Natural Cycle of Plant

Description

During the natural cycle of your African Violet, it may exhibit many "symptoms" which are not necessarily indicative of any pest or pathogen. While some of these symptoms may seem startling, they are perfectly natural and provide no cause for concern.

Symptoms

There are no tell-tale "symptoms" which can assure you that your African Violet is only experiencing its natural cycle and not something more serious. While your Violet may exhibit any of the symptoms listed below, it will generally appear healthy in all other respects. Beyond this, the only sure way to determine that a symptom is just part of the plant's natural cycle is to eliminate all other possible causes.

• Leaves wilt. As with the paling of leaves, this symptom will affect no more than a few of the leaves, not all of them.
• Flowers drop off. While Optimara and Rhapsodie Violets have the characteristic of non-dropping flowers, many other varieties do not. As a consequence, you may have a perfectly healthy Violet that is dropping flowers.
• Flowers turn brown or have brown spots on them. When this is part of an African Violet's natural cycle, the flowers will shrivel up until the appear like a thin strand of brown grass.
• Flowers wilt. During the natural cycle of African Violets, some flowers will wilt before shriveling up. While this is the case, however, a healthy African Violet will soon have new blooms. Most healthy Optimara and Rhapsodie varieties will, in fact, begin producing new blooms even before the old ones have finished wilting.

Treatment

Aside from keeping your African Violet warm and comfortable, there is no treatment for its natural cycle. However, when your Violet's natural cycle results in spent leaves or flowers, these should be removed. This will go a long way in keeping away those pests which feed or take shelter beneath decaying organic matter, while preventing the onset of fungi and other harmful pathogens.

Prevention

There is no way to prevent an African Violet from going through its natural cycle.

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