VioletReflections is affiliated with AVSA

Editor Rachel Mayer            ***          June 2007

When transplanting for the first time I get excited about potting up.  One of the rule of thumbs I learned was making sure 3 leaves are about the size of a nickel.  Others dome their violets in a seedling tray and wait for the leaves to push the dome off.  Regardless of how you have your babies, make sure they are large enough to transplant before you take the mother leaf off or transplant.  You can use the mother leaf again to start new babies.  I found that they can have a wonderful root system.  Variegated leaves need to have at least 50% green before transplanting as you will lose them if they are all or mostly white.

by Bernadine Poulsen

Cyclamen’s Mites: The Violet* Plague.

No frustration in the world could be bigger than the one you feel, when discovering this ‘’plague’ ’on your violets.

You see one or more of them starting to have a tight center. The flowers buds that you’ve been waiting for a long time , seem to be blocked under the deformed central leaves. The plant stops to grow and stagnate: This could be the first sign of a C.  Mite’s invasion!!

Here, your blood pressure starts to rise and you feel that all the effort you’ve deployed the whole year round, in repotting, fertilizing &ensuring the suitable amount of light and heat was in vain !!. The first thing I said when I had this painful experience once was: ’’this is unfair!!’’.

In fact, this is a very difficult psychical stage in the whole battle against the Tarsonemus  pallidus / latus (or Cyclamen mite), because your mind will be so confused , the panic will be so high &you don’t know what to do and you’re still not sure about what’s happening ;it might be the fertilizer or maybe the cold weather or the soil….so you have to wait and see how the situation will evolve…And waiting.. with all those fears in your mind is so hard for a passionate AV er.

Actually what happened at this first stage, is that the C. mites have infiltrated your greenhouse using the wind, or air currents ,maybe your infected clothes and tools, or an infected plant that u bought and put  among the others that you have and as the conditions were excellent : high humidity, fresh temperature, they started to multiply…and the worst is that a female doesn’t need necessarily a male to lay off fertile eggs ,she can lay 30 eggs or more  in her lifetime without even mating, this is called in biology : parthenogenesis.. So one single insect can build an entire colony .. alone!!!

Those eggs will hatch after 4-8 days and the larvae will start to feed on soft tissues.. only soft tissues... because their mouth’s anatomy doesn’t allow them to perforate hard green ones, so. they will always be located  at the center of your violet where soft tissue is available they will empty the cells from chlorophyll and inject their toxic saliva. This saliva will change the growth metabolism of the plant, that’s why the growth stagnate, and the center will start to be tight.

 But the things will not stop here…

The following days, after checking on your collection you ‘ll see that the situation has aggravated  the center becomes so hairy &dusty-like, also the central leaves turn to be small & tighter, the buds that emerge from that part are also so tiny that you can barely see them. The others, which have already grown and formed , appear to be healthy and continue their normal growth, some of them open and they are perfect. This is the second stage of the invasion! An experimented AV er must be sure now, that C. Mites are here! But some can continue on doubting& try to think more positively seeking other explanations…I tell you, it’s good to think positively and try to attenuate the gravity of a problem …But not in this case!!!

What happened at this second stage is that more eggs have hatched and more larvae are feeding now, some of them have already metamorphosed into adults, &big quantities of toxic saliva have been injected into the tissue, more cells have been perforated and emptied from chlorophyll ,that’s why they become curly , gnarled , hairy, brownish and dusty-like..

At this stage also, the blossoms that have been formed before the invasion continue to grow and they bloom normally but those who were formed at the time of the invasion and after, will be infected .. they will be a good shelter for the larvae and  adults ,and also a good incubator ,very well protected from any change of temperature or humidity.

 After waiting more several days, the plant seems to be ‘’frozen alive’’, no more growth at all, what has grown has grown! All the old buds have opened, they are perfect, the old mature leaves look great, green and shiny, but the center now, is totally destroyed, u can barely differentiate the leaves, and their color turns into brown the tiny buds try to come out, some of them succeed, but they look weird, pale ,and in spite of being tiny and immature,  they open what you will see now is really horrible: The petals are discolored, they look like some  jeans when splattered with chlorine solution.. and if you look carefully through a magnifier glass ,you’ll see tiny yellowish/brownish things of 0.2-0.25mm moving and hiding from the light…These are the C. Mites, the violet plague!!

This  third stage will be a  total confirmation of a mite infection for those who’ve waited till now but for them the nightmare has just begun ,because at this stage, there is a big possibility that some of those tarsonemids have left the mother colony and established new colonies in different parts of your collection and they soon will start to lay off eggs and more larvae will emerge ..The control of the situation will be much harder than before ..The Aver now has  2 procedures  to do  :the first one is physical ,the second is chemical.

The first consists on:

-         Isolating infested plants and make sure to be enough far away from the healthy ones.

-         Discarding those who are severely damaged

-         Disbudding them until the last tiny bud is eliminated (very important.)

-         Cleaning the place of infection by using a 20%bleach solution.

-         Changing your clothes after you finish and wash them immediately.        

-         Checking regularly on your plants.

-         Controlling humidity at 60-75 %(the av continue to thrive well, don’t worry!)

-         Controlling temperature at 20-25C-(68F-77F)

-         Using moderately Nitrates  fertilizers.

The second one consists on:

-         Spraying the whole plants (under the leaves also) with a Strong miticide available in your area..

-         Be sure that the concentration is enough strong to kill C.mites by asking the vendor or the supplier about that.    ( because this one is more resistant than the other kinds of mites such as Red spiders etc…)

-          Alternating with other miticides, this prevent the mite to be immune against the active ingredient you are using on a long term basis.

