Violets are quite popular indoor plants, and often their cultivation grows from an ordinary hobby into a serious and profitable business. Many people wonder how to plant a violet and what further care the plant needs in order to keep it blooming as long as possible. This article will reveal the secrets of successfully growing violets at home as ideas for business and just a great hobby.

Brief description of the plant

This herbaceous plant can be annual or perennial, depending on the type of violet, of which there are more than 400. It has a creeping rhizome with brittle and thin roots. Its leaves may have a cirrus-dissected, simple shape with stipules and visually look oval or slightly oblong. The edges of the leaves can be either flat or jagged. Leaves form a basal rosette. Their color can vary depending on the variety or type of flower and can be from light to dark shades of green. Petioles are heart-shaped.Violet flowers are single, bisexual with a double perianth. They can have simple or openwork, the so-called "double" petals. All shades of violets can not be counted and imagined, as collectors make every effort to create new, amazingly beautiful color combinations.

However, the most common colors can be called:

• white
• pink;
• purple.

Fruits the plant in a box in which the seeds of the flower are located. They are proteinaceous and have a central germ. On average, the flowering period of plants lasts from March to December, which is almost 10 months a year with a dormant period that lasts several months.

Important! A sign of a lack of light is the stretching of the leaves upwards, with an excessive amount of sunlight the leaves begin to bend over the edge of the pot.

Growing conditions

For a good flowering of violets, it is necessary to create special conditions for it that will favorably affect the process of its growth and flowering.

Lighting

These decorative flowers are very fond of sunlight, but their delicate petals can suffer from direct sunlight. Lighting should be diffused and bright enough, and this should be taken into account when choosing the best place for a flowerpot with violet. Based on this, it is optimal to arrange the flowers on the southern, western or eastern window, creating a slight shadow for them. On the northern window in the spring and summer, they will be well and comfortable, but at other times they may not bloom.Daylight hours for violets should last about 10-12 hours, which will allow it to have abundant and bright flowering. However, these data are an average indicator, since some species, for example, with light leaves, do not require such a prolonged charge of solar energy, while violets with dark foliage require it in a larger volume. In conditions of lack of natural light, luminescent is used. Lamp power should be 36–40 watts. They are placed at a distance of 20–25 cm from the plant.

Temperature

The air in the room where they are cultivating violets should be warmed up to a temperature of + 20 ... + 23 ° C. Such a thermal regime will allow the plant to grow well and give abundant flowering. If the situation in the room is cooler, the appearance of a wide and bright border on the flowers can be seen, the color of the leaves can become deeper and more saturated.

If the air temperature is hotter, for example, in the summer, violet may produce fewer flowers, which will be smaller in size. The green color of the leaves becomes more dull. Varieties with such a feature as specks can practically lose their distinctive feature, or specks become dull and smaller in size. Therefore, too warm or hot climate negatively affects the appearance of the plant.

Did you know? If you find a glade with violets in the wild, then the likelihood that zinc deposits are in the soil is extremely high, because these flowers are recognized by the "geologists" of the floral world.

In order to help the plant in the hot season, you can use air conditioning or a fan to help provide a rush of fresh air. However, you should beware of drafts, since intense cold air flow can cause spots and stains of a light beige hue on the leaves. Complete hypothermia of a delicate flower can destroy its root system, as it rots.

Watering

To water violets, water must be prepared in a special way:

1. It is necessary to collect water from the tap and let it stand for several days in a container without a lid, which will allow chlorine to evaporate from it.
2. The settled water is boiled in order to get rid of excess salts.
3. Cool her.

Water should be slightly warmer than the temperature of the air in the room and the soil in the pot. It is better to consider this situation with a specific example: in winter, if the pot with violet senpolia is located on a shelf with light, the soil temperature will be slightly higher than the air in the room, respectively, the water should be warmer than room temperature so that it does not seem to the delicate roots of the flower are too cool, and they did not begin to rot.

The irrigation process is also worthy of special attention. The stream of water should be thin, directed in such a way as to avoid getting on the growth point, leaves and flowers of the plant. You can also apply watering by using a tray filled with water, which is placed under a pot of violets, and the roots of the flower absorb as much moisture as they need.

Such a tray is placed for 15-20 minutes to prevent excessive moisture of the roots. For violets, this is more disastrous than a slight drought. A sign of the need for watering is dry to the touch earth in a pot. Wet wiping the leaves should be carried out every 1.5–2 months. The leaves are washed under the tap, eliminating dust, trying to prevent water from entering the soil.

Humidity

In order to grow beautiful and blooming violets, for them it is necessary to create conditions of high humidity, the minimum level should not fall below 50%. If the violet is in the apartment, then during the heating season this condition requires increased control, since heating appliances and batteries greatly dry the air.

To correct this situation, it is necessary to use improvised tools and devices:

• humidifiers;
• place open containers with water near radiators.

