Hello Group,

I hope all are healthy and well.  I am desperately searching for help in saving my African violets.  I have a total of four violets.  Three violets are in one pot and belonged to my grandmother nearly 20 years ago and another potted separately.  My grandmother’s violets were absolutely beautiful.  They bloomed several times a year with pretty pink flowers, deep emerald green leaves and two of the three plants were VERY large. When I repotted the plants a few years ago I was able to separate them and get a small third plant.  The other violet is just as nice but smaller with purple flowers, healthy green leaves and is growing at a nice pace.  Both plants were kept in terra cotta pots and my care schedule consisted of deep watering around every Sunday and never leaving water sit in the saucer once drained.  I watered from the top with semi-cool water and I keep a little bowl of water between the pots for humidity.  

About six weeks ago I decided to repot the flowers.  I found two really pretty gray scalloped top pots from Smith and Hawken.  I purchased Miracle-Gro Performance Organic Container Mix because the store was out of the African violet dirt I was looking for.  I then repotted the plants by gently shaking the dirt off, inspected them seeing no signs of concern, clipped any dead leaves off, and replanted them the way they were before and gave them a good watering.  The next day the bottom row of all the plants were wilted.  I wasn’t too surprised since I know repotting can cause some shock to a plant, however, I did not recall this happening when I repotted them in the past.  As the days went by the wilting progressed in all four plants.  It seemed to go around row by row.  I really began to panic as these plants have a great deal of sentimental value to me.  I searched the internet for help and decided this problem was most likely the dirt.  I then purchased Espoma AV4, Organic African Violet Potting Mix, but the bag was only big enough to do one pot, so I repotted my grandmother’s plants.  Now I have one pot with one plant in Miracle-Gro and one pot with three plants in African violet dirt.  Eventually the Miracle-Gro plant bounced back, but the other three plants just keep wilting.  I have changed nothing in terms as to where the pots are located and I have only had to water twice being very careful not to over do it.  I also want to note that there are several new leaves coming in on all the plants and they are a nice, healthy green.  I just don’t understand why the wilting won’t stop on the three and am at a complete loss as to what to do.   I would be so incredibly grateful for any advice on how to save my grandma’s plants.

Gratefully,

Krista