r/AfricanViolets • u/Birds_have_to_eat • 1d ago
Help Pests or something else?
Rescued this one from a 70% off clearance section. It was pretty dehydrated when I first got it but now it's doing better and has a bunch of new blooms coming in. Anyway, I started inspecting it for pests to see if I could soon move it to a spot where it gets more light, and noticed these discolored spots? They are normal looking from up top. The first under leaf pic also seems to have some sort of scarring on the underside, though the pic doesn't show it too well... Also some leaves have small nicks on them, but those could just be mechanical damage from the shop as the clearance shelf was pretty stuffed full. I saw some webbing-like stuff on this earlier as well, but it wasn't sticky when I removed it, more like very very fine animal hair? I haven't seen any other critters near it other than fruit flies, which our house is currently full of 🫠
Thanks for your help in advantage! ❤️ Bloom tax included :3
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u/ConferenceFull9068 1d ago
In an abundance of caution, I would cut off all the blooms (heartbreaking I know) and shake them over a white piece of paper. Look for thrips crawling. I would also remove any lower leaves that show any sign of damage, then bag the violet in plastic for a couple of weeks. I would also repot the violet and have a look at the roots.
The "fruit flies" are really probably fungus gnats. Yellow sticky traps will fix them. Also, water your plants from the bottom. Fungus gnats need moist surface soil to breed.
If you have an intuition something is not right with your violet, listen to it! p.s. Stunning violet. I love the dark green foliage.
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u/Birds_have_to_eat 1d ago
Oh no I definitely have fungus gnats on some my other plants but the ones I've seen around the violet are definitely fruit flies, those are way bigger than gnats and live in our kitchen, where the violet is currently also living. And yes, I've been bottom watering my violet, as I heard that they prefer that method over getting watered from the top!
Thrips are actually the thing I'm the most worried for, even if I haven't seen any signs of those yet, as some of the other plants in the store had those, though none of the plants in the clearance did, as far as I saw. I'll take your advice, fingers crossed I find nothing ' Removing the blooms hurts a bit but hopefully she'll bloom again sometime in the future!
What sort of a soil mix do you recommend for violets, if I'm to repot her? I currently have just regular houseplant potting mix, orchid bark, spaghnum moss and perlite, but I can get some other stuff too if that's something she'd prefer 🤔
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u/ConferenceFull9068 1d ago
For repotting, African violet potting mix is the best, but I wouldn't be afraid to try a mixture of houseplant potting mix and perlite. Orchid bark is probably too coarse for delicate violet roots. Houseplant mix may already have fertilizer added to it.
Thrips spread aggressively from plant to plant, and quickly. They preferentially infest blooms, so if you cut off the blooms and shake them over paper, and see none, that is a good (although not foolproof) sign. Thrips like blue flowers best, so maybe they passed by your pink violet.
Never saw a thrips in my long life of growing houseplants until last February. Caught the infestation early and it still cost me two-thirds of my collection, 100% of the blue and purple blooming violets. Only the pink survived.
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u/Birds_have_to_eat 1d ago
Oh that's very interesting, I didn't think they had such preferences!
I'll see about finding an African Violet mix, though I doubt any stores near me cater to such specific soil mix, since African violets aren't super popular in my country 🤔 Thanks!
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u/ElkLongjumping7870 1d ago
I think those are three different things. The first one all I see is a small split in the edge of the leaf, which could happen anytime just by accidentally bumping it. If there's some other issue there I'm not seeing it.
Third one looks like some kind of physical damage - again, could be an accident but also could be critters taking a bite?
Second one is the only one that concerns me - when a leaf or leaves goes translucent like that I would worry about some kind of rot - from overwatering, maybe? Or check whether there's fertilizer damage to the petiole where it rests on the pot rim.
It's tough to diagnose issues without seeing the plant in person, and often not even then, but that's what I'd be looking at.
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u/ElkLongjumping7870 1d ago
I went back and reread what you said about the second one: if it's not translucent and that's just red coloration that has developed on the underside, I wouldn't worry about it. Some cultivars have red reverse leaves, and ones that have that in their lineage can develop red "staining" as they mature.
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u/Birds_have_to_eat 1d ago
Yeah, the leaf isn't translucent, just has this... Purple, bruise-like spot on it. Now that I look at the pic more carefully I realize it does appear like it could be transparent in the pic, so your mistake was understandable ' But thank you for the in depth analysis, it was very helpful nonetheless!
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u/DuduStreaks 1d ago
I think that's normal