See the first phase of an African violet revival. This African violet, named Gertrude, came from the nursery in too big of a pot and started to die back as a result. We catch the plant before it has succumbed to root rot, but it has shrunken quite a bit and needs to be placed in a much smaller pot in order to grow healthy again.
Hello and welcome to HealthyHouseplants.com, where we teach you all about gardening in the great indoors. If you’d like to support our show, please use our Amazon affiliate link below. Today, we’re doing an African Violet revival. This little guy here was given to me by someone to revive, and it all started with this plant being put in way too big of a container by the grower. That does happen, so as I always preach, two-thirds plant to one-third pot is what you want for healthy plant growth.
Generally speaking, when the person got this, and I did ask about this, it was really closer to one-third plant to two-thirds pot. Way off kilter there. What ended up happening is the plant started to shrink. That’s what will happen when the plants are put in too big of a pot. There’s too much moisture around the roots, and you start to get root dieback. Then the top of the plant starts to die back too. Eventually, you will get root rot, and then the plant is a goner fairly quickly unless you catch it and revive the plant.
I do have a video playlist on that. So, this plant is going to be revived today, and we will follow her. I’m going to name her Gertrude because that’s what she just wants to be named. So, we’ve got Gertrude here. We are going to save Gertrude, and we are going to follow her through her revival.
The first thing I had to determine was if there was root rot, and I’m not getting from all of the different signs that it is root rot. I’m just getting that she is dying back because she is in way too big of a pot, and a lot of her roots have died back. We need to get her into that proper ratio of two-thirds plant to one-third pot. She also doesn’t have crown rot, which African Violets are susceptible to. Crown rot is where the part where the main stem is squishy, and things are coming out of the middle of the plant dark, squishy, and dead. She doesn’t have that yet either. I do have a video on crown rot to tell you a little bit more about that.
So, those are the good news. What we’re going to do today is get her into the right size pot with a little nutrients in her soil and a really good soil so that she has a fighting chance. I also have a video on how root mass matters. What you want with the roots is similar to what you want up top. You want two-thirds root and an extra one-third new soil when you put the roots in to grow with. So, you have to be careful with that. The root mass coincides with the plant and with everything as well. Two-thirds one-third for both ends basically of the plant to be revived and to keep plants in general healthy.
We’re going to take Gertrude out here and see what’s going on. I guarantee that a lot of this is going to be just soil and not very much root. So, gently do that so you can get a lay of the land and understand what’s going on. You don’t want this soil anyway because you don’t know what is in there. There is a possibility that root rot has started to set in a little bit from all the wet soil and wet roots. You do want to gently remove a lot of the soil so you can see what the heck is going on. Where do I have roots? You may even do this and find you have so little roots it’s crazy. You really need that information by going down below.
I’m also going to remove some of the dead foliage here that was starting because of the imbalance in the soil to root mass ratio being off kilter. You can see now that I’ve gotten a lot of this off, this little guy here with the little roots is way too big of a pot. Similarly, this is very similar, way too big. Still, if this was a shorter pot, I would say go for it, but it’s not. It’s a little too deep. I was hoping this one would be cool so I could see the roots growing in it because I like these see-through ones. You can see that, and I like the pink. It’s got a little pink tinge in it. This is probably going to be the one that this one will go up to next, but this is still too big.
Same with this. I really was hoping that this guy would work because this could also be a really pretty one. However, it’s still a little bit too big. It’s close but still a little bit too big. This one was close as mentioned. What do you do? I do have some smaller pots that are just way too small for this at this point. However, what I do have is this. Sometimes you have to do some makeshift solutions. So, this one, if I put it in this pot, is pretty good. It’s a teeny weeny bit bigger than I would like but not that much bigger.
