Wick watering violets
WICKING THE VIOLET
The most important thing when wick irrigation is to follow the basic rules: suitable soil, small pots / cups, wick out 100% acrylic. I do not twist the thread to the surface, but I just skip along the bottom and leave two tails. I do not put drainage.
PRIMING
Many people think, that a mixture of Klassman substrate and perlite (50/50) - standard. However, the soil recipe is selected empirically.. You see, which is too wet, add more perlite or foam. Got it, what went through with baking powder, means, you need to add peat. Mold in pots? Forgot to apply fungicide. I prepare such a mixture for my favorites: peat, perlite, expanded polystyrene (3:3:1). For the prevention of fungal diseases I use "Sporobacterin" (1 d on 1 l of soil).
ABOUT LANDING VIOLATIONS
The rosette on the wick should be set slightly higher than usual, since the soil will be constantly moistened and water can rise along the villi and soak the growth point. I pour the substrate flush with the edges of the pot and do not ram, just align with my fingers, sweeping away the surplus. If the violet sways, fix it with a plastic pin.
Violets in a greenhouse
I put all the set aside, re-rooted, transplanted specimens in greenhouses with lids. I water the plants every couple of weeks., pouring clean water to the bottom of the container. I do not remove condensation. A month later I take out the whole company and put it on containers with fertilizer solution. Violets are ready for independent living on the wick.
IMPORTANT
- For transfer to wick irrigation, do not transplant (even in the right mix) violet, in which the roots developed during classical watering - they do not adapt. Gotta re-root.
- Do not allow, so that the water in the container runs out. At the slightest drying "wick" roots dry out, and with subsequent moistening they rot. Do not exceed fertilizer concentration.
© Author: Natalia BULATOVA, collector. r. Izhevsk. Photo by the author
Mom's violet is three years old. She is asymmetrical, because of the bare trunk looks like a palm, planted in a pot that is too wide and too high, but… constantly in bloom. So she wants to "blow off her head" after flowering, cut off the bottom row of leaves and plant the crown in perlite for rooting. However months pass, and Saintpaulia still blooms and blooms. She stands on an east-facing window, where the bright light is only in the morning. Water the plant once a week.
No fertilizers, water infused with eggshells only occasionally. Once, in the pre-New Year's bustle, my mother forgot about her ever-flowering pet and thought, that the wretched man was gone: the leaves are limp and wilted. But I advised to pour abundantly with warm water and through 20 minutes to drain the excess from the pallet. A few hours later, the violet has fully recovered..