I have had these in the gh all winter and they lost a lot of leaves, so I took cuttings today. My question is will they produce new growth right behind the cut or do I need to cut back drastically to get them to bush out at the bottom? The jatropha is about 3 1/2 feet tall and the bottom 3 feet is bare of leaves. I am afraid to cut it back too much and kill it but I want it to be full and bushy at the bottom. The alamanda is very bare with some new growth scattered out along the stems which are very woody. Thanks for your answers.
question about spicy jatropha and alamanda
Hi!
My experience with Jatrophas is that they periodically shed the leaves, and most always come back when conditions are better for them. They will start growing leaves again probably when you set them outside. Mine were in the green house too, and did pretty good most of the winter until about the beginning of feb, then..plop..all the leaves on 6 of them ..2 different types..They're recovering now. I've never cut them, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't..as I'm not sure there.
Rj
Thanks for your answer, but last spring they didn't bush out near the bottom either. They got taller and lost lower leaves all summer. The flowers are great, very colorful, but it looks very strange with no leaves for 3 feet.
Any ideas on the alamanda?
I wish I could take pictures, but DS borrowed my camera.
I'm not sure about the alamanda. I'd say if there's new growth all up and down the vine, I'd leave it alone..but, mabe someone with more experience will comment on that.
My jatrophas always lose their leaves and I was told they periodically do that in S. Florida too. I prune mine back, while they are dormant, every other year.
any advice on the alamanda?
Ardesia how much do you trim on the jatropha and does it come back only just behind the cut?
The alamanda is also bare for about 3 feet and then starts with leaves, but the leaf nodes are mostly very far apart - like up to 6 inches. There is some new growth, but no leaves for about 3 feet. Are the leaf nodes supposed to be that far apart? Maybe I need better fertilizer? I'm trying alfalfa/humate tea this year.
My large Jatropha is about 4' - 5' this year and leafless at the moment. As soon as I think this weird cold weather is over (probably by this weekend) I will trim it back by half. It should sprout new leaves and branchs as soon as it is reliably warm again. One of the reasons I love this shrub so much is that it is easy care and beautiful. The hummers just love it too. The J. I am talking about is J. integerrima; I also grow the podgorica, the Budda Belly J., which does not re-leaf on the bottom for me but I think it is suppiosed to be like that; you want to see that fat, belly like, stem.
I am thinking the lack of enough sunlight might be your probelem with the long internodes on the Alamanda. I really know very little about them but most plants will stretch out looking for light.
Ok I have another question about alamanda. I'm considering putting it in the ground, but I just read on plant files that the wild alamanda can be invasive. So how do you know if you have the wild one or some other one? I don't want this thing to come up all over my yard. Mine does make a vine.
Do you have a link to the Plant Files entry that talked about it being invasive? I have never heard about Allamanda so I wonder if the wild Allamanda is a different plant. I also highly doubt if any Allamanda is going to be problematic in zone 8 since there's a very good chance it's not even going to survive your winter outdoors.
I hope this is it.http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56268/
That is a different genus than the regular Allamanda. And it's even less hardy, so you could probably grow it with no problems too since there's no way it would make it through your winters. I suspect the places where it's invasive are probably nice tropical areas that never get below freezing. That one's also not as common in the trade so anything you pick up from a nursery or big box store that's labeled as Allamanda is likely in genus Allamanda not Urechites.
Ok, thanks Ecrane. I wish nurseries had more info on their tags so we would know what we are really buying.