High humidity is especially necessary for leaflets that germinate, processes, transplanted plants. To create the most comfortable conditions in these cases, you can build a small greenhouse, covering, for example, a sprout with polyethylene. However, it is worth remembering the need for ventilation, the influx of fresh air.

Important! Humidity should not exceed 70%, and condensation should not be allowed, which could harm the violet, causing a fungal disease.

How to plant a violet

Planting a violet at home is a simple matter, although it requires strength and attention. First of all, you need to find out as much information as possible about the features of the type of violets that you plan to grow.

However, there are uniform rules that must be followed:

• compliance with the timing of landing;
• carrying out the necessary preparatory work;
• preparation of tools for planting;
• choosing the right flowerpot;
• soil preparation.

Landing time

Depending on the type of planting material, violet planting occurs:

• from seeds - from August to October;
• in case of using cuttings, from May to July.

Preparatory work

Before embarking on planting, it is necessary to prepare:

• a pot that is suitable in size and shape;
• containers for seedlings or rooting violets. For this, you may need plastic cups or parts of plastic bottles;
• optimal soil composition. If the purchase option cannot be purchased, then you should take care of the preparation of the necessary components;
• a fluorescent lamp, in order to provide the necessary amount of light for violets in the winter.

Fulfillment of all these conditions will help to easily land and get a good result.

It is better to grow violet in a pot, which will correspond to the following characteristics:

• round shape;
• shallow, almost flat, up to 10 cm tall;
• the diameter of the pot should be 2-3 times less than the diameter of the outlet, on average it is up to 13 cm;
• better to pick up a plastic pot.

As the flower grows, it is necessary to regularly transplant it into a larger flowerpot, otherwise its development will occur slowly.

Priming

Indoor violets grow well in soil, which has the following characteristics:

• air, providing oxygen access to the roots;
• retains moisture;
• slightly acidic, even neutral, with a pH of 5.5–6.5 for senpolia.

To give the soil a lighter structure and its breathability, it is necessary to add to the soil pot:

• perlite;
• sphagnum;
• vermiculitis;
• chopped charcoal.

It is necessary to plant the plant in a flowerpot with a sufficiently large layer of high-quality drainage, which can be used as:

• expanded clay;
• polystyrene foam;
• coarse river sand.

To create the soil with your own hands, you should take care of the presence of such components:

• humus leaf;
• coniferous humus;
• turf land;
• peat;
• river sand, fine.

It should be remembered about the fertilizers that are needed to feed the plant:

• nitrogen containing. Especially important in the early stages of flower development;
• with potassium and phosphorus in the composition, as they contribute to better rooting of the plant and a set of vital forces.

Preparing the soil for planting also includes the disinfection process, which involves, as one of the ways, calcining it in the oven.

Landing technology

Violets are grown by propagating:

• leaflet;
• stepsons;
• side outlets;
• seeds.

Rooting in water, the leaves let children in the shortest possible time, and then adapt faster when planting in the ground and give immediate flowering. As for the cultivation of violets with seeds, the plants have small flowering and require long and painstaking care, therefore this method is often used by more experienced gardeners. Pasynkovka is used if you want to get a color identical to the mother plant.

From the leaflet

Growing violets from a leaf is the most popular and easiest way to propagate this flower.

In order to understand which leaf can be used, it is necessary to carefully examine the plant and select a leaf:

• medium in size;
• healthy, without visible defects and lesions;
• dense, strong;
• saturated green color, it is better to have a darker shade, since there is a higher content of chlorophyll;
• from the 2-3rd lower row of the outlet.

Choosing the appropriate instance, you must do the following procedure:

1. Cut the stem of the leaf at an acute angle, separating it from the mother plant. It is necessary to make a neat and even cut with a 4–5 cm long cuttings.
2. Place in a separate container with cold, prepared water so that the stem is in the water. It is pre-boiled, and then a tablet of activated carbon is dissolved in it. With the same tool, you can treat a slice on a violet.
3. The process should be placed so that the petiole is always in the water, and the leaf is above its surface. To do this, you can either choose a container for germination with a diameter less than the size of the sheet, or put a sheet of paper on the surface of the glass, making a hole in it, and put a sheet on it, lowering the stalk in water.
4. Then you need to create a greenhouse by covering a glass of water with a bag of polyethylene, this will speed up the rooting process.

Video: propagation of violets from a leaf

Germination of the leaf should take place at a temperature of + 25 ° C. If it has lowered, the stalk may begin to rot. In this case, it is shortened, cutting the affected edge. Planting with a leaf is done when small processes appear on the cuttings, then a leaf with roots is planted in the ground. For starters, such leaf sprouting should take place in a small container, after the plant is well rooted and take root, it can be transplanted into a pot for long-term cultivation.

