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16. African Violets—Best Sellers

The African violet (Saintpaulia) first headed the pot-plant popularity polls about twelve years ago and has held the top spot ever since, with each year bringing an increasing number of friends. Varieties of this gesneriad are numbered in the thou­sands, and it is one of the few florists' plants which blooms throughout the year. Thus, whatever the time of year or the occasion, if you grow African violets you will always have flow­ering plants to offer your customers. To you, the greenhouse owner, this constant bloom means extra money in the cash register.

Even though you do not devote your entire greenhouse to African violets, you will find it profitable to reserve at least one corner for a few dozen plants. These need not be pinched to single-crown specimens. Let them grow several crowns and be­come covered with bloom. Such plants make wonderful gifts.

Soil Mixtures

I doubt if there has ever been a pot plant for which so many soil formulas have been devised. Members of the African Violet Society never tire of coming up with new ones. For greenhouse culture, I like this formula: equal parts of loam, peatmoss, leaf mold, and sand, with a sprinkling of charcoal.

I realize, however, that not everyone has access to the leaf-mold and rotted manure commonly mentioned in soil recipes. So, with a little extra care in fertilizing, you can grow your Saintpaulias to perfection in this easy-to-make "synthetic" pot­ting mixture: equal parts of shredded sphagnum, peatmoss, and sand. Plants grown in this must receive applications of liquid fertilizer every week. A monthly application of M teaspoonful of dried, processed, sheep manure worked into the mixture for plants in 4-inch pots will enhance their development. Use less manure for smaller pots, more for larger ones. Some growers like to mix loam, peatmoss, and sand and, to a bushel of this mixture, add one 4-inch potful of superphosphate and one 6-inch potful of dried sheep manure.

Soil or synthetic mixtures should be sterilized. If you are planting in the type without loam it is unnecessary to place drainage material in the pot; with a soil mixture containing loam, drainage is a necessity. About 1/2inch of pot chips to a 4-inch pot is ample.

Watering and Fertilizing

Always water the plants with tepid water. Leaves will be spotted when water colder than the surrounding air hits them. These whitish spots give the plants a diseased look. If you are certain that the plants growing in solid mixtures have a good root system, it is advisable to start fertilizing them about a month after potting up. If you like organic fertilizers, try one of the fish emulsions. Ra-pid-gro, Hyponex, Plant Marvel, Blossom Booster, and others also give good results.

Potting

The size of the pot you use for your plants will depend on how you want to sell them. If you plan to sell small plants, probably not yet in bloom, pot directly from the flat into 2-inchers. Let them grow in the pots for 10 days to 2 weeks; they will be established nicely. Plants being grown for bloom will need to be shifted from the 2-inch pots to 3- and 4-inchers.

Shading

If your greenhouse is devoted exclusively to Saintpaulias, you will have to shade it: Saintpaulias do not thrive in bright sunshine. But if, like me, you grow both shade- and sun-loving plants, the placement of your African violets will require thought. In my greenhouse, they grow mostly in flats under the top deck. Since I do not sell specimen plants but do sell leaves and seeds, I keep most of my "stock plants" growing and bloom­ing in the flats, thus saving space, watering time, pots, and the labor of potting. In these flats of porous soil, watering is needed only once a week during the winter and twice a week in sum­mer. Winter temperature in my greenhouse is 72 to 75 degrees during the day, with the usual 10-degree drop at night. (Some authorities recommend a minimum of 60 at night and 70 de­grees or more during the day.)

If you can't get enough shading on your house to keep violet foliage pleasingly green, you can tack up a few layers of cheese­cloth or tobacco cloth to exclude the bright sun rays. Simply string a wire across the inside of the house and another at the top of the sidewalls; then drape the material over the wires.

Light

The late Dr. Kenneth Post, authority on florist crop produc­tion, recommended "a maximum of 1500 foot-candles of light, a minimum of 1,000" for greenhouse-grown Saintpaulias. If you are not familiar with foot-candles as a measure of light, have a friend with a photometer measure the light for you. Aim for 1200 to 1300 foot-candles during the brightest part of the day, and you'll find your plants budding and blooming without cease.

For growth under fluorescent lights in the greenhouse, keep a distance of about 11 inches between light tubes and the larger plants' pot rim; 4 to 6 inches for seedlings and small plants.

