What should you do with your African Violet’s flowers once they start dying off? Should you remove them, or will that hurt your plant? It’s understandable to be concerned, since a Saintpaulia looks very delicate at first glance. However, there are some good reasons to deadhead spent African Violet blooms.
Removing dying flowers from your African Violet isn’t necessary, but it will help the plant bloom again more quickly. And it’s always good to remove dead tissue from your houseplants before it drops to the soil and rots. Deadhead spent African Violet blooms as soon as they start to fade.
If you’ve never tried clipping dead blooms from your African Violet, don’t worry! The process is pretty straightforward, and it shouldn’t harm your plant. We’ll give you some detailed pointers below to help it go off without a hitch.
Why Deadhead Your African Violet?
Newer houseplant owners are sometimes hesitant to chop or prune anything off their African Violets. After all, those dead bits will fall off on their own when they’re ready, right? Won’t removing them early just risk damaging your plant?
Actually, if you do it right, deadheading dying flowers won’t cause any harm to your Saintpaulia. And it can actually benefit your plant’s growth. Here are a few good reasons to deadhead spent African Violet blooms:
#1: To Improve Your Plant’s Appearance
Having a bunch of shriveled, discolored flowers isn’t necessarily bad for your African Violet. But it’s not great for its looks. Part of the reason you’re growing this plant is to brighten up your home or office, right? Why not invest a little grooming to make sure it looks its best?
#2: To Get More Blooms
Building flowers and keeping them alive is one of the biggest drains on your African Violet’s metabolism. A blooming plant has a lot on its plate: creating leaves, extending roots, putting out flowers, and so on. All of those tasks are drawing on the same pool of energy, water, and nutrients.
And just because a flower is starting to droop doesn’t mean the plant has abandoned it. Those aging blooms are still pulling some resources from your African Violet. If you get rid of the older growth, your Saintpaulia can prioritize new flowers instead.
#3: To Discourage Gnats
If you don’t get rid of your plant’s dead tissue, something else might. Spent blooms that drop into the pot can wind up rotting and attracting critters called fungus gnats. These bugs live in the soil and feast on decaying plant material.
Will fungus gnats kill your African Violet? Probably not. Only very advanced infestations threaten your plant’s health. However, it’s very annoying to have a cloud of tiny bugs whizzing around the leaves. So it’s helpful to be proactive about removing dying blooms.
When Should You Deadhead Spent African Violet Blooms?
Once they open up, African Violet blooms can last for a while. The lifespan of individual flowers varies between cultivars, but 2-4 weeks is pretty typical.
It should be pretty obvious when your African Violet flower is starting to die off. The petals will crumple up, looking limp and sad. Their beautiful coloration will also start fading to a dingy yellow-brown. You can decide for yourself when it looks sad enough to remove.
Remember that your African Violet’s flowers won’t all be on the exact same schedule. Even if one bloom is wilting, the one right next to it might last for another week or more. Use your best judgment when deciding if it’s time for a flower to come off.
How to Deadhead Spent African Violet Blooms
Here’s our quick guide to cleaning up dead Saintpaulia blossoms. It only takes 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Prep Your Tools
You can often pinch African Violet blooms off with just your fingernails. But if you’re new to this, or if your plant has many flowers close together, we recommend pruning scissors instead. They’ll give you more precision and reduce the risk of creating ragged rips in your plant. Large, uneven cuts are more likely to get infected.
Speaking of which, you should also sanitize your clippers. Swab the blades down with a solution of 1 part bleach in 9 parts water, or with some isopropyl alcohol. That lowers your chances of getting fungi or bacteria in the cuts.
Step 2: Choose Your Target
You’ll notice that your African Violet’s flowers don’t pop out from the leaves themselves. Instead, they grow from separate stalks that sprout from the joints in foliage. Often, each blossom stem branches out into several different flowers. These little branches are called pedicels, while the main flower stalk is a peduncle.
Don’t take off the entire peduncle unless all the flowers on it have died. If some of the blossoms on it haven’t yet opened up, they could still develop into healthy flowers. Target only the individual blooms that are looking droopy and discolored.
However, once all of the buds on a blossom stem have faded, it’s done for. The same peduncle won’t flower again. At that point, you can – and should – clip it off.
Note that to the untrained eye, newer blossoms that haven’t opened all the way may look somewhat shriveled. If an African Violet bloom looks like it’s curled up and compact, chances are that it’s new rather than old. Leave it alone for now.
Step 3: Clip the Dead Flower
When you deadhead spent African Violet blooms, it’s best to remove as much of the dead tissue as you can. Position your disinfected scissors just above the joint where the pedicel splits off from the flower stalk. Then cut through it as quickly and firmly as possible.
Discard the dead flower, then repeat until you’ve trimmed off all the dead blooms.
Can You Propagate an African Violet From Spent Blossoms?
You might have heard that you can multiply your Saintpaulia by rooting blossom stems in the soil. Does that mean that you can turn the flowers you deadhead into brand-new plants?
We salute your thrifty spirit, but sadly, this kind of recycling isn’t possible. You can only propagate African Violets from peduncles that are still fresh. Once all of the buds on a flower stalk have bloomed and faded, its growth potential is shot.
You do need the entire blossom stem for this kind of propagation, by the way. The individual pedicels won’t take root. Click here for our guide to reproducing African Violets from blossom stems.
What Else Can You Do To Encourage Blooming?
Aside from deadheading your African Violet, what can you do to help it produce lots of blooms? Here are a few ways to promote flowering:
- Increase its light exposure. African Violets bloom best when they’re getting plenty of light. Try moving your plant closer to a window or hanging a grow lamp. Just make sure it’s not getting hit by the sun’s direct rays.
- Keep it hydrated. Don’t overwater your African Violet, but do make sure it’s not going thirsty. You should be checking the soil every 2 or 3 days, especially during the spring and summer. When the top inch is dry, give the plant a big drink.
- Prune it often. Keeping the foliage trimmed will also free up energy for flowering. You can pluck or snip away everything past the central 3-5 rows of leaves. Learn more about pruning Saintpaulias here.
- Fertilize lightly. Too much fertilizer can hurt your African Violet, but a regular, mild dose will help it bloom. Use a balanced houseplant fertilizer and dilute it to ¼ of the strength on the package. Give that to your plant every 4-6 weeks during the growing season.
- Provide some humidity. A Saintpaulia may not be able to flower if the relative humidity is below 50%. And they’ll bloom with more enthusiasm if it’s closer to 70-80%. Find our tips on promoting humidity for African Violets here.
Final Thoughts
Deadheading is a simple but effective way to help your African Violet look its best. Now that you know the basic steps, you’ll find it’s very easy to keep your plant free of spent blooms. If you found this article helpful, you may want to poke around our site and learn more about raising healthy African Violets!
