rabbit hole yesterday, but missed your last, best, link. What a great synopsis!

Wrong thread sorry