I EARN $20 AN HOUR...RAISING VIOLETS

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

FACT TWO: If your illuminated indoor garden's nighttime temperature drops no lower than 68 to 70°F, your little starts should mature and develop blooms about ten to twelve weeks after you receive them. And if you don't sell them all the first time you put them on the market, you can just keep the leftovers going and they should bloom again within another four to eight weeks.

Put these two facts together and it's easy to see that you should order your starts so you'll receive them 12 to 14 weeks before Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. And, since such days (and the Immediate periods leading up to them) are the best but certainly not the only times that folks buy blooming African violets, it's also obvious that any plants you have left over from a holiday should be put back on the market when they bloom again a month or two later.

TRANSPLANT YOUR STARTS

As soon as the starter plants arrive you should take them right into the basement, open the box, and transplant them as soon as possible. Fill as many four inch pots as necessary each twothirds full of your prepared soil mix. Thenusing a spoon, small trowel, or knifegently transfer one start from the shipping tray into each of the containers.

Try not to disturb the roots or break any of the leaves off the little plants as you pot them. Then pour some of the soil mixture around each of the starts until Its crown (the place where the leaves come out) is just covered. Gently firm the growing medium by pressing it downagain, gently around the tiny plant's base. Then give the little violet a drink and add more soil if necessary.

ON THE SUBJECT OF WATER

You can use almost any water on your violets as long as it [1] is not artificially softened, and [2] is not too cold. Softened water is not good for plants and cold water can slow the growth of your violets. For very best results, then, I recommend rainwater that has been warmed to about 80°F. [Editor's note: It's not as difficult or as expensive inmost cases as it might sound to meet that requirement. Just run the water off your homes roof into a barrel thats painted black on the outside and allowed to sit in the sun.] The extra warmth will speed blooming and is one way to help overcome a slightly-lower-than-optimum basement temperature.

For best results, the soil around your violets should be kept slightly moist at all times. Push a finger about an inch deep into the potting mixture in one of the containers. If the medium feels moist, try again tomorrow. If it feels dry, water your plants. As you gain experience in this business, you'll notice that neither a small African violet plant nor the plastic pot or medium it's grown in weighs very much when compared to a measured amount of water. This means that you should soon develop the knack of "hefting" one of the potted plants and knowing whether or not it needs water strictly by how heavy it feels.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print