Plant Fertilizer – When More Isn’t Better

October 29, 2009 in African Violet, Gardening Techniques | 3 comments

There is one thing we should keep in mind when fertilizing our plants – the more isn’t the better. Even though I knew this rule-of-thumb very well (I thought I did…)  and practiced what I preached (for most of the time), recently, I’d over-fertilized my African violet – Frosted Denim – and burnt most of its flower buds :(

African Violet Care - Fertilizer African Violet Care - Fertilizer

African Violet Care - Fertilizer African Violet Care - Fertilizer

Real Life Example of Bad Fertilizing Practice

A few weeks ago, my African violet – Frosted Denim – was growing beautifully with many flower buds. Since African violets like to be continually fertilized during their blooming period, I diligently fed mine in a regular basis with diluted fertilizer. Read the rest of this entry »

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African Violet Care – How to Separate Crowns

July 10, 2009 in African Violet, Gardening Techniques | 14 comments

I bought my first pot of African violet a few months ago. While the newly acquired African violet is blossoming beautifully, I didn’t aware but only until another gardener pointed out to me that my African violet actually had multiple crowns.

As a curious gardening novice who like to try different things, I decided to take up this challenge and separate the crowns. It has been almost three months since I separated the crowns. Seeing that the separated crowns of my African violets are now growing healthily, I consider this “operation” as a successful one. And here, let me share with you how I did it.

African Violet Care - Seperate Crowns

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O Yes! Finally Started Growing!

May 28, 2009 in African Violet, Indoor Gardening 101 | 4 comments

Repotting African Violet

Repotting African Violet

Yes!  After repotted my Ness Fantasy Gold to a smaller container for about six weeks, I have finally found a sign of life!  My plant is finally growing!  This has confirmed that my guess is right.  Not only did I overwater my African violet, the ridiculously huge pot probably had caused rotten roots in the plant. Lucky that I have taken the correct action early enough, else my plant would have been killed by my silly ignorance (again…).

While a smaller container is the major factor that brings life back to my plant, the weather now in Hong Kong probably helps much as well.

It seems like everything just grows in spring :)

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My African Violet Doesn’t Like Its Big House

April 10, 2009 in African Violet, Indoor Gardening 101 | No comments

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

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Why My African Violet Isn’t Growing Much?

March 2, 2009 in African Violet | 4 comments

My African violet, fantasy gold, isn’t growing much since I bought it in November last year.  After some research that I have done and getting advices from other gardeners, I believe that the problem is due to overwatering and wrong size of container.  African violet hates soggy soil.   And with a container that is too large, the soil can be kept soggy for a very long period of time.

African Violet - Fantasy Gold

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