| 11 months ago :: May 30, 2009 - 3:38AM #1 | |
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Hi, My name is Paul and I am from India. I am an amateur gardener and Cyclamen / Fuchsia / Tuberous Begonias have taken up my fancy lately. I would love to grow these beautiful plants, however I am faced with the following obstacles, mainly weather. The place I am from is:
So my questions are:
I will welcome and appreciate any kind of suggestions recommendations that you are able to offer. Kind regards. Paul. |
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| 11 months ago :: May 30, 2009 - 4:11PM #2 | |
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All the plants you mention prefer a shady area to grow. So your north side will be the ideal place to plant these. They all require a well drained, moist soil with plenty of organic matter. All will grow with a soil ph around neutral (6.5-7.0) and need protection from strong winds. And these plants dont do well with harsh winters. Cyclamen is a cool plant. Meaning they require cooler weather, yet grow better with lots of light. This is why many grow cyclamen indoors, near a window out of direct sun light. You can grow these plants in the shade, as long as the shaded area doesnt get over 70 F. Cyclamen go dormant during the summer but still prefers room temps. A well drained soil is a must and less water is required during the summer. Fuchsias do best in a slightly shaded area. Sun in the morning and shade thought out the day is preferred. The soil should be moist not water logged and be amended with plenty of organic matter, adding a little bone meal will help when blooming. They prefer a soil ph thats either neutral to slightly acidic (add sulfur is soils is to alkaline). Most need protection from winds and dont do well with cold winters. Tuberous Begonias grow best in containers. With this in mind a well drained soil is a must. They grow best in shady areas, getting morning sun and shade through out the day. The soil should be kept moist with a ph around neutral. Plenty of organic matter should be added when choosing a location to plant. I would plant these guys under a tree or some kind of protection from the sun. Amend your soil with compost and keep your soil moist not drenched. A Drip irrigation and plenty of mulch are great for keeping soil moist! All these plants are beautiful and will require some work to keep them looking good. (pinching, fertilizing, watching for pest) Your main problem will be direct sun light, im not sure but i think gandules(pigeon pea) grow very well in india. I love gandules and they work very well on protecting my shade loving plants and for cooking. They can be trimed year round, so you can prune it to form any shape you need for shade! They also help give nitrogen to soil and pea's are not only great to eat, they also are great for composting or amending soil!! hope this helped and best of luck |
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| 10 months ago :: Jun 09, 2009 - 5:16PM #3 | |
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The types of tender tropicals you are currently fancying, the fuchsias and tuberous begonias, will be very problematic for you during the summer. It is not necessarily that the summer day temps are too much, but in tropical lowland summers the nighttime temperatures with high humidity will cause fuchsia, tuberous begonia (and cyclamen) to falter. You climate is likely similar to conditions in southern Florida here in the United States. If you must have tuberous begonias and fuchsia, focus on their culture in autumn, winter and spring. I'm not precisely sure when the "rainy seasons" are in India, but for tuberous begonias and fuchsias to grow and flower (without bud drop or failure), ambient humidity should be a bit lower and temperatures warm in the day and comfortably cool at night. Forcing a dormancy on your plants in the brutally hot and humid summer is one thing to try. Tubers and bulbs of the begonia and cyclamen can be stored out of soil in vermiculite or sawdust indoors, then replanting them at the end of your summer rainy season. And as you mentioned with your fuchsia, placing them on the cool, shadier north side of the house can be helpful, but be aware that high nighttime temps in summer along with humidity WILL make the luscious cultivars of fuchsia and florist cyclamen to still "turn to mush". Heavy rains will also beat the plants down and result in amazing cases of stem and leaf rot. :( On a side note, are you aware that many other types of begonias are native to India? Rhizomatous, scandent, and shrub-like begonia types will readily survive outdoors. Rex begonias are popular, but they (like the tuberous begonias) will not handle high nighttime heat and humidity outdoors, unless you happen to live in the higher elevations in India's far northeast. The questions you ask, Paul, are spot-on when it comes to learning to garden in a tropical environment. This is particularly true if you have been accustomed or taught about gardening in temperate regions that have four seasons. Unfortunately, most English language garden literature talks about tropicals from a controlled-environment greenhouse or houseplant standpoint rather than management outdoors in an actual tropical region. |
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