5 effective actions to save a violet flooded with water

Violet is a delicate and whimsical flower that reacts to the slightest mistakes made in caring for it. One of the common causes of wilting and loss of leaf turgor can be excessive watering of the plant. To protect your pet from death, it is necessary to take urgent measures to restore the flower and remove excess moisture from the soil.

Natural aging

In violets, with satisfactory maintenance, the plates function normally for about a year. Then, starting from the bottom ones, they gradually age, sequentially:

• change color;
• turgor worsens;
• yellow areas appear with signs of drying out or rotting;
• the plates wither and die.

If Saintpaulia is replanted at least once a year, the leaves will not wither due to old age - during the operation, the bottom row of plates is usually removed.

Soft and limp violet leaves: causes and elimination of wilting

House violets are very capricious and delicate flowers, sensitive to all changes in external factors. They immediately react to any violation of living conditions by withering leaves. In most cases, it is possible to save the plant - to do this, you need to correctly determine the cause of the unpleasant phenomenon and take timely measures to resuscitate your green pet.

Care errors

If violet leaves become soft and limp, and the stems curl, then in 90% of cases the reason lies in care errors. Unfortunately, no one is immune from such troubles. Most of these reasons can be easily dealt with if you start fighting to save the flower on time.

Timely care and careful care will significantly increase the plant’s chances of survival.

Insufficient lighting

Violets require good lighting for full growth and development; they need at least 12-14 hours of daylight. In summer, natural insolation is enough for the plant, but in winter the flower requires additional lighting. Typically, special LED or fluorescent phytolamps are used for this. Experienced gardeners recommend giving preference to the first option, since in this case the air near the flower does not overheat, and much less electrical energy is consumed.

When choosing a suitable model, be sure to take into account the spectrum of the glow; it should be yellow, as close as possible to the sun. However, if you don’t have a special phytolamp, then the most ordinary fluorescent one with white light will do, just try to have it with a lower glow.

Improper watering

If the violet has soft leaves, first of all, the owners should reconsider watering. Inexperienced gardeners often think that vegetative organs can only wither due to lack of moisture; they give the bushes more water, as a result the roots begin to rot and the Saintpaulia dies.

The worst thing is that overwatering is really easy to confuse with overdrying:

• leaves lose turgor;
• wither;
• in advanced cases, they hang down.

The exact cause can only be determined by the state of the earthen coma. It needs to be taken out of the pot and examined.

Overflow

Droopy violet leaves often indicate overwatering. This is accompanied by:

• soaking and souring of the substrate;
• deterioration of aeration;
• rotting of the root system;
• cessation of nutrition and, oddly enough, absorption of water - the decaying sucking shoots cease to function.

As a result, the underground part may die completely. Treatment:

• in mild cases - drying the earthen coma;
• in case of strong overflow - transplant into a smaller pot and clean out the rotting sucking shoots;
• neglected situation - pruning and rooting of the top.

Sometimes the owners only have time to take healthy leaves for propagation. If the plate, and not just the petiole, has become soft and began to wither, it is too late to do this.

It is very easy to overwater violets in a large pot. The correct ratio of the diameter of the upper hole and the socket is 1:3.

Overdrying

The above-ground part of a drying bush behaves as if it were overflowing. If Saintpaulia constantly suffers from a lack of moisture or periods of drought alternate with normal or excessive watering, violet:

• develops slowly;
• the corollas do not correspond to the varietal description - they become pale and small;
• the plates turn yellow, and the change in color is not associated with their age.

Substrate:

• moves away from the pot, as a result, the moisture does not saturate the soil, but is immediately poured into the pan;
• the soil hardens, depending on its structure, turns into many dry lumps or a solid monolith;
• the root dries out and dies.

Treatment: you need to saturate the substrate with moisture using the immersion method, then inspect the underground part. Sometimes it is enough to cover the flower with transparent cellophane, and the turgor will be restored naturally. But if sluggish vegetative organs do not regain their elasticity within a day, they will have to be cut off.

Temporary overdrying is less dangerous for violets than overwatering.

Water has entered the center of the outlet

The leaves will certainly begin to wither when the owners are in a hurry, lazy, or do not consider it necessary to lift them during overhead watering. The liquid gets onto the base of the petioles or into the center of the rosette; due to the tight fit and pubescent surface of the vegetative organs, it evaporates slowly, and rotting begins.

Getting the violet wet at low temperatures or evening watering is especially dangerous.

How to save a violet

If a plant dies from flooding, you can try to save it:

1. Remove the earthen lump from the pot. If it just smells like damp earth, then you just need to remove excess moisture by placing it on several layers of toilet paper or cotton fabric, and change it as it gets wet. Return the plant to the pot after a day.
2. If the earthen ball smells of rot and decomposition, you need to remove some of the soil and decomposed roots. Living roots are white or light brown, while dead roots are black. Carefully, use a fork or a pointed wooden stick to separate the roots. More often, rotted pieces of roots fall off along with the soil.
3. Rinse the remaining earthen lump in a solution of the “Maxim” preparation, in potassium permanganate, etc., allow excess moisture to drain off or dry as mentioned above.
4. Roll carefully in a 1:1 mixture of dry river sand and vermiculite.
5. Due to the loss of part of the roots, the plant will not be able to maintain flowering, so it is necessary to remove all flower stalks and lower large leaves, sprinkling crushed coal on the broken parts.
6. In a pot, the diameter of which is slightly larger than the diameter of the remains of the earthen clod, pour drainage and a layer of soil about 1 cm, lower the diseased plant into the pot and sprinkle on top. In the soil that is used for healthy violets, you need to add more vermiculite and clean river sand 2:1:1, then it can be used for replanting diseased plants.
7. Insert several pieces of charcoal (or activated carbon tablets) around the perimeter of the pot.
8. Keep the plant in a warm place, do not water it until the top layer begins to dry out, then water it very carefully with warm, boiled water.
9. After planting, you can spray with Epin or Zircon, diluted according to the instructions. After treatment, keep the plant in a warm, dry and dark place for 6-8 hours. Then you can move it to the light.
10. If the violet survives and new young leaves begin to grow, then it can be removed from the pot again, shake off the soil containing a large amount of sand and plant it in a more nutritious substrate.

