African Violet - Brown Edges on Leaves

[Schila]

I've had this AV for almost 1 year and sometimes it blooms and sometimes is just all leaves. Lately I've notice that the edges of some leaves have turned brown. What do you thing could have go wrong with this AV? Will this brown edges go back to their normal green or will I have to cut them? I brought it to my office and is 8 hours under a fluorescent light to see if this helps. Any idea.

[1joyceh]

if you are feeding the AV might be too much, they are not big feeders...or the leaves got wet when watering...they really hate wet leaves....the other possibility would be it was too close to a light or too sunny window, and that burned the leaves....sorry can't think of any other reasons...someone else will come along and offer other suggestions, I am sure

[Schila]

Thank you Joyce.
Yes I've been feeding them every other week. I have 4 AV and they are all in self watering pots. I leave the water in the outer pot for a week when it's time to change. This one is the only one that have brown edges on the leaves, the other three are completely healthy and they are all in the same place. I wonder what went wrong with this one.

[JudyC]

I have to agree with Joyce and the leaves will not go back to green. I'd remove the worst of the bunch. I've heavily pruned some of my AV & they bounced back & actually loved it.

[jpyerry]

If the leaves are brown and mushy, another possibility is overwatering which is really easy to do if you are using self-watering pots and standard AV mix. I usually try to compensate for this by adding an additional cup of perlite to each cup or so of AV mix, it helps to open the mixture up and prevents it from getting too soggy. If the leaves are brown and crunchy, then I would tend to agree that it is probably over-feeding. I agree with the notion of pruning the plant, the leaves will not self-repair and AV's do not mind being pruned.

[lmartiny]

I don't have any knowledge/advice to offer, but I've got one that looks like it may progress to what yours is doing. They sit on a north facing window sill and are largely ignored, so overwatering isn't the problem for me. Mine have not rebloomed at all.

[Jlie]

Just off the top of my head, in general, a leaf's edges will brown due to overwatering, overfeeding (or accumulated salts), suffocating media, or low humidity. I'll second what everyone above has been saying ^_^

You can try flushing the soil to leech out excess salts and decrease feeding, or like what jpyerry suggests and mix in sand or perlite to your potting medium (I actually let my AVs run drier than wet). And they do enjoy pruning, you'll see vigorous growth in the coming months. Good luck!

[Ron]

Is it grown in an african violet water well with the wick systems.
This method is usually trouble free.
I agree the leaves/plant has been too wet and from the look of the new leaves growing smaller than the outside older leaves, seems you have had the problem for a while.
I use to grow mine in the loungeroom and if I passed my hand over the plant about 12 inches above it it would only cast a very light shadow.
They do not like too bright a light.
Light on fertilizer applications as well, flush with fresh water every few weeks.
Enjoy as they are my favorite house plant

[Schila]

Thanks !
So I prune all the leaves that had brown edges and I'm not feeding as regularly as I was. The leaves are like some of you say, crunchy which suggests that the problem was with feeding. Now I have a question with these self watering pots. What I do is I pour the water and leave it there until the next change, which I do once a week. Is this how self watering pots work? Now when you put the water in, I admit that my level water goes up to almost the middle of the inside pot. Is this how high it should go or just barely touching the bottom of the inside pot?
Thank you again....

[Schila]

Originally Posted by Ron

flush with fresh water every few weeks.
Enjoy as they are my favorite house plant

I thought that when you used self watering pots you were NOT supposed to water from the top. To flush with fresh water, I believe that you mean that I have to pour water from the top. If I do this in this self watering pots that water will not go throught the ceramic pot and it will rot the AV. Am I wrong?

[JudyC]

Haven't a clue about self watering pots. I'm old school. I like to know/feel/see for myself who needs what when.

In my normal clay or plastic pots, my violets still only need a good drink approx. 1x/week at most, depending on the conditions that week in my house.

My mini violets all have wicks I made and they sit on a pebble tray. They tend to dry out alot quicker than their "big brothers" do in my house.

How's the potting soil in the plant before you water? Is it completely dry? When was the last time it was changed? Maybe the soil has gone sour from too much fertilizer?