African Violet Assist?

[rolanni]

I brought my poor African violet home from its perch on the windowsill at the day-job; the leaves had started to crisp in the heat. As a general thing, African violets grow for me grudgingly for about a year, then die precipitously. This one, though, been doing champion work -- it's even bloomed once or twice in the couple years that it's managed to survive my care.

I figure that, while I have it at home, I'll give it a new pot, and some nice, fresh African violet potting soil, to prepare it for the excitement of the coming school year.

Thing is, the local Agway has pots that they're specifically calling "African violet pots," that include an "automatic waterer." Does anybody have any experience with these contraptions? I know that African violets don't like to stand around with their feet in the wet, and I've been very careful not to keep this one too damp -- maybe too careful, considering the scarcity of flowers. I'm willing to pay for a fancy pot app, but only if it's actually useful.

Anybody?

Comments

[stfg.livejournal.com]

I am a seriously bad plant owner. I will frequently go a couple weeks without watering them, and as a result, most of my plants die. I was given some African violets that were in one of those pots, and it worked really well for me. I refilled the pot with water about once a month, and the water gradually absorbed through the inner wall of the pot into the soil. I eventually killed that plant too, but it lasted a few years, which is a record for me. Killing it took not watering it at all for three or four months in a row.