Other care errors

Saintpaulia withers when the owners violate the conditions of detention:

1. The temperature drops below 15° C or rises above 30-32° C. If the deviation from the norm is short-term, insignificant, turgor will return on its own. If the temperature is violated for a long time, the violet may die.
2. The soil is damaged or was not initially suitable for growing the crop. Need an urgent transplant.
3. Watering with cold water.
4. Chemical burn of the root after fertilizing with dry soil or too concentrated fertilizer.
5. Low air humidity. For violets, the acceptable minimum is 50%.
6. There hasn't been a transplant for a long time. The operation should be performed at least once a year, preferably every 6-9 months.
7. Hypothermia of the root in winter. Violets often wither after watering if they stand on a cold windowsill. It is recommended to build a protective screen, or at least place a piece of foam under the pot.
8. Saintpaulia wilts when watered regularly with hard water.
9. Drafts. The flower cannot be placed in front of a working air conditioner; it must be covered with newspaper or protected in another way when ventilating.

Violet leaves wither after transplanting

This sometimes happens even among experienced gardeners, especially if the operation was accompanied by stripping of the roots. It is recommended to cover the injured plant with a transparent cap - the violet will recover rather than fight for life, and turgor will return to the leaves faster.

Saintpaulia may wither after transplantation for other reasons:

1. The timing was wrong for the operation. The crop can be moved to a new pot regardless of the season, but it is better to do this in spring or autumn. In summer it is too hot, although violet can withstand temperatures up to 30° C well, it is better that the first weeks after transplantation should not exceed 25° C. In winter, on the contrary, it is cold. Even at 18°C, proprietary varieties with damaged roots suffer; they need at least 20°C.
2. The violet can be watered with water at room temperature. But after transplantation it is better if it is 5°C higher. Some gardeners generally advise raising the degree to 30-35. Cold water often causes rotting of injured roots.
3. The same thing often happens with abundant watering immediately after transplanting. This does not mean that the violet should be left dry for several days - this way the leaves will definitely begin to wither. The substrate should be slightly moistened so that it sticks to the roots and fills the air pockets.
4. Even when transshipping a violet, the underground part is injured. This is fraught with infection in the wounds, especially when making the substrate yourself. It is recommended to water the bushes with Fitosporin solution 2-3 days after moving them to another pot.

Stampings - industrial varieties tolerate replanting more easily than designer violets.

Remove decayed roots

If, after removing the soil from the pot, you find that the root system of the flower has rotten brown or black roots, the seedling needs an “operation”: the damaged elements should be removed.

To do this, very carefully, so as not to damage the plant, clear the roots from the soil using a fork or a sharpened wooden stick, and cut the decomposed areas with scissors to healthy tissue.

Sprinkle the cut areas with a powdered activated carbon tablet.

Be sure to inspect the stem and lower leaves of the flower - these parts of the violet may also be affected by rot. If you do not eliminate or clean the infected areas, the plant will not grow after transplantation, but will become sick.

Diseases and pests

For these reasons, Saintpaulia rarely withers. The culture has excellent immunity, attracts little insects, and pathogens do not colonize the collection for years.

But sometimes they can get on plants:

• from clothes or dirty hands of owners, hair from pets walking on the street;
• after transplantation into a substrate containing contaminated garden soil;
• bring into the house with new plants, fruits, a bouquet of flowers, especially wild ones.

Pests of Saintpaulia

When attacked by insects or mites, the pests will first multiply so that they will swarm in the pot, on the vegetative organs. And only then the violets will begin to fade. Usually owners take action earlier.

The following require special attention and treatment with appropriate insecticides:

• cyclamen, spider, flat mites;
• white podurs (ground fleas);
• greenhouse aphids;
• mealybugs;
• thrips;
• nematodes;
• whiteflies.

Sciarides (fungus gnats) irritate owners more than they harm indoor violets. But if you don’t pay attention to them for a long time, the roots will begin to eat away and the leaves will begin to wither.

Why the violet began to fade: possible reasons

Any indoor plants require attention, care, and proper care, and violets need this more than others, since they are very susceptible to external conditions.
If a violet withers, its leaves droop, it means that it doesn’t like something, but finding the reason for this state of the flower is extremely difficult, because there can be many factors.

Still, let's try to figure out what could be the matter if Saintpaulia suddenly shows signs of wilting or illness, and how to restore health to your favorite flower.

Why does the violet wither?

Violets are very beautiful ornamental plants, but at the same time they are also very capricious. Any disturbance to their habitat can affect the appearance of the flower. They are also susceptible to pests, especially fungi. Let's look at the most common reasons why Saintpaulias may wither.

Lack of light or excess of it

Violets need to receive at least 12 hours of daylight per day. In winter, when the days become short and cloudy, they may lack light. In this case, they must be illuminated with artificial lamps.

An excess of light radiation also negatively affects their well-being. In addition, they do not tolerate the sun's burning rays at all. As soon as the plant stands on the windowsill in the summer, on the south side, after a few days you will notice that the leaves begin to turn yellow and wither.