
> O Po 
plants expired, it would more than likely be 
the whites and the pinks. 
Can plants be watered with sodium selenate 
that are over a year old without harm? Mrs. 
I.M., Drexel, Mo. 
Yes, if one is painstakingly careful not to give 
an overdose. Plants over a year old should 
only be treated once a year. 
What causes African Violets to turn hard in 
the center and stop growth. Is it a disease of 
deficiency in the soil? Mrs. C.H.R., Oak Hill, 
W. Va. 
Lady, I dunno. Could be cyclamen mite, could 
be the water, could be the temperature. A 
couple of correspondents have claimed success 
with NNOR dip (mix a bucket full of mild 
spray solution and dip the entire plant in it 
until the bubbles stop coming to the top. 
The few buds my plants have put on get about 
as big as the head of a pin, then blast. Why? 
Mrs. H.S.M., Oklahoma City. 
Again I must admit ignorance. Sometimes this 
is caused by running the plants too dry, or by 
insufficient humidity. You might try setting 
the plant in a tray of damp sand. 
Will violets grow as well if small plants are 
put in 4-inch pots to start with? Would save 
repotting for awhile. E.O., Rome, Georgia. 
Yes, it would save some repotting, but it will 
seem like ten years before that plant gets 
around to blooming in that big pot. Now 
there’s them that is fer and them that is agin 
ample potting. Our personal experience has 
been that a plant rarely blooms until the roots 
form a loose mat around the inner surface of 
the pot. Lots of folks maintain that this is the 
very time to shift it on to a larger pot. We 
use a ration to determine potting require- 
ments of a plant: when the diameter of the 
violet measures three times the diameter of 
the pot, it’s time to shift on to a larger con- 
tainer. 
I have my blooming plants sitting in beds of 
damp sand. Is there anything I could get to 
sprinkle around to keep away insects? Mrs. 
L.H., Henderson, Ky. 
Why not water the sand once a month with 
a nicotine sulphate solution (Black Leaf 40)? 
By all means don’t sprinkle moth crystals on 
that damp sand. Something about the combina- 
tion of naptha and the moisture creates a gas 
which is very toxic to the plants. 
Do you sell small plants at a lower price? 
No, ma’am. 
What is meant by the non-suckering habit? 
Mrs. F.B., Colorado Springs. 
The ideal of all true violet-fanciers is to train 
violets into single-crown plants. That is, one 
“head” from the center of which the leaves 
and bloom petioles grow. Some varieties, the 
worst being White Lady and Pink Beauty, 