Natural light will vary with the season, increasing in spring, decreasing in fall. As light increases you may have to increase the shading on your greenhouse, and vice versa. I have shading on the outside of the greenhouse and two thicknesses of tobacco cloth inside. The thickness of this cloth is not varied with the seasons, but I add or decrease shade on the outside of the house. Low light intensity reduces the number of flowers and makes for weak growth.

Pests and Disorders

African violets are subject to a number of diseases as well as being prey to a number of pests. Most troubles can be avoided by sterilizing the soil and giving good culture.

One danger signal is leaves with edges pulling under. This generally indicates too cool growing. When center leaves be­come gnarled and grow hairy, the plant is likely to be suffering from an infestation of cyclamen mites. Dispose of badly infested plants and wash your hands carefully before touching other plants. If you have some choice stock you want to save, apply sodium selenate to the soil. This can be purchased in bulk powder (and you can easily make the liquid by adding water), or in the easy-to-use capsule form. A capsule added to each pot of soil directly after potting will insure against cyclamen mites; or add a capsule to each pot of infested plants. Isolate such plants until centers appear normal.

In the North, violets are seldom attacked by mealy bugs, but in warmer areas these pests are prevalent. Malathion will eradicate them.

Root nematodes cause plants to appear droopy and to have blisters on the petioles. Control by using sterilized soil. A soil nemacide (such as V-13) is effective against nematodes.

Crown rot is caused by overwatering, poor drainage, and inadequate ventilation. You can often save valuable specimens by cutting away the rotted areas and transplanting into sand until plants recover.

Propagation Through Leaves

Saintpaulias are propagated by leaves, plant division, or seeds. To root leaves, cut the petiole so that about 1/2inch re­mains with the leaf. Insert it in vermiculite, sphagnum moss, peatmoss, equal parts of sphagnum moss and peatmoss, or sand. Set it firmly with the edges of the leaf blade just clearing the mixture. When propagating a number of leaves, space them 1M inches apart. Make certain they are settled firmly and cannot fall against each other. If there are many varieties—and say one or two leaves of each—write the name on a label (as one of the white plastic markers) and place the marker beside the leaves of that variety.

How to Get Many Plants from One

Sometimes in buying a plant to use for propagation you will find that it has several crowns, or there may be several plants growing in the same pot. In the case of multiple plants, knock the clump out of the pot and separate the rooted plants, re­potting them into individual 2-, 3-, or 4-inch pots, depending on their size. If there are several crowns, cut these apart with a sharp knife, root in any media, and then plant in 4-inch pots.

62. A gloxinia that is grown to perfection of flowering will "sell itself on sight," and while it is on display it will be the instrument for a brisk sale of seeds and small plants, too.  (Photograph by Author)

Plants from Seeds—Hybridizing

If your aim is a whole greenhouse full of Saintpaulias in a hurry, purchase seed from one of the specialty houses. These will give you plants with many leaf forms and various flower colors, but if you want more of a certain variety, the only sure way to reproduce it is through leaves or cuttings (called vege­tative propagation). If you think the variety might be improved upon as to leaf form, blossom color, or growth habit, use it as one of the parents for your first plant-breeding venture. Select as the other parent a plant having the desirable characteristics you seek.

To hybridize, use your fingernail or a small pair of scissors to cut through the yellow pollen sacs in the center of the flower of one parent. Hold a piece of white paper under the sacs to catch the pollen. Later, as you become adept, you can crack the sacs between thumb and forefinger, let the pollen fall on your finger tips, and then brush it over the tip of the stigma of a blossom on the other plant, the one which is to become the seed parent. Keep a record of your cross on a small white sales tag (avail­able at stationery stores). String the tag over the pollinated flower; tie or loop it to make it stay until the seed pod is ripe.

A few varieties self-pollinate, their pollen sacs cracking open and the pistil pushing through the pollen for self-pollination. To preclude this, clip the anthers from the plant you intend to use as seed parent immediately after the blossom opens. If pol­lination has been successful, the flower will drop off, although petals on double flowers may remain for days or weeks after pollination.

