Expert: Mary E. Hill - 8/15/2001

Question
I bought a plain white violet about four months ago and it is sitting in the window with the pink one and the six other purple ones and all but one of them are in bloom. My question why is one of my white flowers is purple, only one!  I think it needs to transplanted but I hate doing it as its so pretty right now.  Why do I have one purple flower on my white plant?  And when do you transplant the plant into a bigger pot? Thank you

Answer
Hellow Charlotte:  First of all I want to apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I was out of my office today and when I was driving back from my meeting, I got "chased" by a line of thunderstorms and couldn't turn on the computer when I got back home because of the severe weather.  

Now to your violet. It is not uncommon for violets to "sport". In other words, your white violet puts up a purple blossom, or pink blossom or some other color. When the hybridizer created your particular variety, they cross pollinated two violets--more than likely, one of them was purple. So your violet has reverted back to one of its parents. Will it go completely purple? That's a good possibility. Why?  Well some are just more "unstable" than others. I would guess the plant you bought was probably an Optimara violet. Optimara violets are grown by a huge commercial grower in Nashville, Tenn. It was started by the Holtkamp family when they were in Germany. Eventually they came to this country and the family has carried on with violets for years and years. They are the biggest (or at least one of the biggest) commercial violet hybridizers and growers in the nation. They produce plants for the home grower that uses window light. Folks like me that have 10 lighted plant stands and a big room grow for show--I do grow Optimara violets---some of their plants make great show plants. However, when I do get one, I figure it has at least a 50% chance of sporting to a different color. That makes it not blooming true so I couldn't show it under the name the Holtkamps have given it because the plant would not match the description they gave to the African Violet Society of America to register it. Complicated I know but that's the rules--and since I'm also an African Violet judge, I have to know those rules. When a violet sports to a different color, it doesn't mean you have done anything wrong. Although environment can be a factor, it is more likely that the plant is just not stable. Sometimes you get pretty interesting color combinations from the plant that sports--sometimes it will change colors and never go back to the original color. In fact, all the plants that I have grown that sported never went back to the original color. You never know what you'll wind up with sometimes.

As for repotting. If it has been over six months since you acquired the plant or since you have repotted, it would be a good idea to repot. But repotting into a pot that is too large will cause the roots to stay too soggy and your plant will not thrive. Violets like "tight feet" and they don't like soggy roots. So overpotting and overwatering is a no, no. The general rule is the pot should be 1/3 the size of the plant. For example:  if your plant is 12 inches across from leaf tip to leaf tip, then it should be in a four inch pot. The soil you use is important also. Most of the soils labled for African Violets is junk!  Way too heavy for violets. So I would try to find a very light soil. Sunshine makes a good one, Optimara makes a good one.  You can use one labeled for violets but be sure to add at least 50% or more perlite to the mix. That makes it lighter. You can usually find everything you need at Wal-Mart or a good nursery might have what you need. Most good violet soils are 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 vermiculite. But you should be able to find a "ready made" one.

If you haven't visited the African Violet Society of America web site, you owe it to yourself to do so. It has TONS of information and a list of commercial growers that sell supplies and some have great web sites with pictures on how to grow and propagate and repot violets.  The AVSA web site is:  http://www.avsa.org

I hope this information will be helpful. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me again.

Best wishes and happy growing.

Mary Hill, Tulsa