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maggy7

By Maggy7

Cleveland, United Kingdom Gb

I have a hedychium coronariam which has never flowered, I have had it for about 5 years now, I take it in the greenhouse over winter or inside the conservatory but it really is too big for there! would you leave it in the garden and protect roots over winter? as were in the N.E. I was wondering if it is maybe too cold here to flower


On plant Hedychium coronarium


Answers

 

This plant needs a lot of heat in order to produce flowers, which might explain why you haven't had any. It also needs dividing every year in spring, because its a vigorous grower. This is one of the less hardy gingers, so will not survive outdoors - it does much better in a heated greenhouse all year round. There are other gingers that are not quite so tender.

29 Nov, 2009

 

Oh, and welcome to GoY - nice avatar, by the way;-)

29 Nov, 2009

 

Hedychiums do not like disturbance and only need dividing, into large pieces, if they are growing out of their pot. If you bought your ginger in a pot, it was possibly micropropagated and would take longer to flower than grown from a rhizome. They need feeding during their growing season. Mine haven't flowered in 3 years either, so I had to find out about them from an expert.

29 Nov, 2009

 

I had 5 hedychium tara which I had divided from one rhizome. They had been kept in pots when I lived in Notts, but I have planted them in my garden now I'm on the Isle of Wight. They have completely taken over where I've planted them and I will probably need to lift and split them again in the Spring. I would suggest that you keep your specimen in a pot. Have a look at the roots and rhizomes if there are any, and see how pot bound it is. Hedychiums tend to flower more successfully if they are pot bound, but when they start to mis-shape a plastic pot you need to split them, it is quite easy to see where as new little shoots pop up which is the same years flowering spike. Bring them indoors to a greenhouse/conservatory over winter as these gingers aren't as hardy as some you can get.

29 Nov, 2009

 

Thank you all for your quick response, I did transplant it last year as it had done exactly as you said Andrearichter the pot it was in was a plack plastic one and was stretched out of shape, however I didnt split it I was afraid I might upset it lol.

I bought it from a car boot sale and it must have been split from large mature plants as the people told m they had large clumps growing outside.

Besides heat which is beyond my control living not far from the N.E. coast 3mls is there anything special I should be feeding it on to encourage flowers?
I cant leave it in the greenhouse as we spend a lot of time in the summer months away from home i our motorhome touring! I dont like to ask my family to do much more than check on our home.

30 Nov, 2009

 

You could try feeding it a high potash feed in the spring, something like tomato food, or buy sulphate of potash, which is a powder and can be sprinkled on the compost, lightly forked in and then watered. I should tell you I was looking at a specialist website to get more info on this particular ginger - it seems that, if it gets enough heat, it flowers well, but then the leaves burn and the whole plant looks bad! I don't know, never grown it, and we probably wouldn't have that trouble over here, anyway, but really, I did think it seems you can't win...;-)

30 Nov, 2009

 

I would split it and pot the two (or how ever many you split it into) bits into ceramic pots with a mixture of John Innes No3, multipurpose compost and grit. Add some of the slow release plant food into the mix as well with some bark chips.

Pot up the gingers and cover the surface with grit to prevent weed growth.

You could put up a drip water feeder over the summer months, but they should survive in a pot pretty well.

As I said in my previous post, the plants will probably need to fill out the pots a bit more before they show any signs of flowering. I wouldn't risk putting them in the ground in the NE of the UK. You may even need to wrap them in fleece in the Winter months to prevent any frost damage to next year's new shoots.

30 Nov, 2009

 

Thanks Andrea, I do have it wrapped up in the greenhouse, but reading about plants that are put in the garden, it is normal for them I understand, to cut the stems down when the frost has turned them, to a couple of inches and protect the crown with mulch , so its just around the roots I have protection. They do apparently need plenty of moister in the summer months but I will certainly take your advise about the compost and mix, Im determined to see them flower even if it means turning them into house plants to achieve it.

30 Nov, 2009

How do I say thanks?

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