It is no secret that many people buy violets spontaneously, say, they see a flower at an exhibition, market, from friends, in a store and are eager to have it at home. And the question immediately arises: in which land should a plant or a stalk be planted?
Most literary sources advise you to make up the soil mixture yourself. Unfortunately, not always and not everyone has such an opportunity. What if a violet, baby or leaf stalk require urgent planting or transplanting, and there is no time or opportunity to prepare the substrate with your own hands? So we have to go to the store.
Saintpaulia, or Usambara violet (Saintpaulia)
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com ARTESANIAFLORAE
There are many soils on sale today from different manufacturers with tempting names – “Violet”, “Saintpaulia”, “Flower” … They are not always suitable for our favorites in their pure form.
I remain committed to soil mixes from the German company Greenworld. I use her “Universal soil for flowers.” I also had to deal with “Soil for flowering plants”, with “Soil for green plants.” I think the first of these is the most suitable. It consists of high-moor and lowland peat and perlite. The acidity of this soil is at a pH level of 5,0-6,5.
True, perlite has to be added to the “Universal soil for flowers”. The easiest way is to do with standard store-bought fine perlite. A bag is enough for 5 liters of soil. If the perlite is large, I take 0,5 liters for the same volume of the mixture. Instead of perlite, you can add 0,5 liters of vermiculite or fine expanded clay, sold under the name “drainage”.
Expanded clay is less convenient – although it is insignificant, it changes the acidity of the soil, accumulates salts and substances that are not very useful for violets.
Saintpaulia, or Usambara violet (Saintpaulia)
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Andrey Butko
You can also add coarse sand as a baking powder – 0,5 kg for the same volume of the mixture, having previously calcined it in a frying pan or in the oven. You can also grab a bag of sphagnum moss from the store. Cut it and cover with a layer of 0,5-0,8 cm the surface of the soil in the pot around the planted baby or adult plant (just not the cutting). This will prevent the topsoil from drying out. This is especially important in the winter season for those plants that are on the windowsill next to a hot radiator or on a backlit rack. The moss will need to be changed every 2-4 months, depending on the hardness of the irrigation water. However, you can do without these additives and plant the plant in a hurry into a ready-made substrate.
Perlite or vermiculite must be added to “Soil for flowering plants” and “Soil for green plants”.
As drainage, you can use the same expanded clay, crushed foam, chopped sphagnum, and other materials. For mature plants, the drainage layer should be up to 1/4 the height of the pot. For cuttings and children – up to 1/3 of the height.
Saintpaulia, or Usambara violet (Saintpaulia)
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Hobbykafe
If it is not possible to buy the above-mentioned soil, I purchase “Vermion” from “Compound Albin”. For Saintpaulias, its varieties are suitable: “Universal flower soil” or “Violet”. If both mixtures are on sale, I “test” them – wrinkle in my hands – and take a more crumbly one. Although, in my opinion, these soil mixtures are less successful: very often the composition of the soil is not maintained, the humidity is not observed, Californian worms almost always live, which you find only when they grow up in a pot. This mixture, in an amicable way, must be steamed, and this, you see, is no longer a quick landing. The soil in the package is 2 liters, this is enough for planting 2-3 adult plants.
It should be borne in mind that these soils in their composition initially contain a certain amount of expanded clay. There is much more of it in “Violet”. And since the manufacturer, it seems to me, does not really care about the stability of the composition, it happens that expanded clay is in the mixture up to half of its volume.
Saintpaulia, or Usambara violet (Saintpaulia)
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Ksena Shurubura
Depending on the actual composition, I add (or do not add) perlite or vermiculite to the mixture.
Other ready-made soil mixtures, if used as soil for violets, take even longer to prepare. Of course, they are not suitable for a quick landing.
I prefer to use plastic pots for violets, 3-5 cm in diameter, with rounded edges that do not injure the leaves.
Having prepared the soil mixture, dishes, I proceed to planting the cuttings. Be sure to update the cut with a sharp, for example, clerical knife, without pressing. I deepen the stalk 0,5-1 cm into sphagnum or soil mixture, water with 1-2 tablespoons of lukewarm water and put it in a greenhouse. I water the second time in a week – 3-5 tablespoons of water. Depending on the variety, time of year and the state of the mother plant from which the planting cutting is taken, the babies germinate in 3-5 weeks from the moment of planting the leaf.
Saintpaulia or Usambara violet (Saintpaulia)
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Lay-Liss
You can root the stalk in a glass of water, but it is better if the glass is brown, this will prevent the leaf petiole from bending. After the roots appear and grow up to 0,5 cm, I plant the sprouted cutting in the substrate.
The violet does not bloom soon – after 8-12 months from the moment of planting the leaf.
Materials used:
- Natalia Naumova, Violets in detail
