Just bought my first Medinilla Magnifica and boy does it live up to its name! Was wondering if anybody has culture tips, like min. winter temps, water requirements, etc. All I know from my internet research is that it takes shade and humidity of which I have lots! The temps are the main thing - Must I greenhouse it the minute temps drop? Or can I leave it out till things really cool down (if they ever do). Thanks for any advice!
Oh also - best way to root it?
I don't think your MM will take cold/cool temps...best to greenhouse it in the winter. They grow here up to about 800' with min. temps in the upper 50's one or two nights in the winter. They will grow in the shade, but the more sun you give them, the more they bloom.
There is a trick to stem cuttings: Take a cutting below the new growth leaves just as that new growth is losing its' reddish color - about a 1 week window. Make the cutting as long as you can as the roots will come out of the end of the stem. Keep in a mist house or a humidity chamber...you will have about a 50%-80% success. Bunching a lot of cuttings together in the same area seems to help, too.
Or by seed: when the seeds are a deep purple smear them on some damp moss, keep in the shade. You can grow them in peat as well, just don't cover them with much. They are epiphytic plants...I grow them by smearing the seeds on trees in the moss on the truck...and then transplant when they are about 2" high. They grow really well in the crotches of trees and are fantastic to see from down below!
Hope this helps.
Carol
Take my advice, they do not like to get below 50*F at all, they will die if they do. I had a gorgeous one and let it get chilled one night, it never recovered.
Thanks Aloha - esp. about the cuttings! I really want to do some, just in case. But I would deff. have blown it. Wow! Can't imagine seeing those giant things hanging from trees!
Thanks Calla- that's what I was afraid of! Some sites said you could let them get lower but I think they were talking about a diff. variety. Going to hang a thermometer on the porch and watch it like a hawk. Sorry bout yours. If I can get cuttings going I'll send you one.
Aloha I meant to ask how long does it take the seeds to sprout?
Doesn't take long at all...maybe a month...I can't remember, really. Once I plant seeds I forget about them until I see them coming up and get a big surprise!!!
In the Hawaii Botanical Gardens here, the Director takes groups around at times and shows them how the Medinillas grow: he finds ripe seed and smears them on some nice damp moss on the nearby tree. Then he shows other areas where they have sprouted...amazing.
In that same garden they have a problem with some ethnic groups who sneak in at night to pick up the Betel Nut Palm seeds (used as a narcotic). They figured that all the Medinillas sprouting up all over the place were along the route the perps took...they traipsed thru the garden spreading the seeds on their shoes. That way, years too late, of course, they were able to find the gap in the fencing!
Ha that's a great story Aloha! I will try the seeds. (Medinilla, not betel nut!)
