Dweg - I would recommend you to read everything you can find on KNOW-HOW site. It is an excellent source for the beginners. There is no special miracle - and I bet you inherited some of your Great Grans green thumb - it is just the question of know-how before you start growing them like a pro. The second source - I see that you are from Nebraska - and if you are not far from Fremont - there is a store Kent's Flowers - and there is nothing Joyce and Kent Stork, the owners - do not know about african violets. They are hybridizers, authors of a very good book - and Joyce is a president of African Violet Society of America. As for now - do not water your plant too heavily. You need to repot it back to the pot which diameter is 1/3 of the CURRENT leaf span. The soil should be very light - so if you get the soil for AV from the store - you still need to cut it with perlite and vermiculite - 1:1:1 and keep it just slightly moist. Since this plant is important to you because it belonged to you dear one - I would recomment to take a couple of leaves and put them for rooting - so even if the big one will die - you will have the part of it to live. You will find the instructions on the site - or just start them in water. Good luck Irina Here is a link that might be useful: KNOW_HOW

Welcome to the forum! If you plan to wick water, it is really important to have a potting medium that is very light, meaning there is a lot of air spaces in the mix. This is what the perlite and vermiculite do for you. Commercial African violet mixes such as MiracleGro, Black Orchid, etc. are almost all peat moss. This will hold waaaay too much water when wicking, and you will have root rot in a NY minute. By using Dora's 1-1-1 mix for wicking, you will have more success. If you have an AV club in your area, I encourage you to attend the meetings. You'll meet a great group of people that love to share their knowledge with you, and they are very generous in sharing plants or leaves also. You can find clubs listed on the AVSA website. There is also a lot of growing info. If no clubs, read everything you can get your hands on about AV's. 'Growing to Show' by Pauline Bartholomew is jam-packed with info that is as relevant to the hobby grower as the show grower. And, of course, your friendly forum members will help you too! Barbara Here is a link that might be useful: AVSA website

Hi Taryn, It's nice to make your acquaintance. I'm not a newbie, but not so experienced as others. I grew African Violets years ago, once I learned how to avoid killing them. I amassed a fairly large collection, perhaps 50 plants, but ultimately lost them to trhips and mealy bug. After ditching my entire first collection, I didn't grow Violets for 10 years or so. But I eventually began collecting them again, after learning better how to avoid pest problems. I have about 75 plants now, including some varieties that I only dreamed of having for a while. I've learned to avoid picking up Violets in retail settings, as these almost always have pest problems. I've gotten many nice plants from Lyndon Lyon (they send larger plants), Rob's (his starter plants are somewhat smaller), Bloomlovers (she sends plugs), and Bluebird (they send plants in 4" pots). I've even recently started some plants from seed. What I've learned to successfully grow a collection of Violets is summed up below ... Give them plenty of light Provide adequate water, but never overwater Fertilizer every now and then Avoid introducing pests into your collection Some of my current favorites are Buckeye Butterflies, Blue Mist (a russian cultivar), Pink Feathers, Ruffled Skies, Pink Summit, and Storm's Eye.

Something else I did was put my alcohol in a sprayer bottle. Properly labeled of course! That can really get where no Qtip can reach sometimes. If you have an infestation that has turned your plant mostly white with mealy then toss it. But for light infestations,,,,,try alcohol first. I have saved many plants over the years. I don't get it often. Once every few years if that. BUT I will always try to "alcohol" it first and I have never had a "spread" thru my collection. Let us know what happens! Rosie