Feeding & Watering Tips for African Violets

Be very careful in watering your African violet. Do not put any water on the leaves. It creates crown rot, fungal problems and it just discolors your leaves. You can water it by a wick. My favorite way to water my African violets is this: Take a large pan, put your African violets on the pan, take your fertilizer, your water soluble fertilizer; in fertilizing your African violets, you want to use something of a twenty, twenty, twenty nature, triple sixteen, so long as its water soluble and you apply it once a week when you water. You can take a spray bottle, being careful not to miss the leaves. You can put pots of warm water around your African violets, creating a humidity bath that way. My favorite way is this; take the saucer that's one size larger than your African violet, fill it full of gravel. Then fill your saucer two-thirds of the weight with warm water. Take your African violet and sit it on top of the gravel making sure that the African violet is not sitting in the water. Another wonderful tip is if you live in an area that has a lot of chlorine in your water, make sure that you leave your water overnight so that the chlorine can evaporate and when you water your African violets, use warm water or room temperature water. African violets do not like extreme temperature changes. When you have your African violets in your home, make sure they are not close to a either a heater or an air conditioner or an open door that can create a draft. Again, the ideal temperature for your African violets is between 68 and 78 with the ideal temperature in your home being 72 or 74. If you keep these temperatures at a constant, you will have a very happy African violet.