Actually I'm just wanting to make sure I'm diagnosing this correctly. I believe a couple of my african violets have developed crown rot. I've isolated them from the others but I'm watching them all. The symtoms are as follows: affected plants wobble on their basal stems while the basal stems on my other healthy plants seem rigid, on one of my violets (the optimara) the outer two whorls or so of leaves have wilted and look a pale, translucent, sickly sort of green. They are both continuing grow and put up flower buds. I know my chances of saving the plants are slim. If they do indeed have crown rot is there any chance of rearing a new plant from one of the still healthy leaves or am I completely out of luck?
I would take a couple of leaves and start a new plant just incase ... how are you watering it ??.. from the top or bottom ?? it looks like you have a cup that the plant is planted in inside the pot.. i would transplant it to a african violet pot and only water it from the bottom .. mine has a real bad wobble but that is from being knocked over so many times and losing dirt .. it needs a transplant .. but still doing good .. you have a real pretty plant .. do what you can to save it .. Marion
*Thank you! Yes it wasn't quite what I was expecting but it is a nice specimen. I actually had it in a 4inch pot like what most nurseries sell their plants in. They fit perfectly into most cups making for an easy to assemble wick-system. *I figured out my problem. It wasn't crown rot but it did have some rot around the 'neck'. Which, I read, is caused by soil that doesn't drain very well. In my case it was the soil it was potted in at the nursery. I recently learned that they use mixes that retain water. (I guess in case the store associate forgets to water them.) I wasn't aware of this so I didn't repot it when I got home. It's doubled in size over the last year or so and now this. * I followed the advise of one of the people on the African Violet Society's webpage: cut away all rot with a sterile knife, dust with sulfur, and repot. I moistened the new potting medium with a very weak solution of root-stimulant and rain water. I also removed all the flowers and I'm rooting those stems (there are 5 or 6) jut in case.
