Most houseplant are angelic , elegant , and always well - dressed . African violets are no exception . Their stalks stand marvelous and uncoiled ; their leaves are bright and neat , their flowers are like jewel in a crown . But when those dulcet violet leaves turn over yellow , it might signal a problem that needs attention .
Water
The watering needs of African violets change . Most African violets require to be watered when the soil is dry to the touch . If you ca n’t commend when you last watered your reddish blue , try sticking your finger into the stain up to the first knuckle joint ( about one in ) . If it feels moist , then your flora does n’t need water yet .
If you are in doubt about how much water system your violet need , use a wet metre or a land investigation to crack the moisture storey in the soil near the plant life ’s ascendent . The probe should be inserted at least half an inch deeply into the soil . If there is less than 1/2″ of urine nowadays , then it ’s metre to water your flora .
Over watering
Over tearing is the most vulgar causa of yellowing leaves on houseplant . African violet are very sore to overwatering , as are most plants that belong to the family Gesneriaceae ( the African reddish blue is in this house ) .
If your plant life ’s leaves start turning xanthous and dropping from the industrial plant , it ’s plausibly because you ’re watering it too much . water a houseplant too much can have root rot or stem rot , which leads to yellow farewell and leaf drop .
Under watering
When the plant life does not receive enough urine , its rootage will start to die off . This can cause the plant ’s leave to turn yellow and wilt . If you remark this happening , it ’s fourth dimension to increase the amount of water you give your plant .
If you have several plants in one pot , they may compete with each other for piddle , leading to underwatering proceeds among those plants . To forestall this from happening , place a dripping tray underneath your pots so that supernumerary water drains away from the filth surface instead of collecting on top of it where competing plants in the same mountain could take in it .
Too Much or Too Little Fertilizer
The leaves of African reddish blue change color for a variety of reasons . The leaves loosely turn yellow because of too much or too fiddling fertiliser .
Over-Fertilizing
Too much plant food can cause folio burn , which can conduct to leaf drop and stain . If you ’re giving your African violet too much fertilizer , the leaves will turn yellow and brown in spots , with edges that may kink upward slightly . When this happens , it ’s clip to cut back on the amount of fertilizer you ’re giving your plants . You may also see glum dark-brown or blackened roots at the baksheesh and theme of the plant ’s base .
Under-Fertilizing
If you are n’t fertilizing your plant life enough , its leaves may turn yellowed or sick light-green as they grow older . The veins will show through more than usual and may appear as lily-white streaks on top of the leaf ’s aerofoil . The tips of fresh ontogeny may die off as well as older foliage when under - fertilize . Under - impregnation is especially coarse in older African violet plant because their etymon systems drop-off over time , pee-pee it harder for them to absorb nutrient from the territory .
The main nutrients an African Violet should absorb to stay healthy
The main nutrient an African Violet should absorb to ride out healthy are nitrogen , phosphorus , and atomic number 19 . These three constituent are present in all fertilizers , but the constitution of each type is unlike .
Nitrogen is needed for leaf outgrowth and overall industrial plant health . plant that have too little nitrogen will have small folio and fewer flower . They may also become wan green or yellowish . If your plant life is turn pallid green , contain the package to see if it needs more nitrogen .
Phosphorus is another essential element that helps keep your flora healthy . It help strengthen cellular telephone wall and root hairs , make them comfortably able to absorb H2O and nutrients from the soil . It also facilitate with photosynthesis , which is how plant convince light into energy they can practice for maturation and replication . Phosphorus deficiencies usually show up as stunted increment or brown spots on leave-taking .
Potassium help oneself influence how much urine enters and leaves your industrial plant ’s cells through its stomata ( midget opening ) , allow them to control their transpiration rate ( water passing ) . Potassium deficiencies can cause wilting or foliage scorch due to overweening transpiration .
Poor Drainage
inadequate drainage is a vulgar problem with African reddish blue . The dirt in an African violet pot should be kept evenly moist but not wet . A common problem is poor drainage of the potting mix . This can get the roots to rot and damage or toss off the plant .
Poor drainage come about when water can not drain through the potting mix tight enough to prevent it from becoming saturated with water . This can occur because the potting mixing does not have enough gentle wind space or because there are excessive amounts of Lucius Clay in the potting mix .
If there is poor drain in your mickle , you may notice that some of your leaf start to twist jaundiced or brown before others do . This happens because some parts of the plant still get enough O from the aviation , while others do not get enough oxygen due to being underwater for too long . This cause some parts of your industrial plant to die while other part are still alive and uprise usually .
Examples of soils that have good drainage
The grunge you select to produce African Violets need to have good drain . Here are some illustration of soils that have good drainage :
Peat is a character of soil that is made from decomposed plant textile . It is used in gardening as a growing medium for many plant life , including African Violets . The peat that is used for African Violets should be well - debilitate and aerated so that it will allow oxygen to pass through it . It should also be lightweight so that it can easily be make a motion around the house if needed .
Coir ( pronounced quire ) is made from coconut tree husks , which are a spin-off of making cocoa palm vegetable oil . Coir is a porous stuff that holds moisture well but has excellent drainage properties , making it an ideal growing medium for African Violets . Coir tends to be a little more expensive than peat moss , but not by much .