Seed capsules (pods) take from 4 to 9 months to ripen, de­pending on the species or variety. When the pod becomes soft and brown, it is time to clip it from the plant and store it in a dry place. It is best to shell the small seeds from the pod as soon as it is dry. Large seed companies do not hold stock over one year, for with each year the vitality of the seed decreases. I have, however, had up to 35 per cent germination on 3-year old seeds, 70 to 80 per cent on year-old ones. As you shell out these tiny dustlike seeds you will realize why they are so valu­able : it takes hundreds of thousands of them to make a quarter-ounce.

Some seed capsules will be short and fat, others long and thin. The amount of seed within also varies greatly: some Afri­can violet varieties will have only fifty to one hundred seeds while others contain as many as five hundred.

Sow the seeds on vermiculite, milled sphagnum, or sand; do not press into the soil. Label them, showing parentage and date. Put a pane of glass over the planting and set it in 70-degree temperature. The germination period is 10 days to 3 weeks. When the seedlings have four good leaves, prick them out and set in flats of soil or synthetic mixture, spaced about 2 inches apart. As plants grow and the leaves touch, shift to individual 2-inch pots, with a later shift to 3- or 4-inchers. Plants bloom in about 6 months from seed.

It's quite possible that none of the plants in this first filial generation (F1) will be just what you had in mind in making the cross; but a back cross among the seedlings or to one of the parent plants may bring you, in the second filial generation (F2), just the hybrid you are looking for (or something else just as good). The pink and white colors are recessive and if a cross has been made between a pink or white and a dominant color such as purple or blue, the pink or white may not show itself in the first generation.

You may have many lovely seedlings among your first hybrids but none you deem good enough to name. In that case you can sell them to dime stores and plant counters for retailing under the label "hybrid."

Developing a yellow or red African violet is undoubtedly the ambition of many hybridizers. Some authorities have main­tained that it may be possible to obtain crosses between Saint-paulia and certain red or yellow flowered fellow-members of the Gesneriacae. But it is significant that to date none has been registered.

Registration and Patents

If you plan to carry on extensive hybridizing, hoping even­tually to sell stock of your own origination, you will certainly want to name some of the varieties. Choose plants sufficiently superior or unusual to differ markedly from others on the market. Then register through: Mrs. Constance Hansen, Regis­trar, The African Violet Society of America, Inc., Box 302, Lafayette, California.

In the early days of African violet hybridization a few breed­ers secured patents on their plants. A patent costs several hundred dollars and, in the case of African violets, it is likely to be of scant value. The hybrid you think so very special may have been duplicated in various sections of the country. If, however, you have succeeded in obtaining some especially good seedlings—meaning good enough to have some large commercial firm introduce them—you may be justified in seriously considering a patent. For further information write to the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C.

Many of the old varieties are still popular, and hybridizers (some of them "professional amateurs" like us) are constantly bringing out new varieties. Their great number makes a listing impractical. And besides, you can do a better job of selecting varieties that will sell well for you by checking specialists' cata­logs and local sales counters.

Catering to Collectors

If you cater to collectors, you will need up-to-date stock as well as a good supply of species. Interesting among the species are the climber Saintpaulia grotei, with its rounded light green leaves and small pale blue flowers; pointed-leaved, gray-blue flowered S. tongewensis; S. diplotricha with thin leaves and rosette growth; S. Goetzeana, heavily haired leaves and pale blue flowers; S. amaniensis, a semi-trailer with growth habit and flowers like those of S. grotei; S. magungensis, which has heavily haired leaves and blue flowers, and S. orbicularis, with rounded leaves and near-white flowers. The species responsible for most of our cultivated African violets is S. ionantha. Petioles are long, leaves slightly quilted, the flowers blue. All of these species have proved good sellers for me, as well as for friends who specialize in African violets.

Introduced only a few years ago, the double pink varieties are well on top as popular favorites—particularly with collectors.

GENERAL SALES POSSIBILITIES

Unrooted Leaves

Leaves of the newest varieties often sell for as much as $1.00 to $1.50; older varieties bring about 15 to 35 cents each. There is a minimum of work connected with selling unrooted leaves. All you have to do is snip them from the plant, place them with a label in a plastic bag, seal the bag, and you're ready to ring the cash register. Sales of unrooted leaves from just one or two plants of newer varieties may bring you enough cash to pay for greenhouse necessities—fertilizer, insecticides, etc.

