So the process begins. A new challenge. Spraying or dipping. Every. Damn. Plant. In. The. House. Not just the african violets, but everything. Well just about everything. I can't spray vegetables or edible plants. Something just doesn't seem very appetizing about eating something made for mass mite destruction. Those will go outside as soon as April quits trying to make up for the summer March we had. Okay I am paranoid. Maybe it's a bit overkill. Not all of the violets look as bad as the Menards ones. In fact many of them are blooming. No one would even suspect anything wrong. But I am treating them anyway. Paranoid? Over cautious? Maybe.
But in this situation I doubt it is a bad thing.
So far I've gotten a little over half way, maybe further. I lost count at about 80 plants. So many more and so many more to go. This may be a good time for me to take inventory to see just how many plants I do have. Total. Total african violets. Total for each variety. Total for my surviving hybrids.
Bathroom floor is ugly. I know.... Yeah submersing an Ivy = Messy. Perlite all over. Everything. Including the floor. And my feet. And the floors around it.
Hoyas aren't much better.
So I resorted to spraying. Even if that means having to do it all over again. it goes much quicker that way. I can treat many plants in a short amount of time. And best of all, no perlite crumblings falling on the floor under my feet. A poor Family Dollar spray bottle is about to become a sacrifice. It's a small price to pay.
Temporary holding place for the treated violets to dry off. These came from the basement. My upstairs plants are being treated separately.
For those who bought any plants from me at the show, they come with a guarantee. If you notice any problems with them or think they have mites, please let me know. Send them back and I'll treat them. I'll keep them for a little while to make sure they grow normal before sending back. I doubt they were affected, but I just want to make sure everything is okay. Especially any of my hybrids.
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Oh and looks like my seedpod Namely Nancy (seed parent) x Butterfly Bombshell is sprouting. It's super hard to tell. The shoots can easily be confused with algae on tiny perlite granules. Maybe they are. They are that tiny. I'm obsessively checking them daily. So far they seem to be growing. Too small to photograph yet. I don't want to smush them with my camera lens.
Timing couldn't have been better. The pod planted the 6th of the month, seemed to be taking longer than I am used to. My room can get really warm if it is sunny outside. Like close to 80 degrees if it is over 65 outside and full sun. Seeds that have warnings of taking 20+ days to sprout (Lobelia) take only a couple weeks. Not seeing anything in my african violet container (deli dish) made me concerned enough to ask about how long I should wait. Sure enough a few hours after posting, I saw my first tiny specks of green.
If I am looking at true african violet sprouts (and not just algae covered perlite grains) I have about 3-4 coming up right now. There may be more. I'm excited. Very excited. And this is coming from a premature seedpod. It ripened and shriveled up within 4 months from pollination. (12-19-11 - 4-6-12, wilted at about 3-20-12 - 3-25-12) 5-6 months are considered better for ripe seeds. My last two seedpods took about that time.
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