i had 2 african violet plants. both have undergone repotting/rerooting recently.

i had to pronounce one of my repotted violets officially dead yesterday. there was a lot of self-blame as at first i thought it was due to neglect during my migraine (several days). but the cause of death was crown rot - overwatering. that would have been from early on in the repotting. they are especially sensitive plants and usually it is best to err on the side of underwatering. but repotting/re-rooting is a particularly delicate time since being too dry will kill them as they cannot root then. so i cried still more but i realized it would have died anyway at that point. it was the violet my mother had given me when she decided my original violet was going to die (it didn't). what is sad is once it was ready to bloom and i dropped it and some leaves broke and then it stressed and lost all the buds. it made very pretty flowers - blue-lilac, laced with white, and the petals were slightly frilled. my mother suggested i repot it since i was doing my other one, even tho this one really didn't need it yet - my mother is a fan of only making a mess once. the thing is, again, it had a small bud just starting and i forgot about it. that makes me especially sad. twice it was about to bloom again and twice i destroyed it - this time, permanently.

my original one is hanging on for now. i had to water it recently and went a bit overboard, and i am afraid now. one advantage it has, ironically, is i had to completely reroot this one, so there is only a trunk stub near soil surface, which will be the first to dry out. the other one still had part of the older root system deeper in the pot. that is what would have been affected by the excess water. this one might be ok if the surface dries quickly enough. we are now getting pretty warm/hot temperature, i hope that will help dry the soil out in time to avoid rotting... even though cooler temp is better during repotting. i honestly feared this plant would be long gone by now, after chopping everything below the crown off. but i must say i have seen it nearly die before, for other reasons, but make it. so fingers crossed. i am very attached to it. i bought it myself about 3 years ago.

~ waves ~