The Red African Violet Plant

What’s not to love about a plant with lush green leaves and bright red blossoms? No wonder red African violet are one of the most popular houseplants out there. People adore this lively, easy-to-care-for beauty and for good reason. If you want to learn about the red African violet plant, from where it is found and what its common names are to caring for it in your home, then you’re in the right place.

The Origins and Characteristics of the Red African Violet Plant

The red African violet (Saintpaulia) is a species of Gesneriaceae native to the cloud forests of East Africa, where it endemically occurs in Tanzania and Kenya. The Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire discovered this plant in the late 19th century and introduced it to Europe since he recognised its potential for use in ornamental horticulture. Since then, these plants have become one of the best-selling and most popular flowering houseplants worldwide with their ability to bloom all year round and a wide variety of flower colours including such as the one of the red variety.

Characteristics of the Red African Violet

The most popular red African violet has a compact rosette of soft, fluffy leaves and a bouquet of red, trumpet-shaped blossoms. It usually grows six to nine inches high and is suitable for small apartments. Its deeply toothed, heart-shaped leaves are generally dark green, and a little furry, making for a perky contrast with the bright red blooms.

The flowers are generally 1 to 2 inches across with petals that are red, sometimes dark red through burgundy to a lighter reddish-pink that’s almost bordering on white. The flowers are borne singly (though occasionally in clusters of two) on a relatively short stalk or peduncle rising above the foliage, and have an attractive velvety texture.

Choosing the Right Environment for Your Red African Violet Plant

If you can provide it with the right physical environment, your red African violet will thrive. For that reason, it is best suited to an indoor habitat, where environmental conditions can be more easily manipulated to prepare for its unique requirements.

Light Requirements

To keep red African violets looking their best, they need plenty of bright, indirect light. Their foliage can burn in direct sunlight, which may also fade the gorgeous hue of their flowers, so put your plant where it will get a lot of filtered light. A northern- or eastern-facing window is best, combined with a minimum of direct rays.

If your indoor lighting isn’t sufficient, fluorescent or LED grow lights, spaced about 12 inches above the saga, can provide supplemental and supplemental light. Leave your lamps on a photoperiod of 12 to 14 hours to mimic the amount of light that African violets would receive in the wild.

Temperature and Humidity

The red African violet thrives in tropical climates, so it will do best when it’s warm and humid – somewhere between 65°F and 75°F (18°C to 24°C) is ideal. Don’t put your plant in a drafty spot or near the heating vents, because sudden shocks in temperature put a plant’s growth on hold until the temperature stabilises.

Another important factor is humidity; if your red African violet’s terrarium is too dry, the edges of the leaves may show black spots, and the plant may stop flowering (aim for humidity of 40-60 per cent; in a dry home, this might mean using a humidity tray or even a room humidifier during winter months).

Potting and Soil Requirements

Selecting the most probable potting mix and pot for your red African violet is the very first step to keeping it healthy; with shallow root systems, African violets need an excessive amount of drainage and from a soil mix that allows for good air circulation around the roots.

Soil Mix

Use a standard African violet potting mix to plant your red African violet. Such a mix will likely have ingredients such as peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite – this combination drains and aerates well. In fact, it is simple to produce your own mix – just combine equal parts of these ingredients. Do not use garden soil or any heavy potting mixes, as they will retain too much moisture – the roots may rot.

Pot Selection

If shopping for a pot for your red African violet, find something shallow-sided with good drainage. African violets do not like to sit in water, so, as well as a shallow-sided vessel, it is also essential that your pot has drainage holes so that the water contained in the soil is able to drain out. For most mature plants, you are looking for a pot with a diameter of around 4 to 5 inches. Try and avoid anything that is too large as, when a pot becomes too big, there will be a greater risk of over-watering and poor plant health.

Watering Your Red African Violet Plant

How you water your red African violet plant is another important management task to its success, as both overand underwatering can result in a host of issues, from root rot and leafspotting to reduced flower production.

How to Water

To water from the bottom, set the pot in a shallow tray of water for 20 to 30 minutes so the plant can pull up moisture through the drainage holes, rather than soaking wet leaves, which is prone to fungal issues. Remove the pot after the soil is thoroughly evenly moist, and allow it to drain completely.

You want to allow the top inch of soil to feel dry to the touch before you add water. I generally water mine about once a week, which means factoring in the fact that I keep my African violets in a home with a constant high temperature and high humidity level, which tends to make a dry growing medium dry more slowly than it otherwise would.

Avoiding Common Watering Mistakes

One of the most common culprits is allowing water to sit on the leaves, which can lead to leaf spot but also encourages mould or mildew to grow. Never splash a houseplant. If your watering is just a bit off from the plant’s leaves, delicately blot the leaves dry, using a paper towel to remove any water.

Another error is to let the plant sit in water for too long, which can cause root rot. Be sure your pot has good drainage, and empty the saucer of any excess water after watering.

Fertilizing Your Red African Violet Plant

Like most plants, the red African violet needs regular feeding to promote healthy growth and floral production. But to keep your red African violet healthy, it is essential to use fertiliser with the right analyses and in the right way to avoid both fertiliser burns caused by the product itself and fertiliser imbalances due to erroneous application.

Choosing the Right Fertilizer

When feeding your African violet, use a water soluble, non-burning fertiliser specifically formulated for African violets. The standard ratio for a good African violet fertiliser is a 14-12-14 mixture which provides the right amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium respectively for healthy and well-flowering plants. These fertilisers come in liquid, powder or granular forms.

How to Fertilize

Feed your red African violet every 4 to 6 weeks in growing season (spring through fall), diluting the fertiliser by half the amount recommended on the bottle to prevent causing the plant to be overfed. Salt buildup in the soil will eventually burn plant leaves.

However, if you are watering from a can, apply fertiliser to the soil, making sure it does not touch the leaves of flowers. When you see the surface of the soil – or the edge of the pot – forming a crusty white film, you should take steps to flush out the salts: run plain water through the soil and then fertilise it less often.

Pruning and Grooming Your Red African Violet Plant

Regularly pruning and grooming your red African violet helps to keep it looking and growing as desired, and so might help the plant to bloom more and also prevents pests and diseases from afflicting your charming red African violet plant.

Removing Dead or Damaged Leaves

Inspect your plant for discoloured, dead or sick-looking leaves and cut off those that you find, using sterile, sharp scissors so as not to leave stubs that could serve as breeding grounds for disease. This action frees the plant from investing time and energy to eliminate those dead or problematic leaves and redirects more energy towards producing roots, growth and flowers.

Pinching Off Spent Flowers

To keep the plant blooming, pinch off blooms as soon as they start to fade: this process, known as deadheading, discourages the plant from investing energy into seed production and encourages the plant to grow new flower buds.

Grooming the Plant

Keep your red African violet looking its best by grooming it. Brush off dust and other debris from the leaves lightly with a soft brush or cloth. It’s also good cleaning for the foliage, which will help it absorb more light for photosynthesis.