You can just plant in that one part, or if you like, you can go ahead and cut this if you’re using one that you got from the nursery already. Treat it with one part bleach to nine parts water and let it soak. This was new, so it had a little soil in there, but it was a brand new one that I got separate. That will kill any pathogens, especially if you’re dealing with something like root rot. Now, we’ll be able to put this guy in here, and we’re going to have a fighting chance with a lot less soil going on in the plant. You can see it is smaller than a lot of the other things going on here.
Like I said, I would be happier if it was a teeny bit smaller, but I think when I look inside here, we’re getting close to two-thirds root to one-third extra soil that I’m going to be putting in here. I’m going to set her on her side there, and then I am going to mix up. This is ProMix BX, which I like. I’ll put the link below. It retains moisture, but at the same time, it also is good with drainage. You can also add some extra pumice. I do carry a pumice product and put the link below. That will give nice drainage to the African Violets as well because they do like good drainage, especially when you are trying to revive a plant. I’m going to add in some vermicompost worm compost to the plant. It is a really good source of micronutrients and has things in it that will help the plant ward off any pests and diseases, which is really cool. I have a video on the benefits of worm castings. I’ll put the link below.
So, this one’s getting ready here. I’m also going to add a little bit of my Green Gourmet Houseplant Food. Here it is. I’ll put the link below for that guy too. Putting a little bit of that in, mixing this soil is pre-moistened. I pre-moistened it, and you always want to do that when you’re planting because what happens if you don’t is you will plant in dry soil. Then, when you go to water, the soil will sink, and you’re going to have too low conditions. The plant will be way too low in the pot, which can also bring on things like crown and root rot. The plant just doesn’t look good all sunken down in the pot.
I’m going to take this guy here and add a little bit of soil, about an inch or so, is what you want on the bottom. Usually, not more than that. That looks like it’s going to be the perfect amount here. I’m working it down in there. I want to make sure that I keep it up so it’s not too deep in the pot. That’s another really important thing to keep in mind. Working this down in there, you also want to make sure you don’t have any air pockets because that will lead to the roots dying back. You can tap it a little bit as you go to get rid of any air pockets.
Keep going. I’m just about done. If you were doing this and you found yourself using a crazy amount of soil, it’s just too much soil. You’ve got too big of a pot going on. It’s a bummer that I can’t use something pretty like this. This is not that much bigger, but it’s a little bit bigger. I really can’t. Another thing, as I said, I wasn’t too happy that this pot is a little bit too big. What you can do, and what I’m going to do to be safe, is I’m going to cut this a little bit because I’m not liking how much extra soil I just put in here. I’m making this pot even smaller.
I’m going to see here. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay because there was just too much extra soil. I’ve got it tamped down well. You can see the big difference between its original pot and the pot it’s in now. This guy is going to be a little top-heavy, so it is okay to put it in something like this pot as long as it’s not going to be sitting in water. It will hold it upright because it will fall pretty easily. I’m going to go ahead and give Gertrude a little water. She’s already happier that she’s in the right size pot. You want to water after you’ve repotted until it drains through the drainage hole, and then I’m not going to water her again until she is approaching dryness, probably like four on the moisture meter for the African Violets.
At this point, you can poke around the sides to make sure you have it down and low enough because you don’t want the soil rushing over the top every time you water. Then you won’t have enough soil left after a while. Usually, after the first few waterings, it will settle in, and that won’t happen anymore. Here she is. Looks like she’s coming out of the drainage hole perfectly. This one has a drainage hole, but it may be clogged, so always check for that. There she is. I’m also going to label when I did this so I have a good indication of how long it takes her to revive. We will check back in with her at a later date to see how she’s doing.
I’m going to be putting her in a northern exposure window, which is where African Violets like to grow, but they also do well under full spectrum lighting. Those are two options for you. We will see her later on, and at some point, she will flower for us, which will be fun and exciting to see.
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Related videos: African violet revival Part 2: Â Â 
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Worm compost video:    âĒ Fertilize Your Houseplants with Worm … Â
Preparing soil for repotting:    âĒ Preparing Soil for Houseplant Repotting Â
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