I have an african violet in a double pot. We keep water in the double pot all the time and the plant is in fairly direct sunlight, in our dining room, usually 65 - 70 degrees. The plant blooms fairly regularly. The bottom/outer leaves keep browning and dying off. Any idea why? Does it need fertilizer, less water, or something else?

Is the soil touching the plant? That's what was happening when I lost my last AV. Wicking and watering from beneath is a good way to keep the soil wet while not risking accidentally wetting the leaves. Keeping them too wet, is a real problem too (found that out as well). You water, the soil is wet, and then over the week it should become dryer, and then it should be watered again when the soil is nearly dry. I would say use less water and see that there is a little "moat" around the main stem. I am no expert, I just started trying to care for them again.

Hi Ann. It's a year since your post but I'm checking in any way. I have several standard & large size A.V.s in the self watering 2 piece pots. I fill them as full as I'm able without the water overflowing when I drop the top part in, once every 2 weeks. By that time it's just touching the bottom about 1/2 " so is barely wetting the soil. I have had great success in this process as they slowly dry a little then get moist again. The only time the lower leaves brown & dry on them is when they are old leaves so I break them off at the stem. After about a year of this the plants have a neck issue & lean so I've learned to cut them at the dirt line with about a 1" neck, put in water to the last leaves & in about a month I have enough water roots to plant again. I've never had the root end resprout so it goes in the trash, I sterilize the whole pot with boiling water in preparation for when the plant is ready to go back in with fresh soil. I hope this helps you in some way. Trudy in south Louisiana