-         Spraying the surface of the soil.

-         Spraying every 3 days to kill the whole pathologic cycle for 2 weeks period

-         Spraying preventively twice a month alternating monthly with a second miticide.

Controlling a C. Mites invasion is very easy if those 2 procedures are applied in early stages, before the mite is spread over, and new colonies have formed. It could be controlled even after 1 or 2 treatments.

It’s important to mention also, that in some cases C. mites could disappear spontaneously when the room or greenhouse temperature increases to 20-25C and humidity decreases to 60-75%,that is due to the fact that their body is very soft and has a small amount of chitin &can dry quickly under such conditions. But even after the cause is eradicated ,the symptoms will continue to be there for a while depending on the infection severity. The plant will need some time to neutralize the injected toxins and regenerate the damaged tissue, so be a little bit patient, it can take until 2 months sometimes before the plant  returns to its normal shape.

Finally, I advise every person who collects African violets or other gesneriads, to take an immediate measure when first signs appear…do not stay and look, this plague can destroy an entire collection if it’s neglected or treated in a late stage.  Check Always on your plants and take the preventive measures seriously…Like this, the violet* plague will be away !!!

Serge Saliba

  By Jana Strathmann

The Importance of Careful Labeling, We all started with noids, those no name store bought AV’s.  Now we’ve moved on to the named plants and increased our collections.  More plants mean more names to remember.  It’s impossible to remember every name so we must attach it to the plant.  There’s no one right way to do it, but here are some suggestions.  First, remember that the plastic labels can easily be removed by pets and curious children (and even mice I’m told).  It’s much safer to attach a label directly to the pot.  You can write on the pot with a permanent marker or use self adhesive labels printed from your computer.  If you only include the name, please also include the hybridizer -- many AV names are identical and adding the hybridizers name will determine which AV it is.  Remember to include the entire name, not abbreviations.  It’s easy to think B’s Spoon is a Buckeye -- but no!  It’s actually Buckley’s Spoon.  Be sure you print carefully!  Many names are very similar (like Sparkler & Sparkles).  It would be a shame to end up with one of your prized AV’s becoming a noid because you can’t read the label.  You might also want to note the size (standard, semi or mini) and if it’s a trailer.  I once allowed a large AV to grow huge suckers, thinking it was a trailer.  Had I noted on the label whether it was a trailer or standard, this big mistake wouldn’t have happened.  You can also include the date you’re repotting so you’ll know when it needs to be done again.  One very important thing I wish more growers would do is to note if it’s blooming true.  Once my AV’s bloom for the first time, I check the description.  If they’re blooming true, I mark a ‘T’ (for true) on the pot next to the label.  This way I know if I swap leaves on a non-blooming plant whether it bloomed true.  I would never send leaves to anyone without knowing for certain that the plant had bloomed true.  I wish more people would get into this habit too!

VVV Tips, by Jana Strathmann

You’ve planted your variegated leaves, watered them carefully to avoid rot and now you can see mouse ears!  Congratulations!  But wait -- THEY’RE NOT GREEN - what do you do now?  This is a very common occurrence with variegated leaves.  Unless they’re 50% green when removed from the momma leaf, the babies will die.  None of us want that, do we?  Here’s how to green up your babies:

1.  Move the plant or tray with babies to a warmer area.  We all know variegated AV’s can & do lose the variegation in hot weather.  Use this to your advantage.  Place the baby plants in a warmer area of your home or on an upper shelf (heat rises) of your plant stand. 

2.  Mist the plantlets with Fish Emulsion (FE).  Yes, it does stink but it also greens up those white babies.  Mix 1 teaspoon of FE into 2 cups very hot tap water.  Shake or mix well & frequently during spraying.  Lightly mist the leaves until they glisten, but not to the point that the solution runs off the leaves.  Repeat 2 to 3 times a week.  FE is easy to find locally, even Wal-Mart & Lowes carry it.

3.  Water the plantlets with Epsom Salts (ES).  Mix 1 teaspoon ES into a gallon of water & use every time the babies need watering, but not more than 2 times a week.  ES is available from most every department store & pharmacy.

Prevention:  You can prevent white babies by adding FE pellets to the soil you plant your leaves into -- and the pellets don’t stink!  I mix about 1 small handful of FE pellets into a gallon of soil.  FE pellets are more difficult to find.  Here’s a link to one supplier: 

http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-0157694.html

May all your babies come up green & plentiful!

by Rachel Mayer

Suddenly you find there isn't enough room to incubate your plants before adding them to your collection.   Then in a little while,  horror of horrors you  discover you have picked up some hitch hikers along the way and with crowded plants you know they all must be infected.   Now you have two choices,  either toss them or try to keep one of each and treat them.   Either way it is heartbreaking and a lot of work.  

I am starting up for the second time around but I am choosing to buy my leaves this time, this way I get exactly what I want, and they are guaranteed to be healthy and correctly named.  Oh of course I may make a swap with someone if they have something I have really been looking for.   BUT... it will be different this time, because  I've  made up a few trade rules for myself.  I will ask for only 1 or 2 leaves of the plants I really want.   If my swapper wants more,  that is fine with me it is her collection that is growing out of hand,  not mine!   I will not put myself through that again. 

PS....
I would love to play bingo but it would be just the time I would win and put my collection in danger of growing out of proportion again!  Perhaps I should ask the bingo parties to add a rule..... if the winner doesn't want the plants they should play on to the next winner.  OR,  have the sender ship it to another person on the STJ list.  These are a couple of ideas I have been tossing around so I could enjoy playing the bingo games too.

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