I planted a year old Ett. elatior 'Red Sceptre' torch ginger in the ground in a very protected area in my pool enclosre---right by a wall and it is already approaching 7 feet tall with probably 20 stalks and more on the way. Its width is also at least 7 feet. It has literally taken over the flower bed and I am not complaining as it is so pretty. I am wondering if it is possible to see blooms this year? It will likely get a little chilled this winter, but not too badly as the area is quite protected from frosts. We usually don't get tepms below 50 until right before, or, right after Christmas. It is already well over a year old, having come from a 15 gallon pot that it was busting out of (it wouldn't even stand up any more!) and had been overwintered in my greenhouse. Is it old enough to bloom this year? I planted it in its present location about 2 months ago. I am fertilizing the heck out of it too, by the way. LOL The foliage is gorgeous!
Thanks,
Brad
This message was edited Aug 5, 2009 2:50 PM
This message was edited Aug 5, 2009 10:30 PM
Ettlingera elatior question
I have only grown the torch ginger in Hawaii, so I don't know how much cold it can take in the winter and still bloom. The leaves get to be about 15' high though, when its mature, so I am guessing that yours may not be old enough yet, seeing as your leaves are only at 7'. The bloom stalks will come right out of the ground though-so make sure that you don't cut them back thinking they are more leaves! Good luck, I hope it does bloom this year, but I am thinking it won't happen until next year-assuming the leaves don't die back, or if they do, that the plant can handle it and still bloom.
Thanks for the info. I don't think the whole plant is in danger of freezing in its present location. We also only have just a couple of days of cold weather, usually in late January-Februray. Temps typically can go to 30 degress, though this past winter we had two nights in the 20s and ended up with a nasty little freeze. Since I last wrote the plant is now at 8 feet tall and growing like mad. I am wondering if the flower bed wil be able to contain it at this point. LOL The leaves are really beautiful, though, with a lovely reddish tint to them. I have attached a pic of what the flowers should look like when it does bloom (if??). I took this pic recently in south Florida.
Below 50 to 52 degrees it will really start to suffer.
I have grown Etlingeras for years, in the greenhouse. In winter I have only ever let the GH get down to about 55F so I don;t have any idea if they will tolerate cold and still bloom, but, I would think that if you took the extra step of maybe enclosing the plant in frost cloth or making a temporary "GH" out of PVC plastic it would be fine
I have one (clump) that is only just over 3 metres (10 feet) that has been flowering for years. This year it's been flowering for the past few weeks (still our winter), and usually keeps going throughout October. But it never gets temps below 10C (50F). And I've never given it fertilizer. A lot of nitrogenous fertilizer can promote growth at the expense of flowers.
Gorgeous! Mine is now offically over 8 feet tall and is growing so fast it is unreal! Maybe 10 feet will be the "magic number" for me too.
There is info on your ginger in the plant files. I know that they require second year growth to bloom, so I would suggest easing back on the fertilizer and see what happens.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31505/