Rooted Leaves

Given good conditions, African violet leaves root in a month to 6 weeks and they sell for about a third more than un-rooted kinds. Growers who sell rooted leaves can remove them and sell them direct from flats. If you want to pot them in small thumb pots you can add another 15 cents to the price.

Small Potted Plants

If you aim to sell potted plants, put them into thumb pots as soon as the plantlets are about an inch high. Should several small plants appear at the base you can separate them for this first potting or let them grow until shifted to a 2-inch pot. Weekly feedings of M strength fertilizer will hasten growth.

Selling Small Plants

You may be able to dispose of small named plants—even when not in bloom—at plant counters. Or you may have a friend in some type of retail business who might want to handle a few plants on a commission basis. Small dress shops, variety stores, dry cleaning shops—all are possibilities.

Then too, you might offer your violets in dozen or more lots to other greenhouse growers. Many of the larger greenhouses do not grow their own African violets and are delighted to purchase well-grown stock at a price low enough to give them a fair mark-up.

Small plants are easily shipped in paper pots or by removing them from their original pot and wrapping the root ball in foil. The plant is then placed in a cellophane or plastic bag and wrapped lightly with newspaper. Thus packaged, it will reach its destination in a safe and sound condition, barring long ex­posure to severe cold weather, of course.

How to Scoop the Market

Most African violet hobbyists have every available inch of window space and under-fluorescent-light space crammed with plants. These are the collectors who prefer buying small started plants or leaf cuttings and growing them to specimen plants.

A good way to get a scoop on the newest in African violets is to attend the national conventions. In order to be among those present you must be affiliated with the Society. Member­ship is $4.00 per year, payable to: Mrs. Arthur Radtke, Treas­urer, P.O. Box 116, Madisonville Station, Cincinnati 27, Ohio.

At these conventions, which are held in a different city each year, you will find commercial dealers set up and ready to give you all kinds of information as well as sell you the newest vari­eties. Usually they have plants in 2- or 3-inch pots and most of them take orders for varieties in short supply. However, you can bring home from a convention some of the very newest kinds. Assuming that you cater to the collectors in your area, you will find it advantageous to insert an ad in your local paper informing your customers that you are off on a buying trip to obtain for them the most exciting new African violets.

Seeds Are Salable

It is surprising how many seeds you can sell in your own neighborhood. The florists in your city may be interested in handling some of your home-grown seeds. They often have calls for Saintpaulias and prefer not to stock them in large quantities. If there is a seed house in or near your city, it is another potential outlet.

63. By all means, keep up with the new gloxinias, but don't neglect the many superior old-timers. The two-toned Blanche de Meru is still a good seller.  (Photograph by Author)

Special mixtures such as "best of the single pink varieties" or mixed doubles; mixed girl types; or mixed whites, are a natu­ral for advertising in specialized house-plant publications since they are very popular with fanciers. Look through the garden magazines and newspaper garden sections for names of large seed houses; write these concerns and offer your seeds for sale. Small houses may like to buy them by the thousand; larger dealers take them in ounce or fraction-ounce quantities. In retailing the seeds, a fair price for mixed collections of seeds from various types of plants is $1.00 per 200 seeds. For specials such as seeds from double pinks or all whites you can easily get about $1.00 per 100.

Prices to seed houses will vary with the size of the company. If a house will take only a few hundred, you will have to sell them at about half the price you get retail. When you sell by the ounce, you will be able to realize $300.00 to $350.00 per ounce for average seed mixtures. For mixtures from the newest varieties including doubles, pinks, whites, and those of unusual foliage, you can command up to $750.00 per ounce.

Add a few granules of silica gel (extremely absorbent mate­rial which you can obtain at the druggist's) to keep packets of "shelled" seeds dry.

How to Pack and Ship

Rooted or unrooted leaves are easily shipped. First inquire from your state Department of Agriculture whether or not you must have inspection. Not many states require inspection for greenhouse-grown material provided it is for a domestic desti­nation. A few states, where Japanese beetle is prevalent, do require it, and to ship into Canada it is necessary to have inspection in all states.

Before shipping the leaves, write the name of the variety on a slip of paper; fasten it to the top of the leaf with a metal tab clip. Wrap the end of the petiole in a square inch of moist cotton secured by a covering of aluminum foil. Place the tagged and cotton-wrapped leaf in cellophane or a small plastic bag. Protected this way, leaves arrive in prime condition.

