Houston, we have a problem.....

[chefatplay]

I went to water my violets today and noticed this on my one violet. In the past week or two, two other of my violets have lost all of their flowers. Now this one is too and the leaf has turned brown. Can anyone help me with this? Do I have thirps? Do I have a fungus? Too much water, not enough?

Until I know more, I have taken this one from the group, however they have all been living together.

[chefatplay]

Pictures, dummy, they need pictures to see what is wrong......

[electric.chowder]

How do you water your violets? Try to avoid getting water on the leaves, esp. cold water (I think this goes for most fuzzy leafed plants), it left on the leaves it can form brown spots, I'd say if you don't like the damaged leaves, pull 'em off and try rooting them, that's what I usually do with ones that get damaged

good luck!

[Sharyn]

Ellen: I never water mine from the top. We have the special violet containers with the water in the base so I'm not familiar with damaged leaves. These links might help you to identify thrips. The second link refers to brown spots underneath the leaves.

I agree with electric.chowder that cold water splashed on the leaves will leave brown spots. I've only seen that on the top of leaves, not underneath. I'm sure I saw somewhere on the forum that some people are misting their violets with the worm tea - never tried it myself. Good luck.

http://www.steverd.com/violets/thrips.htm
http://www.optimara.com/doctoroptima...is/thrips.html

[chefatplay]

Sharyn, I was the one that started misting my violets with Worm Tea, only because I didn't know any better. It was suggested that light misting was okay as long as they didn't hit sunlight.

HOWEVER, I will not mist my violets anymore. They were beautiful until I started doing that. I've lost the flowers on three out of four plants now.

I hope that is all that's wrong. How long before I can see a difference? I love the flowers.

[mayres]

My guess would also be that the problem is sunlight hitting the leaves when they are wet. Otherwise they can take the water on the leaves with no problem at all - at least that has been our experience - we do it all the time. I've had 200 of them at one time - though now to my wife's dismay we have replaced all but about 5-6 of them with orchids. mike

[sandra]

Ellen, my heart just sank for you. I've got 25 plus african violets and we're just now entering the humid, rainy season here in Florida. It looks as if your plants are Botrytis Blight which is caused by fungus and first appears as small water-soaked lesions on the underside of the leaf. Leaves, stems or flowers appear blighted and turn dark brown to gray, often with a fuzzy coating on the surface.

Collect and discard all dead and dying plant material. Provide better air circulation, and avoid getting the flowers and foliage wet. Botrytis often follows mite injury, so controlling these pests aids in controlling this disease. I don't think the worm tea is such a good idea for misting these plants. The leave need to remain dry!

[chefatplay]

Is there anything to be done for the Botrytis? I had it on my "mother" orchid and I was told don't do anything. The orchid is fine, the few old flowers that had it still do.

I have grouped my violets together in the past. Should I spread them out to decrease the humidity around them? Should I water them less? I've been doing it twice a week.

I just need to listen to Sharyn and get the violet waterer.....

[sandra]

Ellen, the subject of wetting the leaves came up in another thread not long ago. Misting, I was told is ok so long as the sun isn't shining on them when wet, although I never mist. Wet leaves in the sun with lots of humidity spells disaster for african violets. Fungus will follow. Pinch or cut the affected leaves off. My violets get wet when it rains. I've got too many to take in from the rain so I leave them and they've never gotten fungus but I think it's because when it rains here in Fla., typically the sun disappears. The flowers will grow back so long as you have the right light or some sun shining on them.

NO MORE MISTING!

[chefatplay]

Thank you, Sandra. It's a deal, no more misting. I will soak only. It's a constant guessing game for me still. Thank heavens you guys are out there.

I feel a new piece of furniture coming to better display and preserve the health of my violets. Thrift shops here I come! I like to find what I am looking for then "adjust" it to the color, stain, etc.. I want. Much cheaper and not as terrible if it doesn't work.

[sandra]

I've found some odd and wonderful pieces in thrift shops Ellen. The hunting is so much fun and the nik-naks, too great for me to pass up. I haven't found any great thrift stores here in Fla. like the ones I used to frequent in Calif. I miss that.

ENJOY!

[chefatplay]

Update, I haven't misted my violets since this post. The violets that lost their flowers, three out of the four, are now showing me tiny little promises of flowers of the future. My fourth violet has what I suspect to be white powdery mold on the flowers. I am going to take the affected flowers off and NOT WATER THEM until Saturday. Everything feels too wet. No wonder I went through my first order of worm tea too fast. I OVERWATERED EVERYTHING IN SIGHT thinking worm tea is so great, nothing bad will happen.

Please, worm tea is great, I was BAD. I did the overachive thing. Won't do it again.