I have slaughtered my African Violets. HELP!

[Numberfour]

My mother had African Violets for ... well, since forever. I love them, too, and recently bought a couple of pots.

Here is where I went wrong and where I need help: the blooms were fading so I (sorry) cut them off. Now the flat leaves have curled in indignation, and there are LOADS of stems with flowers on them hidden under bunches of curled leaves in the centre of the pot.

The only thing I know about plants is that some of them are green.

Help! My African Violets hate me. AIBU? WWYD?

Did you get the leaves wet? IIRC African Violets have a passionate objection to getting wet on top. Are there leaves under the flowers? If so, you might want to carefully pick off the curly leaves and restore them to glory.

I must get some more African Violets - my gran always had them, and I had quite a nice collection. Till work sent me away for 6 weeks and DH neglected to water them :(

Yes, some of the leaves did get wet so I will have to remove them. I think that they need repotting. I remember my mother spending what seemed like hours on a Saturday afternoon repotting her violets!

The leaves that have curled, Tangle, are growing from the centre. The leaves that were were on out the outer parts and have brown marks on them where the water must have landed. I don't know why the centre bits are curly and odd!

There is are really good guide to caring for African Violets here

Hi Numberfour, what sort of light are they getting? AVs like bright light but not full sun, and the leaf bunching could be because they are getting TOO much light. A western aspect seems to suit them best, where they get afternoon sun.

The problem might just be from the Cylcamen mite pest, which is microscopic, this can cause bunching of the central leaves too, and the only cure is to bin the plants, I'm afraid!

Don't worry too much about getting the leaves wet, but they do mark if the sun shines on water droplets left on leaves, you can always mop them off with tissue.

Like your mum, I used to grow many beautiful AVs under lights about 20 years ago, unfortunately they don't like my present house!

This is a useful guide to pests and diseases.

Thanks, IlsaLund and NantheWiser. I think that the sunlight might be the problem. I am in Surrey and they get full afternoon sunlight in my kitchen. I will move them to a less sunny spot and see how they get one. I cannot see that they have any pests from what I read on the link, Nan.

Thanks for the info!

when I was a girl, I used to have them. When they got worse for wear I'd cut off a leaf and put it in some water. Wait for the roots to grow and then have a new plant to pot!