I have a little over half a dozen african violets, each in a 10 cm
plastic pot. I know putting plants in a pot that is too large is as
risky as putting them in one that is too small. I have several large
oval shaped pots, which are about 25cm x 50 cm, and about 12 cm high.
I am wondering if they will do well planted together in one or two of
these large pots. How close together should the plants be? Putting
begonias in these pots did not work well at all, and I am not sure
why. If there is a risk that the african violets won't do well
together, then I'd just as soon leave them in individual pots and see
if I can find something else that will do well in these pots.

I have another, more general, question. I know tubers are an
adaptation to help a plant to survive times of stress. Can plants
such as Sinningia speciosa, cyclamen, and tuberous begonias, be force
into dormancy without killing them? If so, how? And can they be
forced to break dormancy without killing them? If so, how? I have
one reference that says that many modern cultivars have tubers that
are too small for there to be significant survival of dormancy, and it
claims that it isn't worth keeping them after their blooms have faded.
I am wondering if it isn't possible to trim the flowers at some point
so that production from the leaves would go to growing the tubers
instead of producing more flowers, and whether or not, if one is
successful in forcing dormancy and redireccting production to the
tubers, the tubers will retain their size if allowed to bloom freely.
Surely a more prolonged period of vegetative growth would result in
much bigger tubers and thus good survival of dormancy.

Cheers,

Ted

Don't do it. Part of the beauty of an African violet is the symmetrical circle
of leaves with the clusters of flowers in the center. Also, the faster growing
varieties would choke the more delicate ones. If you want several plants in one
pot, use something else.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

If so, how? I have
one reference that says that many modern cultivars have tubers that
are too small for there to be significant survival of dormancy, and it
claims that it isn't worth keeping them after their blooms have faded.


I'm no cyclamen expert, but I know from living in pre-war Lebananon that truly
wild cyclamen will form tubers big as basketballs, and can be cut up into
smaller pieces and bloom in a year. OTOH I had some minature US "florists'
cyclamens" potted and outside in northern California for a number of years, and
they just kept getting bigger and bigger, produced seeds, etc., and now are
growing outside in a friend's garden in the same area and blooming.



zemedelec

On 8 Mar 2003 21:47:19 -0800, (Ted Byers)
wrote:

I have a little over half a dozen african violets, each in a 10 cm
plastic pot. I know putting plants in a pot that is too large is as
risky as putting them in one that is too small. I have several large
oval shaped pots, which are about 25cm x 50 cm, and about 12 cm high.
I am wondering if they will do well planted together in one or two of
these large pots. How close together should the plants be? Putting
begonias in these pots did not work well at all, and I am not sure
why. If there is a risk that the african violets won't do well
together, then I'd just as soon leave them in individual pots and see
if I can find something else that will do well in these pots.


AFs usually grow well in individual pots, and do better when
transplanted into the next size pot (without skipping a size). A
10cm pot is about the largest for a typical AF to spend the rest of
its days. Due to the circular symmetry of AFs, they probably would
not look as well grouped in one pot as they would grouped together in
individual pots without touching each other. Often, AFs will grow
multiple crowns and this looks like there are more than one plant in a
pot--personally, I don't like this appearance.