Some growers still employ the old-fashioned method of ship­ping leaves with the petiole ends wrapped in sphagnum moss and the whole leaf then wrapped in newspaper. If the shipment is not too long on the road this is good enough; but if it is a case of several days' transit during hot weather the leaf becomes so dry it will fail to root.

You Can Start Small

Most of the large African violet specialists made their first profits from a small greenhouse, going on to build more and perhaps larger houses. Where they are now, you also can be one day in the not-too-distant future if you decide to make a full-time business out of a greenhouse African violet operation.

A FEW SUCCESS STORIES

Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Dingman of East Longmeadow, Massa­chusetts, describe their prefab 13- by 20-foot greenhouse as "a hobby house which we can truthfully say operates profitably —both financially and aesthetically." After his retirement from the navy, they bought a greenhouse and a year later, added a potting shed, 13 by 14 feet; then fluorescent lights in under-bench areas, thereby doubling capacity.

As their stock increased, spurred by favorable word-of-mouth advertising, buyers began visiting them. In addition to African violets, gloxinias, and other gesneriads, the Dingmans now sell annuals and perennials profitably.

African Violets Increase a Small Inheritance

When the Claybornes of St. Petersburg, Virginia, came into a small inheritance, Mr. Clayborne bought used material and built a greenhouse for African violets some of which had cap­tured ten ribbons at the Richmond Flower Show. "Stop at the African Violet Hobby House," their sign invites. Since Mrs. Clayborne works as a nurse, she has limited time for sales just enough to meet expenses. Currently she is taking a florist course and has a standing sale of a few arrangements a week, proceeds from which go to the purchase of more African violet stock. It is the Claybornes' aim to make their business profit­able enough to support them upon their retirement.

From One Small Greenhouse to a Series

Edna Roberts in Maine started her greenhouse-for-profit in a glassed-in chicken coop, but now she is the owner of a whole range of greenhouses! Since the African violets she raised in her makeshift house were good enough to win prizes, she decided to sell some of them. Now she stocks the very latest as well as "the best of the older varieties." Florists in nearby towns use her as their source of supply. The important thing is that she first made a success of a small greenhouse, and then went on to larger and more profitable ones.

African Violets and Orchids

George Wissell of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has a 10- by 10-foot affair, built for approximately $350.00. He grows only African violets and orchids. The orchids hang from the roof to obtain more light and to help shade the African violets. Two double-shelved benches are at the sides of the house. Fluorescent lights under the first bench adequately light the plants growing on the lower bench, which is about 6 inches above the floor.

In such small quarters, Mr. Wissell does an excellent job of hybridizing and growing. All the plants, except those kept for hybridizing, are sold to local stores or hobbyists. This constant profit promotes his hybridization in a big way.

Meeting Home-Town Needs

In Houston, Texas, Grace Grissom sells African violets from her 15- by 48-foot attached-to-the-dwelling greenhouse. A suspended gas heater keeps the temperature up during the winter months, while an evaporative cooler holds it down during the scorching summer. She attends conventions to procure the newest violets, which she propagates. She is now adding a sales room for potting accessories, materials for flower arranging, and other gardening equipment.

Sales Through Mail

A friend in New York rears her African violets in a prefabri­cated 10- by 12-foot lean-to and sells through the mail, elimi­nating the "bother" of having people running to her greenhouse. Much of her trade comes through membership in round-robins (correspondence groups of various plant societies). She adver­tises her specialties in such publications as The African Violet Magazine, The Gloxinian and The Begonian, with an ad once or twice a year in one of the larger gardening journals. Her hobby pays off well in both cash and fun.

African Violets from a Southern Greenhouse

In humid Louisiana, a hobbyist sells African violets from a 24- by 30-foot free-standing greenhouse erected by local build­ers. By keeping a heavy shading on the glass and several layers of cheesecloth inside the house, he is able to keep the house cool enough in summer. He raises thousands of violets and, while he sells some locally, his main business is wholesale.

If you want to make African violets your specialty, it will pay you to join The African Violet Society of America, Inc., P. O. Box 1326, Knoxville, Tennessee. This Society issues a well-illustrated magazine, and there are a number of other advan­tages to membership.

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