Among the flowering indoor plants, saintpaulias are one of the most “reliable”. And it may seem that they are simply obliged to bloom in any house almost all year round. But even Saintpaulias, for all their unpretentiousness and endurance, require at least minimal comfortable conditions and care. Problems with the selection of lighting, temperature, placement, and most often, with watering and replanting lead to the fact that instead of charming small bouquets in pots, you have to admire only rosettes of velvet leaves. Fortunately, the lack of blooming in violets is usually easy to deal with.
Why don’t Saintpaulias bloom at home?
Contents:
The right place and minimal maintenance
Claiming to be the most beloved indoor plant, the Saintpaulia baby is suitable even for novice flower growers. There is nothing difficult in growing it. In the case of Saintpaulias, problems are rare. But if they do arise, they are invariably associated with flowering. The ability to bloom tirelessly, for a long time and without much incentive in Saintpaulia is unique. Therefore, disturbances in flowering are noticeable much more clearly than in plants that require a long preparation and pause.
As with almost any developmental and flowering issue, prevention is the most effective way to deal with it. And in indoor violets, it is much easier to prevent such problems that would cause the absence of flowering than to make gross mistakes.
Read also our article How and what to feed violets?
Site Selection
It is very easy for indoor violets to find a comfortable place in the house. They are suitable for decorating both interiors and window sills – if you avoid places where direct rays will fall on them, or strong shading. They seem to be created for soft lighting, which can be found at some distance from windows, and on northern, eastern or western windowsills.
Modern varieties with bizarre colors and flower shapes most often require a certain length of daylight hours – up to 12 hours. Supplementary lighting is not just permissible, but desirable, because Saintpaulias react to artificial lighting in the same way as to natural.
Difficulties with the selection of conditions that are comfortable for Saintpaulias can arise only with temperatures. After all, uzambara violets love stability and grow best at temperatures within 20-25 degrees. They love the slight difference between nighttime and daytime temperatures. But they will not stand a strong cold (below 16 degrees Celsius), sharp jumps in these indicators and drafts. Indoor violets adapt well to the dry air of apartments.
Minimal care
It is no coincidence that Saintpaulias are considered plants that need minimal care. After all, they don’t require anything beyond regular care. To enjoy the beauty of healthy, abundantly flowering bushes, it is enough to take care of just a few elements:
- On the choice of a comfortable method of irrigation (bottom, wick, drip, classic) and maintaining a stable light soil moisture with drying of the top layer. An excellent landmark is the leaves, which retain their elasticity and intensity of colors with comfortable watering, losing turgor in drought.
- On observance of accuracy during watering and tracking the movement of water flows during classical watering (in no case should the base of the outlet and the leaves themselves be soaked);
- Not too zealous feeding – in reduced doses, only during the growth and flowering period, with special fertilizers for Saintpaulias.
- Keeping the leaves clean.
- About growing in a special substrate for Saintpaulias with increased air permeability.
- About transplanting as needed, with mandatory separation, after slowing growth, into small and shallow containers (standard size – up to 9 cm).
It is the violations of the basic requirements of violets to the conditions of maintenance and care that are the main factors that they do not bloom. With one exception: sometimes even these long-lived beauties age.
Aging violets
The need for rejuvenation affects flowering in the first place, especially when it comes to the formation of a large number of daughter rosettes and shrinking bushes. Violets in comfortable conditions are released annually by several children, and in a few years their number can reach a dozen. And if the daughter outlets are not planted in a timely manner, even the strongest mother plant in such a group will not bloom.
Ideally, saintpaulias should be in an individual pot. Too many leaves should not be confused with such overgrowth. It would be a big mistake to remove “extra” leaves from especially lush rosettes to save “energy”, because the number of leaves directly determines the abundance of flowering.
Flowering problems are also found in plants that do not form children, but simply stretch out. In some varieties, a tall, bare stem is formed after 3 years. As soon as the violet is deformed, after the dying off of the lower leaves, unattractively exposing the base and forming a kind of trunk, flowering also begins to suffer up to its absence. And the top needs to be re-rooted.
Coping with aging is easy. It is enough for Saintpaulia to rejuvenate or grow young bushes from leaves. It is so easy to propagate violets that dozens of plants can be obtained from one adult bush every year – and not only by separating the side rosettes.
Rooting leaves is the best way to save violets. So you can get healthy, young bushes, which in a few months will delight you with lush flowering.
Read also our article Variegated Saintpaulias – exotic among violets.
10 main reasons that keep violets from blooming
- Insufficient lighting… Direct rays leave burns and lead to a general loss of decorativeness, but they rarely affect the release of peduncles. But the lack of light, first of all, manifests itself in two signs – paleness and deformation of the leaves and the absence or very poor flowering.
- Lowering the air temperature below 16 degrees heat or hypothermia.
- Watering with cold water, to which Saintpaulia reacts in the same way as to cold air.
- Irrigation with undisturbed waterleading to soil salinity.
- Dampness, constant overflow and stagnation of water or inaccurate watering, which leads to wetting and damage to the neck and base of the leaves.
- Too high temperatures (from 25 degrees) in combination with burns from direct sun.
- Extremely dry air, usually it is dangerous proximity to heating devices.
- Soil with calcareous characteristics or with the wrong texture – too light (does not retain moisture), clay and dense (does not allow the roots to breathe), emaciated, etc.
- Planting in very deep and large pots or lack of normal drainage holes and drainage layer.
- Use of universal fertilizers, overdose of nitrogen and potassium, lack of trace elements.
Of course, pest infestation can also lead to a lack of flowering, but this usually only happens when extremely neglected. As in the case of diseases, the cause will still have to be looked for in improper care.
Dear readers! It is simple to cope with all the problems causing the lack of flowering in Saintpaulias: it is enough to eliminate the cause. Supplementary lighting, rearrangement, control of temperature, water quality, fertilizer composition are just a few examples. All mistakes just need to be “corrected” and the violet will certainly delight you with flowering!
