I know one thing, they are gorgeous! ( those flowers that look like orchids)
Rachel, can you read above and see if you have any answers for me? ( about my african mask) like yours? I guess my questions are on the previous thread..
Tropical Garden #65
Well your lant the one you showed with the new leaf? I got one a few weeks ago, and two of the bottom leaves turned yellow and are hanging. Also I read up on Alocasias and such, and think I got the information on what kind of medium they are supposed to be in. But I might be wrong.. some like moist and some don't .. how do yuu have yours set up?
Debra, some Alocasia's can be tricky to grow and I am still learning myself on what to do and what "not" to do concerning some of them. If you would, please post a picture of the Alocasia that you have a question about growing. If I cannot give you an answer, I may be able to direct to someone that can;-)
Joeswife, I am still trying to figure it out. I'm starting it in medium light, and letting it almost dry out before watering. I plant old coffee containers, too. I like the handle except when it's time to repot, lol. I put most of my tropicals into a mix of part pro mix, part perlite, 2 parts bark and sometimes throw other stuff in for interest, lol. I started to turn my fan off at night, like the wind lays down here. I think it was 2 much around the clock so thank you for talking about your plants. Read up on them with LariAnn's Jewel Articles. Several are listed here.
http://davesgarden.com/sitewidesearch.php?q=jewel+alocasia
Prita, we'd have to wait for it to grow but I'll share then, and I can hardly wait for it to grow outside and fill in!!! Beautiful greenhouse pics.
Rachel, she was asking about caring for cuprea, and soil mix for alocasia's, and then your plant. I'm interested in your responses too :).....
Metro, holy moly. Beautiful orchids.
Tropic: That is a neat fern. You must live an interesting life....
Ok, how much time do you spend a day in your plants? I spend a minimum of 2 hours even in the winter, lol.
nancy tell me that isn't your potatoe tree on top is it?
Cass,
No, thank the Good Lord, it's fine....well almost. It lost a few leaves but is still weakly blooming. In fact, all that Armando gave me survived with flying colors. He must be watching over his babies. Also, the EE that you gave me are fine. Your begonias never skipped a heart beat. My Borneos........well, I think one is gone and I hope the other doesn't have a living will.
How did your garden fair?
Nancy
Debra, I totally agree with Dawn concerning reading upon LariAnn's article's concerning the jewel Alocasia's. Goodness know's I refer back to all the article's from time to time to "refresh" my mind concerning them. I have not yet tried growing a Alocasia cuprea but I would treat it like all the other "jewel's" listed. Dawn can be your guide with that particular plant being her's look's so healthy;-) Good growing Dawn!
As far as my set-up is concerned for trying to grow some of these jewel's. I keep them in a very well lighted area and the temperature's never go below 70F. I control the humidity level the best I can by using humidifier's. In addition, they all get a good showering of water on their leave's every few day's because spidermites absolutely adore these plant's! Keep in mind that not all Alocasia's are considered jewel's and I have found some that are pretty darn simple to keep thriving year around as a houseplant under less environmental condition's.
this is the one I was asking about
I have been referring to her articles and her site ( lari ann) I just need to know if I should re-pot this one it is two plants in one container, two dead leaves, one on each plant. It seems to be happy where it is at... which is not in the basement.
It is ontop of the Very big cabinet directly across the south window, in between to the two happy philos. In the south window are my passion vines and moring glories and a guava something and a bottle brush something, as well as a few brug seedlings and lots of coleus. Everything on that window is going crazy.
Blooming today..
I planted these from seeds this summer.. I am going to have to lift that caudex out of there.. later..it has been in the top window ledge, facing south, and I had to take it down to turn it around, and also move it back away from the glass , since it is going to get down to 10 degrees tonight.
backside..
I felt artistic tonight.. so I got my wire clippers out and decided to start training these vines i grew from seeds.. these were planted Nov 28th..
