How to Make My Own African Violet Fertilizer

African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) are well-loved houseplants due to their attractive, dark, fuzzy leaves and large, blue-violet, white, pink or fuchsia blossoms. The plants require regular fertilizer applications every four to six weeks or whenever the leaves and flowers look pale and unhealthy. Fertilizers rated 20-20-20, made from 20 percent nitrogen, 20 percent phosphorous and 20 percent potassium, work well with African violets. Make your own 20-20-20 fertilizer from animal wastes and ash.

Cattle, goat or poultry manure
Hardwood logs
Animal bones
Sand or granular limestone

Instructions

- 1
  Add poultry, cattle or horse manure to a compost pile and allow it to fully decompose. Add enough water making the pile the consistency of a wet sponge. The compost is finished when the pile reaches about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, looks like potting soil, smells earthy and feels even and crumbly. If you don't have the resources to make your own compost pile, purchase finished manure from a topsoil or landscaping company. Finished manure provides nitrogen.
- 2
  Burn leftover fish, poultry or meat bones over a hardwood wood fire and reserve the bone and wood ashes for the fertilizer mix. Animal bone ashes provide phosphorous, while wood ashes provide potassium. If you prefer not to burn animal bones, purchase a commercial phosphate fertilizer made from rock phosphate and build a plain wood fire to obtain wood ash for potassium.
- 3
  Mix 1 part fully decomposed manure with 1 part bone ash or phosphate fertilizer and 1 part wood ash. Add 2 parts regular sand or granular limestone for filler. This makes a 20-20-20 fertilizer mix.
- 4
  Dilute 1 part fertilizer with 3 parts water and water your violets with the mix until the soil is moist, but not damp.

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