07 Nov 08 alister (senior gardener) (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Rosella. 1st Bunnings are stocking small plants in the Brisbane region .Elsewhere?? (Nov 08)
Plant in a free draining bed, enriched with organic matter.
If in a warmer climate mulch with sugar cane straw. NOT bark,or wood chip as they cause the soil to go hydrophobic. (water repellent).Use plenty of a nitrogen based fertiliser and get good leaf growth. Plants about 1.2 metres apart.
Consider sulphate of potash to get vigorous qualtiy plants.Light side dressings at the roots drip zones..Plants that are well fed and growing strongly are particular able to resist insect and disease attack.
If you use seed expect to see it through in 10-14 days.Put slug bait on the covering soil and cover all with 3-4 pages of newspaper or 50mm of cane mulch.Be careful to watch as the seedlings come through so they do not become leggy.Keep damp.
We have 7 plants underway on Macleay Island Brisbane.Best wishes and good luck.
I planted my rosellas in August '20 then potted up into half wicking pots and half hugelkultur pots, some in small plastic garbage bins. I have 10 plants. Of these, 4 started as seedlings from Bunnings, the rest were seeds I'd saved from previous years. Only 1 of these plants is flowering and fruiting. All look very healthy. I thought to give the non flowering ones some potash to help them flower. Will this encourage them?
A bit of potash shouldn't hurt, but I've found that mine don't start flowering until the days start getting shorter, no matter what I do! It should just be a matter of time for the rest of yours to start. Your precocious plant might be getting just a tiny bit less sun than the others due to placement in the garden. The end of my row that's closest to the house always starts flowering first, because it gets an hour less sun than the other end of the row.
12 Dec 19 Rhonda AFFOO (Australia - temperate climate)
I live at Kilcoy QLD (Somerset Council area) & I always plant my Rosella seeds in seed trays 2nd week in August & raise under black plastic.. They germinate pretty quickly this way which allows me to have them high enough to transplant into raised beds before end of September. This way I can usually start harvesting the rosella pods by end of Dec. They keep bearing until the first hint of winter (temperature drop or cool winds) they then turn up their toes & I pull them out..I rest my beds & grow a green manure using cheap canary seed which I trim back with whipper snipper to break down in to the soil.
17 Jul 20 Jeff Bell (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Are you saying that after a harvest you pull the plant out? Does the turning up of the toes always happen in Winter? This is exactly what happened to my plant. I thought I killed it in someway!
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