Potted plant help&tips wanted (African violet)
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Feel a little odd coming over here to ask for advice on plant care amongst all the more emotional topics...;; Hoping anyone can come over and help out. I look up sites, but I get confused easily. Figured actually being able to converse on a forum I'm more comfortable with would help better and I want to hear personal experiences. Plant lovers are allowed to be really hard on me if I absolutely made idiot decisions and mistakes.
Backstory
Bought my little plant friend a few months back, near the end of September, to bury my pet betta (Cinna) in.
Took losing him pretty hard, so this was a good way of coping. He could still live on, y'know?
I've never personally cared for a plant, so I looked up novice ones. The African Violet suited Cinna a lot.
Since, the plant has been fairing pretty well.
I want to do this with my future fish as well... (hopefully not too often, haha) So I should learn how to take proper care of both!!
Main issues
The first issue that made me decide to go to a forum: his soil got REALLY dry. I try to water him as soon as the top of his soil looks dry. Put my finger in too. Then there were a few days I forgot to check.
This time around the water goes right through, out the drain holes and dries up faster than before. The soil didn't seem to retain enough water? I tried Googling what to do and I saw either soaking or repotting as options. Got nervous, but also pretty impatient, so I tried the soaking thing already. Placed the pot in a bowl of warmish water, for about 10 mins until it looked and felt fairly damp through and through. Let it sit in it's saucer and poured out whatever slipped to the bottom.
I'm worried that I haven't rejuvenated his soil, but only overwatered the poor thing. Hear you can repot if you've overwatered, so I might just do that next? But I really want to be sure on the type of soil I should buy... Suggestions? Brands? What to read/look for on the bag? And I shouldn't be worried about my fish friend's body still being there, right?!
The pot's current size is 4.5" (As it says on the label), so I should move it to a 5" pot? Also what kind of plant food should I get and how do I apply exactly? I got one that's supposedly for African Violets, but the numbers are 7-7-7 and I hear that's not sufficient. Damn you Miracle Gro, don't you dare mislead me!
Looks
There's a lack of blooming. He had a couple flowers when I got him, but they died off by now and so had his buds. Not too worried about it as long as he still lives and I don't plan on trying to getting him to bloom again until I can be more independent and get what he needs easily. Unless blooms are necessary and are an important sign. Anyone has tips on making blooming less hard than I assume?
His leaves stay upwards. Read this can mean a couple things, but I would have to test to find out. (Like slowly pull him closer to the window and see how he reacts.) I do want him to grow flat. Since the dry soil thing, today two of his oldest leaves were droopy and had brown on the edge... I pulled them off. He has new leaves coming in and they seemed to have a softer, duller stems than the rest anyway... Speaking of those leaves, they seem fine. Most are shiny and a deep green. Four, presumably older ones, aren't shiny at all.
Other things
Bought him at Walmart. The plant nurseries obviously differ from area to area, but I don't know if this one had a diligent gardener... and if Walmart would hold the best products for specific plants. I especially don't want to buy something marked for an African violet, but isn't actually suitable at all!
Maybe I can check out a Star Nursery tomorrow. (It seems like this store is only in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona??)
Can't usually order things online, unless it's on Amazon or something my mom trusts. :b
When facing my window: He sits on a saucer with pebbles on a table right against the window wall which is also exactly to the left of it. The sun never gets on him at all, the beams probably get the closest in the afternoon when the sun starts to set and final beams are on my left wall. My room's a mess (ha) and don't know if my camera's good enough, so I'll draw it if I have to!
TL;DR Potted plant's dry ass soil wasn't retaining water, soaked it in bowl of water. Might need to repot instead? Plant noob. What do? What get? Help.
[flower=VINYL]
[font=garamond]1, 2, 3, 4, Here we GO~ ❤️-- ❤️-- ❤️ --[/font] [Art by me / Previously known as NICKEY]
I am also a potted plant noob. I left my plants alone for the past 2 weeks with nobody to water them because I am out of town. They are probably dead.
ANYWAY, my mum, who seems to be good at looking after potted plants, told me when I was away I should put them, and their pot, into the bath and put a bit of water around it, and it would of been fine for a long while because it keeps the soil moist. Maybe this would help it??
In my eyes as long as your plant doesn't appear to be dying its probably doing fine as it is.. hahaha.
THAT SUCKS... I'll probably have to make a note that I might want to buy some kind of auto watering thing for the future! ):
Checking on my plant today after the soak, he seems fine, looking the same as usual. The soil is still nice and moist. No shock I hope. Maybe that did help after all... I'm now wondering if i should change his soil/pot any time soon.
But hey, if you did what your mom suggested, then here's hoping they'll be fine... 2 weeks though;;
[flower=VINYL]
[font=garamond]1, 2, 3, 4, Here we GO~ ❤️-- ❤️-- ❤️ --[/font] [Art by me / Previously known as NICKEY]