Duke is snoring very loudly right now... I guess i should try to get sleepy.. am trying, but all I can think about is planting more seeds.. *sigh*
Not a tropical picture.. but I just love this old guy so very much, he is with me where ever I go..
Duke snoring
Joeswife, to me, your alocasia looks happy. Maybe leave it until spring and then decide if you want to repot. It looks like you are excellent with plants. I'm sure I'll take more of your suggestions to help my plants along.
Rachel: I got an ebay order (my last for a longiloba time) with a few nice plants in it. I haven't had it long enough to decide if I'm able to grow it or not. I suspect it will survive, but thrive would be really good news :).
Rachel. which one is this one? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=7543490
I saw one on the aroidia site I loved loved loved.
Dawn, thanks for helping me.. and nice to know your name too! ;D
I have to stay away from ebay right now..
too cold to recieve anything..
I've got a few jewel Alocasias too, some in pots and some in the ground (rockery).
Those in the pots are in rocks (rocks inside the pots that is) with only the soil that was left clinging to the roots when I took the plant out of its original pot. They're out in the rain all the time and get automatic irrigation as well. Being in rocks means the water runs straight through and also there's (humid) air around the roots.
Those in the ground have virtually the same situation, except the rocks are very much bigger, slabs of rock in fact.
Those are beautiful! I always put river rocks and lava rocks in my pots, some on the bottom, some in the middle, then I lay the plant on top and put the other mix in lightly..
I need some of that river mud!
Beautiful plants tropic :). I'll have to think about planting in rock. It is cheaper than orchid bark at this point. If I can't find limestone, do you think the somewhat porous lava rock would be good?
We are all snowy here too, Joeswife. Sigh. My kids are making signs and protesting "No More Plants" Just kidding, but I'm sure they think it, lol.
The natural habitat of these plants is on limestone so I'd think they probably prefer pH on the higher side. Orchid bark might be a bit too low. And I think any sort of stone would be good as it wouldn't get soggy like organic matter. I'm still at the experimental stage but think as long as water drains well, and there's air and humidity around the roots then they should do well.
Today we have the sun directly overhead, from then on it's heading over your way for the summer. Make good use of it :O)
Also today is the last day of my 10 work days and this afternoon I head home for my break. So tonight I (hopefully) find out whether the crocodile has set up residence in my dam, whether it's happy enough to just sit it out in my swamp, or whether it has just decided to move on elsewhere. Tonight not only will I be spotlighting for Cane Toads but also for a big set of red eyes.
Have a safe trip, tropic. Here's hoping that he moved on to greener swamps. Thanks for your help about the stone. I'll have to shop for rock in the driveway tomorrow. Sometimes we find flint and that would look pretty. One of the baby poly's has broken through the soil. I'm excited to see how it develops. I got a couple of them on a clearance sale last fall, so that is the plant I have to experiment on. I'm trying to work out a feeding schedule. The first leaves they have put out are small even though they were larger before. I'm not sure if it's because they were dry for a while, or if it is a cultural thing. Do they grow fast in your conditions? I also have a ti stem cutting rooting and putting on a growth tip! I love learning about plants. It's my favorite subject. I can hardly wait for the spring blooms, thank you for sending the sun this way :).
Tropic, I hope you do not have to tackle any croc. anytime soon and I see your jewel's are still thriving as well. Is that not a Philo. Xanadu I see as well in your last picture;-)
Dawn, you are a good mom with plant's and I believe that your plant's will do very well with you. I hope you continue to add your progress as time goes along with some of the newest one's you have added to your collection.
Debra, the last photo I applied is of my Alocasia advincula (known as the batwing Alocasia). In reference to your Alocasia and repotting it: I personally would not this time of year. That being said, I do believe that in one of LariAnn's article's and post's it was stated to keep some of the potted jewel's a little "under-potted" to help with the drainage. Also, as tropic noted above concerning "limestone" is valuable information as well and I intend to add more Limestone in my pot's in the future with some of my plant's as well. Duke look's adorable and precious. Loved that picture of him snoring.
