Question
I have an African violet that has been in the same container for about 1 year or a bit longer. It has bloomed 3 times with the first time having the most flowers and going down the next two times. The longest leaves now hang over about 5 inches. I wonder if this is to small a container also the water now runs right thru the soil. I have the plant container sitting on rocks with water around the lower bowl. Can the plant get water from below or do I need to transplant the flower into a bigger container?

Thank you,
Dave Kadrlik

Answer
I rarely advise anyone to repot violets, especially if they're small ones. However, it sounds as if yours is past ready. With leaves hanging over at 5 inches and water running right through sounds like you definitely need a larger pot with more soil for those roots. Keep in mind with Africa violets their pots do not need to be very large. Just one size, two sizes at the most. You didn't mention how old the violet itself was, but it sounds like it is at least several years old. The reason you don't want extremely large pots for violets is then they will put much of their energy into growing their roots large, and then there won't be a lot of energy left over for blooming, which is why we love violets to begin with. For the problem of the water flowing directly out of the pot, that should improve with fresh soil. If it doesn't get a lot better you can try watering from the bottom about once a week or so. Violets do well with this type of watering. You can set them in a saucer of water, and they will absorb it within an hour of two.

I hope I have helped. If you have further questions please contact me.