Perlite is a volcanic mineral that , when heat up , expands into small , white spheres that are lightweight and porous . Perlite helps aerate the soil and lighten the weight of pot mix . Because it has so many holes , perlite has first-class drainage attribute , which is why it ’s often used in seed starting mixes or as a substitute for guts in other potting mixes .
Vermiculite is another type of mineral with expand properties ; however , it keep back more water than perlite does . It ’s also lightweight and porous , but not as much as perlite . Vermiculite is often interracial with peat moss to make a well - draining potting commixture for African violet .
Not Enough Light
The African violet is a lush plant that requires bright light to thrive . Not enough light can make your plant to misplace its leaves and eventually die . If you are rise your African violet in a window and the sunshine is not shining directly on it , you may need to move it closer to a window where there is more direct sunlight . If your works is in a room that does n’t get much instinctive luminance , it will not be able to produce enough chlorophyll to make food for itself . Without nutrient , the leaves will start turn yellow and pass off as they choke from lack of nutrients . If this happens , you will need to repot the plant in lodge for it to stay on go .
Cold Temperatures
African violet are aboriginal to Eastern Africa and are not fearless in cold temperatures . The colder it catch , the more scathe it will do to your African reddish blue . insensate air can also get condensation on the leaf , which will make them waste . If you live in a warmer mood , you may need to bring your plant within during wintertime .
frigid temperatures can be calamitous for your African violet if left out of doors for an extended period of time . In fact , it only takes a few hours of photo to cold atmospheric condition for an African reddish blue to become discredited or go bad .
The good way to protect your African violet is by bring them deep down during the cold wintertime month and storing them in a cool placement like a basement or service department until spring arrives again .
Diseases
African violets are susceptible to a variety of disease , including root rot , botrytis blight , and leaf dapple . The symptoms of these diseases often show up as yellowing or brown pip on the leaves .
Root Rot
The most usual disease affecting African violet is root rot , which set on the industrial plant ’s roots . theme rot symptoms include wilting leaves , yellowing leaves , and stunted growth . etymon rot can spread from one plant to another if you ’re not careful about washing your manus after handling septic plants .
Botrytis Blight
Botrytis blight do young leaves to turn brown and wither away , leaving only the nervure behind on the leaf radical . Old leaves may change state brown as well but usually remain attached to the flora . Botrytis blight can spread rapidly through a undivided gage or multiple pots within 24 hr of an initial contagion if left untreated .
Leaf Spot
Leaf spot appears as pocket-size brown position on the surface of leaves that eventually turn icteric or brownish with age . The spot can grow larger over time and eventually cover large portions of the folio surface before turning black and falling off onto the grunge below them .
Leaf Rusts
foliage rusts are one of the most common causes of yellow in African violets . The most common species of folio rusting is Cymbidium mosaic virus-1 ( CyMV-1 ) . This virus attacks vernal folio and create small chickenhearted spots that eventually turn into turgid blotches on the leave . These spots can meld together to make entire yellowed areas on the leaves . The spots do n’t usually spread beyond one leaf , but if provide untreated , they can cause severe leaf loss and death of the industrial plant .
The good way to deal this disease is by withdraw infected works from your assembling and destroying them directly so that the disease does n’t scatter further through your collection . If you have an infested plant in your collection but do n’t need to get rid of it because it ’s valuable or sentimental , at least supplant all its soil .
Pythium Soft Rot
This disease is have by a fungus called Pythium . The spore from this fungus confiscate themselves to the leaves and locomote down into the root system . Once in the solution , they go on to grow and manifold until they have completely taken over the entire root organisation . This outcome in poor growing and wilting of the leaves , which finally turn icteric and descend off . There is no cure for this type of infection , but it can be prevented by providing passable drainage and avoiding overwatering or too much humidity in your home or greenhouse .
Pests
Some of the common pest that affect African violets are :
wanderer mites : wanderer tinge are tiny , red , spider - alike brute that do damage to plants by take in their sap . If your leaves become covered with webbing , you may have spider mites .
Scale : Scale is another common pest affecting African violets . These small insects seem like brown or black bumps on the plant life and blow plant juice from the leaves and stems . The legal injury they cause will seem as a passing of color in affected areas .
Whiteflies : whitefly are another case of sucking insect that sucks out the tomfool from plant , get them to wilt and die . They can also diffuse disease from one plant to another through their testicle which fall off the plant life onto other plants when the adult flies land on them .
Transplant shock
When you transpose a plant , it can stomach from a condition called transplant shock . This is when the plant can not line up to its young surround and loses many of its leaves . The leaves may turn yellow or browned and fall off within a few days of being transplanted . The roots may also be damaged or reveal during the organ transplant outgrowth . If this occur , it can take several weeks for the plant to convalesce from graft shock and resume its normal outgrowth patterns .
African violets are popular indoor plants that come in a variety of vividness . These works lean to do good when they are pot - bound , meaning the ascendant have to grow around their pot , and they can not be over - watered . Over meter , African violet leaves turning yellow is not strange . There are , however , some actions the owner can take to correct it .
