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News of Violets and Such ...Update...
4/21/2008 As I mention before, Robert is on to new ventures and having a blast. I'm so proud to share his new website address with you. http://www.pyrographyandsuch.com
I'm amazed at this man's talents! I hope you will have a look for yourselves, enjoy his work, and encourage him in this new venture! You'll even get to see how the 'Plant House' has been revamped to suit his new passion.. (Now lovingly referred to as "The Dog House".) Robert refers to this as "a little piece of Heaven". He deserves that slice, don't you think?
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It saddens me to hear that Violets and Such will no longer be offering plants to the public. Robert Albro has made decision to move on to other interests. I can't help but think about the huge contribution he has made to violet collectors. He always offers plants of extraordinary quality, and his business and personal ethics are unsurpassed.
I will continue to learn from Robert. He is a dear friend and I'm so grateful that our friendship goes much further beyond violets. I am so excited to see what is ahead for Robert. Rest assured, he will be busy in other areas.
Feedback...
We know that it takes time to send us feedback. But we want to make sure that you are satisfied with your experience with us. The only way we can make sure we are meeting your expectations is if we hear from you. Good or bad, big or small comments - they are all welcomed. Some of the best changes that were adopted by companies came directly from customer feedback. There's ALWAYS room for improvement!
Some Life Lessons
I wanted to share with all of you a story about Randy Pausch, a Professor from Carnegie Mellon that was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This is a fast killer - generally given 3-6 months to live from the time of diagnosis. He gave an incredible speech to his colleagues and friends that is now available for free on the internet. It's called "The Last Lecture". From this, they wrote a book which is now a #1 Best Seller. You may have heard about Randy. He was interviewed by Diane Sawyer recently because of the impact his lecture has made on people's lives. It impacted my life as well.
You can watch his lecture on line for FREE. I encourage you to do so. It may well impact your life as it has so many others.
...OK, back to violets!!
Some of our learning experiences
Repotting
Some of the finer tips can mean all the difference. Potting up starts with a dry mix is fine, but seems to work much better when pre-moistening the mix to a damp consistency. Give it a try!
We've repotted much of our plants as they have been in the pots for 5-6 months. We've noticed that the plants didn't lose a beat once in the new pots. They love the fresh mix, and are settling in nicely. Most of the old soil was removed for this repotting so the roots were disturbed. However, by removing the smaller outer leaves and some of the weak growth the plants never wilted or showed any signs of stress!
What went wrong?
When we started propagating, we noticed there were quite a few that just didn't make it. Rather than just tossing out the 'remains', I decided to have a look at them a bit closer. I put the pot to the side for about 1-2 weeks to allow the dirt to really dry out.
Here's what I found:
Marathon goof - marathon is added to all our plants to control pests. However too much marathon is just as bad as using none at all. An overdose of marathon creates a clay-like substance that literally chokes the roots. Almost like potting your plants in a bed of silly-putty! This also occurs if the correct amount of Marathon is used but is not properly sprinkled to distribute it evenly. In other words, don't leave clumps of Marathon!
Packing problem - I found that this can go 2 ways. Over packed or under packed. Over-packed means too much water will be held at the roots. It also starves the roots of needed oxygen. Under-packing means starving the roots of water. It simply can't evenly absorb the water when there are huge pockets of air. You may notice plants that you have to soak in a dish of water when the others are doing just fine. Probably needs to be repotted for just this reason. When potting plants, tap them on the table for settling. Never push down with your finger. Tapping will remove any large air pockets.
Lightbulb moments
Get your finger out of that pot! - This was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. Whether it be to remove a leaf, a spent bloom, or to see if the mix was too dry/too wet - Don't use your fingers!!! Use your sucker plucker, a pencil, any blunt object to remove stems. While your finger is probably pretty blunt - that's the wrong tool for the job! Any time your finger touches the mix - you have packed it down. Even if only slightly - you have displaced the oxygen from that space that the plant was using at the root system. Until I heard it described to me in this matter, I always thought - "Oh, I'm just going to grab this one leaf..." Well, it DOES make a difference. Keep your fingers outta there!
Amount of soil in a pot - Just because your pot is 2 inches tall doesn't mean that you should fill the pot to the brim with mix. Some plants only need half that depth. The smaller the species, the less mix you should use. Also, your plants will bloom quicker with less mix.
Less may be more - By additional grooming of smaller outer leaves, more minerals are available for the 'heart' of the plant. The leaves grow larger, healthier and the plant produces more blooms. Great rule of thumb - if you can't see the leaf or less than 75% of the leaf, remove it.
Water pH - The pH of the water makes a big difference! If pH is out of whack, your plants are unable to take up the nutrients in the water. They are starving. We assumed that tap water was fine. If it's ok for us to drink, it must be ok for the plants, right? WRONG! In trying to fine tune our growing processes, we looked at several signs. One being slow growth. The amount of fertilizer and nutrients was correct. The lighting was correct. Why was it taking so long for these plants to get started? On a long shot, I called my local utility company for the area. Come to find out, a large amount of chlorine is added to our water. In addition, our pH for our township is 8.3!!! That's crazy! I purchased an inexpensive kit to verify and sure enough - it was off the chart. Fixing the problem was easy as we have a simple watering system that maintains @100 gallons of water. The chlorine from the water was a non-issue - once these tanks were full, the chlorine evaporates over time. The issue was the pH. Once we corrected the pH down to an acceptable level, we immediately saw the results. Amazing!
