My African Violet Doesn’t Like Its Big House

Ok! Here is a lesson that I have learned recently – Don’t try to save ourselves some work by planting our houseplant in a container too large, for we could damage or even kill our plants!

Repotting African Violet Repotting African Violet

I have bought a little Ness Fantasy Gold (Saintpaulia) in October last year. Once after I brought my African violet home, I repotted the houseplant into a bigger container and watered it whenever the surface of the soil feels dry.

Yet, despite of my constant care, my African violet has never grown at all in this half a year! In fact, instead of growing bigger and stronger, my African violet is getting weaker, with discolored, yellowish leaves that, at some point, may droop and die young 🙁

After some researches online and getting advices from other gardeners, I have learned that the big container of my plant may be the root cause of this problem. Originally, I thought that a garden container too large wouldn’t hurt. Since I would need to repot my houseplant later anyways, I could just pot my African violet into a larger container now and save myself some work later. Wrong thinking!

Lesson Learned

Only now I have learned the importance of the size of garden containers. A container too big will lead to rotten roots. The extra soil in the big container will keep staying wet all the time, causing rotten roots in the plant.

Repotting African Violet Repotting African Violet Repotting African Violet Repotting African Violet

I have just repotted my Ness Fantasy Gold into a smaller container – a much, much smaller one.

Repotting African Violet Repotting African Violet

It is actually quite embarrassing when I put the two containers side-by-side, showing how silly I was using such an oversize container for my little African violet…

Hope my little African violet will survive. I am crossing my fingers now 🙂

Related Post:Why My African Violet Isn’t Growing Much?
I once guessed that it might be a problem of overwatering.  I got part of it right.  But I missed the key factor – the size of the garden container – the reason why the soil had been kept wet all the time.

2 comments to My African Violet Doesn’t Like Its Big House

  • Kit Fizz

    i have an African Violet that is 18 years old–in a 5″ self watering pot.. Should I consider finding a larger pot for it ???

    • Sandy Sandy

      Hi Kit Fizz,

      It is the size of the plant, but not the age of the plant, that matters when we decide on the size of the pot. Yet, if your plant hasn’t been repotted for a long period of time, its root system may have been pot-bounded and may need to be rootpruned and repotted (either to its original pot or to a new pot).

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