Alocasia cucullata, is a nice "un-demanding and rather easy" plant to have around. This is a "pup" that I bought inside for the Winter month's.
Awww that is oh so purty! We have a ton of limestone around here. want me to send ya some? LOL
Seriusly, southeast of me about 45 miles there is a town wheose fields just grow the limestones with the big holes in them. I have alot of it out in my rock garden cuz I pick some up where ever I go out there. I never thought to use it in my pots, we have so much limestone sediment in our tap water.
My i. plantensis caudex has woke up...
3jsmom31 thanks for that link to lariann's jewels articles. i have never seen those articles before very informative.
nancy i am afraid i lost my pink gingers, my white chenille, and this philo
When my dam was dug out, long before I bought the place, they brought some limestone up to the surface. That's what I've been using. Plus got some larger slabs from a limestone hill out from where I work.
And about the dam, got home and have checked it out 3 times already. No sign of anything. Suspect the croc never even got into the dam. Checked around the swamp but that's a bit dodgy. Sort of like getting into the dam to check it out. :O(
While looking around in the garden I noticed that the Philo high up in the Coconut palm looked "cooked". There were Coconut fronds lying scattered all around. My two Pawpaws (what you call Papaya) looked "cooked", withered and collapsed. On one side some tall Acalypha was scorched, together with some Ginger leaves. And one Coconut palm had fibre sticking out of the trunk as though it has exploded internally and pushed its stuffing out. A short (young) Coconut had its heart and most of the fronds bent over to breaking point as though a huge weight had fallen on it.
Only two options come to mind.
One, that an alien spaceship tried to land there breaking plants and the exhaust burning some of them.
Two, some form of ball lightning exploded between the Coconuts creating heat and a shock wave which caused the damage.
And funnily enough, so far the alien theory seems the most plausible. I've tried to "reconstruct" the lightning theory but it leaves too many questions unanswered. I really don't know ... if it's not torrential rains it's marauding crocodiles or wayward spaceships! It's endless, the things a gardener has to put up with!
This is a "before" photo of the Philo, about 5 to 6 metres (16.4 to 19.7 feet) up the Coconut. Can't get an "after" photo until tomorrow (daylight).
joeswife duke is adorable.
i did a little walk through garden this morning and alot of things are starting to flower like this orchid
Dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-...Singing the Twilight theme song. Can't wait to see the next pix.
Hap
whoops i sort of got in between your before and after shot tropic breeze sorry.
actually surprised i was surprised to see these flowering since most of the leaves blanketed the ground.
this is one of my new ground covers no id of course
bromeliads
brunfelsia
pink powderpuff
dutchman's pipe taking over
You look in good shape, Cass. So glad. Not only are you further south, but you're closer to the ocean. That must help a lot.
My red cat tail is at the curb, too.
I love those pictures of your blooming beauties, Candela. That ground cover looks like a wild primrose. Only prettier.
I would like to know the name of your spectacular fireworks in white up there..in post 754281?
Duke is snoring again right next to me. I have bulbs peeking up that I am forcing inside. YAY!
Got the photos of the damage in the garden today. Well, it's a bit hard to ascertain when the actual damage occured, but it must have been a lightning strike. Seems as though it came a bit from one side and collected a number of Coconut palms. One in particular got most of the wallop, and then the lightning hit a small Coconut that hadn't yet developed a trunk. The most obvious casualty was the Philo high up on the trunk of one of the Coconuts. I'm hoping that damage is only from radiated heat from the flash. If so, the stem should resprout. But at the moment it looks pretty sad.
There's some strange markings on the trunks of some of the Coconut palms, they look a bit like blotches of rust. One of them has a gaping hole running down one side where there used to be a smaller hole previously. I'm beginning to think the previous hole was from a lightning strike before I bought the place. The fibre you can see sticking out of the trunk must have been from some sort of explosion within the trunk.
