High Brix Gardening Experiment

I probably should have kept a journal with photos from the beginning of the experiment for before and after proof, but I am sure the improvements will continue to amaze me so I will count this as the beginning.

Background:  A few months ago-- I don't remember exactly when, maybe September or October--I bought an African Violet from Home Depot's clearance cart.  It was small and a bit puny looking, but it had the remains of some deep purple flowers on it so I decided to give it a try in my north facing bathroom window.  I have grown violets before with good success as long as they were in a north window and I remembered to water them.  The bathroom doesn't have an exhaust fan, so there is a fair bit of humidity in the air there, so I figured I had a fair chance of keeping it alive.

The first few weeks I just watered my little violet with filtered water but it didn't really fare too well.  Several of the leaves began to dry up and show signs of distress and all the blooms fell off.  Before I chalked it up to another indoor plant failure, I decided to try a little experiment.

We had just begun learning about High Brix gardening and the importance of re-mineralization of the soil as well as the incredible energizing benefits of distilled water.  One of the nutritional supplements we take is called Min-col, and is actually (if I understand correctly) ground up soft rock phosphate.  Someone had posted on a Facebook page I follow that they had opened up a Min-col capsule and added it to a flowering plant at work which burst into amazing bloom.  

Since rain water is actually distilled water in its natural form, I thought I would try watering with distilled water.  Within a week or two, all the dying off ceased and tiny new leaves began to show.  Since that seemed to perk it up, I decided to add some Min-col.  I put the contents of one capsule into a quart of distilled water and used it about every four or five days by pouring it into the saucer beneath the pot, never on the soil itself.  Growth continued at a slightly faster rate.

With a little success under my belt, when I found two more (larger) violets on the Lowe's clearance cart, I picked them up as well.  One was a rather pale yellow leaved affair with no flowers and the other had white flowers all over with just a hint of fuchsia/orchid color on the tips.  I treated the three of them to the same care.  About two weeks ago I added about 1/2 tsp. of Peter's plant food to the water as well since they had not shown any sign of blooming, despite the rich green foliar growth.  I don't have any African Violet food yet.

Last week the one plant that had blooms on it when I bought it (and had pretty much lost all its initial flowers) began to really produce the flowers again, and the other two showed very tiny little buds coming on!  Today when I watered I noticed that one of the flowers on the other large violet is about to open.  Here is a photo of the three of them.  They are all healthy plants, no?

and closer--although a bit too harsh of light from the window...

I am very excited the small one is putting on flowers, since I was pretty sure it was going to die just a few months ago.  Since I have begun this water and feeding I have not lost a single leaf, which is very rare in my experience.

I can't wait to try the remineralization on a larger scale in my garden this spring.