African Violet Help

I have no green thumb and have never really paid much attention to my plants. However, these Africa violets are now part of my decor and are special to me. They were rescued from my mom's front window after she died and we were clearing out her house. They've done very well in my front window despite my lack of knowledge...until now. All of a sudden one of them shrivelled up into nothing. Both were growing weird and edging themselves to the side of the pot. I decided I had better do some research to see if they could be saved.

There are plenty of YouTube videos on the care and repotting of violets and I learned that it is normal for them to get the trunk-like stem. This is a good indication that it is time to repot, even in the same container. By removing the lower leaves and re-centring the plant in fresh soil, it is possible to reshape the violet to a pleasing state and rejuvenate its health.

I had special African violet soil which is suitable in composition and contains the nutrients they need. After I removed the plant from the pot and old soil I cleaned out the container and repotted the violet in fresh, new soil. I plucked off the old, yellow leaves and ones that were overgrown, distorting the nice round appearance, and planted it back in the middle of the soil. It looks so much better!

I did what I could with the one that was struggling (I could see a few tiny new leaves!) so we'll see what happens with that one. A good watering from below should perk them up and I hope both will do much better now! Below are a couple of the better videos I watched in case you'd like to see them. Have a great day!