Growing from a leaf without roots is as follows:

1. Holes must be made in plastic cups to improve water flow.
2. Pour a drainage layer in containers using expanded clay gravel. Then a layer of sand, providing friability of the soil. Then pour a layer of nutrient soil with the addition of moss and vermiculite, providing ease and ability to pass air.
3. Moisten the contents of the cups.
4. Place a leaf without a root in the topsoil and sprinkle with earth.

With this method of planting, it is important to carry out proper care, which mainly consists in observing the irrigation technology. To do this, the glasses are placed in a container with water so that its level reaches the middle of their height. For full saturation with moisture, a few minutes of such watering are enough, after which the glasses are removed from the water and placed in a warm place. After the first sprouts appear, it is possible to use a sprayer for top watering.

From seed

Before you start growing violets from seeds, you need to make sure the quality of the seed, the absence of pests and disease in it. These qualities, as a rule, are possessed by material purchased in specialized stores. It is also worth paying special attention to the quality of the soil in which the violet will be planted with seeds. He, as well as for other methods of growing, must be nutritious and airy. For seed germination, it is recommended first to use not pots, but plastic cups or small plastic containers.

Did you know? The most delicate aroma of violets is used by Italian perfumers to make the unique aroma “Vera Violetta”. Its recipe is more than 150 years old, and only Parma senpolis are used for these perfumes.

Landing should occur in accordance with the following plan:

1. For additional aeration and better seed germination, the topsoil should be sieved through a sieve and then treated with an anti-parasite agent.
2. After drying of the soil in the tank for planting, it is necessary to create grooves for seeds.
3. Plant the seeds and sprinkle them with a small layer of soil.
4. Water the bed.

When sowing seeds in open ground, planting is carried out from late summer to early fall, only by collecting fresh seed. The process takes place in such a period that the seeds will be in the ground all fall and winter, and the first seedlings should be expected only in the spring, and the first flowering of such plants is expected only in the second year. The beds in the flowerbed should be well loosened, adding peat and humus, treated with a fungicidal agent, to prevent the appearance of fungal diseases and parasites. Picking sprouted seedlings occurs with a distance of 5-7 cm.

Video: growing violets from seeds

Plant care after planting

The room where the seedlings and sprouts of violets are kept should be:

• without drafts;
• sufficiently lit, preventing direct sunlight from sprouting;
• warm, with an air temperature not lower than + 15 ° C. Optimum mode + 20 ... + 25 ° C;
• with high humidity.

For the plant you need:

• regular watering, which should be recommended by absorbing moisture through the roots, and not directly through the top. In the summer, daily, in the winter - as the soil dries up;
• drip irrigation of a plant from a spray gun;
• regular nutrition with nutrients;
• additional lighting, with a lack of natural light in the cool season;
• removal of faded and dried flowers and leaves;
• Rotate the potted plant every week to create a symmetrical outlet.

Important! In order to speed up the process of the appearance of the first seedlings of the house, after planting the containers with seedlings are covered with a film or glass to create greenhouse conditions.

Diseases and pests of violets

Compliance with the conditions for growing violets is essential for their normal growth and good flowering.

So, improper flower content can affect its appearance and vitality:

• swirling leaves with spots and stains of beige are a sign of exposure to cold air flows;
• rotting of the root system can occur as a result of excessive watering, as well as hypothermia of the plant.

Violation of the rules of care and maintenance makes plants vulnerable, and it can suffer from such infectious diseases:

• powdery mildew, which manifests itself in the form of a light coating, similar to flour, on the leaves of violet. This is a fungal disease for the elimination of which antifungal drugs, sulfur, are used. Need to control the temperature and humidity in the room;
• fusarium - a fungus that destroys the root system of violets. A sign is brown spots on the cuttings, falling leaves, the color of the roots in black. For the fight use fungicides;
• late blight - a fungus that enters the plant through its minor damage. It can be recognized by brown spots on the leaves of Saintpaulia. The disease is not subject to treatment, therefore, it is necessary to observe proper care of the plant in order to prevent its occurrence;
• gray rot - plaque of a characteristic color, which provokes the appearance of rot on the violet. You can fight this disease with the help of fungicides;
• rust - the appearance of rusty spots, which look like orange stains on top and a slightly convex shape on the bottom of the sheet. To eliminate this ailment, fungicides, sulfur dust and bordeaux mixture are used.

Terrible violets and pests, among which should be noted are:

• ticks;
• scale insects;
• false shields;
• thrips;
• nails
• nematodes;
• mealybug;
• aphid;
• wood lice;
• mosquitoes and flies, in particular, their larvae;
• greenhouse whiteflies.

To protect against most of these pests, acaricides and insecticides are used that effectively act on them, preventing the appearance of subsequent offspring.

Growing violets is a painstaking process that requires the creation of a special atmosphere: compliance with temperature, humidity and watering. However, the joy that flowers give makes up for this work.