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SHOW NOTES
Welcome to Episode 3.2 – It’s All About the Mix! Today we’re going to talk about potting mix, Powdery Mildew, and some great reference books.
Welcome to my Sunroom
- Such great questions and photos you guys have been sending in. Please keep them coming!!
- I will be “reimagining” a lot of the teaching segments that appeared in previous seasons. What were your favorites? Is there something you’d specifically like to see/learn?
- Potting Mix:
- From Janice: How do we get the manufacturers to stop adding fertilizer to potting soil and peat moss? The full question can be found on this post.
- We don’t have control over how commercial companies package their mixes. The majority of African violet growers do not grow for show, and most people do seem to prefer soil and/or perlite with fertilizer already in it for their houseplants.
- For my show plants, I use SunGro’s Sunshine Mix #1, which does contain some nutrients, but they are more incidental than anything else.
- Joyce Stork suggests a visit to a hydroponics store where the staff is quite prepared to sell to educated discerning growers.
- Joyce is using Sunshine Advanced Mix #4.
- There are other mixes that are available in some big box stores – just read the labels carefully, and whatever you do, don’t repot your entire collection all at one time!
- From Janice: How do we get the manufacturers to stop adding fertilizer to potting soil and peat moss? The full question can be found on this post.
- Books:
- Powdery Mildew
- The product I used is called Immunox
A Look at the Stands
- We’re about 6 weeks out from National.
- How to correctly pronounce “Wagga Wagga!”
Get the Bail Money Ready
It’s spring – there are a LOT of shows in the next few weeks! More details on the following shows can be found on the AVSA website.
04/20/2018 to 04/21/2018
- Bergen County African Violet Society, Dumont, NJ 07628
- Memphis African Violet Society, Memphis, TN
04/21/2018
- Naugatonic AVS, Stratford, CT
- Seattle African Violet Society and Puget Sound Gesneriad Society, Seattle, WA
- Illinois African Violet Society, Bloomingdale, IL
04/21/2018 to 04/22/2018
- Albuquerque African Violet Club, Albuquerque, NM
- Capital District African Violet Society, Voorheesville, NY
04/27/2018 to 04/29/2018
- The Evening African Violet Club of Des Moines Iowa, Des Moines, IA
04/28/2018
- Lakeshore African Violet Society of Toronto, Etobicoe, Ontario, Canada
- Central Coast African Violet Society, Paso Robles, CA
- Portland African Violet Club, Portland, OR
04/28/2018 to 04/29/2018
- Tidewater African Violet Society, Norfolk, VA
- African Violet and Gesneriad Society of Syracuse, Baldwinsville NY
- Bay State African violet Society, Boylston, MA
05/04/2018 to 05/06/2018
- African Violet Society of Springfield, PA, Springfield, PA
05/05/2018 to 05/06/2018
- Columbus African Violet Society, Columbus, OH
- Sho-Me African Violet Club, Kansas City, MO
05/05/2018
- Garden State African Violet Club, West Windsor, NJ
05/05/2018 to 05/06/2018
- Oshkosh Violet Society, Oshkosh, WI
Keep Moving Forward
Thank you for joining me.
Remember, you can leave questions using the “Ask Annie” form in the Show ‘n Tell tab, in the comments below, or on our Facebook page. If I don’t know the answer, I know someone who will :-)
Thank you for another enjoyable episode!
Also informative: this winter I decided to rethink my potting mix. In the past, I used the Third/Third/Third recipe: 1/3 part each of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. I have large greenhouse sized bags of those ingredients… and the only reason to look for something new is a good one: to save time!
It would be nice to have a mix that does’t involve measuring and mixing! :)
Now I have two mixes to try! Thanks!
Thanks for using my question about soil mixes on the podcast. I did a Google search for hydroponic supplies in my area and found that the big box stores and the local garden centers carry these. [I’m guessing that growing plants in ponds is popular around here.] I want to try some of the soil mixes that you mentioned, plus the ones for hydroponics. I have duplicates of some of my violets and I want to experiment with using different mixes and see how they compare. It should be interesting. And now that I know that using MiracleGro that has added fertilizer works well, I can always use that. It’s just hard to change my thinking about AV potting soil after mixing my own after so many years. I don’t want to be an old stick in the mud as change can be a good thing. But I still question the manufacturers adding fertilizer to everything used in growing houseplants. Easier is not always better.
Great episode, Annie and I always enjoy seeing your plants! There are some real winners there! I am wondering about your Senk’s Blue Heron. I grow that variety too and the foliage type is listed as longifolia. Perhaps your camera angle made the leaves look more like the typical rounded leaf?
Lately my soiless mix has been 50/50 Espoma AV4 Organic mix, (no added synthetic plant food or chemicals) with good old Black Gold AV Mix. I do add about 10% Perlite for good measure. I generally give a newly potted plant 4-6 weeks before adding any fertilizer so if the Black Gold has any added it’s utilized by then. I order both of these online.
Robin, the leaves of my Senk’s Blue Heron are definitely more roundy than other longifolia leaves I’ve seen in the past.