Curcuma alismatifolia

I couldn't resist this Siam Tulip at the DIY today ... we both fell in love with it's unusualness.



On arrival home, I trawled around trying to find our care information but found it quite varied. One site says it can take heat up to 40C not to go below 15C. Another says to keep it moist but not to let water get into the flowers ???

Does anyone have one who can advise on the care. Thank you in advance.

 

I bought one from the dead shelf for 50p. Emptied out the pot and found a number of round roots. I repotted them in a free flowing compost and went on a business trip. I arrived home to find them sitting in a saucer of water. I couldn't dry them out and they rotted.

That's my knowledge of them, not very helpful am I.

 

Oh, dear, Rich. Maybe someone else has had better luck. Thanks for your input ... note: don't like to be drowned! :D

 

My experience is not a lot better, i think they are the ginger family, not sure.
Anyway, I once bought a flowering plant, dried it off at the end of the season and treated it similar to my gingers.
It grew away well the next year but only leaves and no flowers, this went on a couple more years until I gave up.
Dont think UK summers are long enough, and I also think you maybe right about the winter temperature, dont think it likes cold.

 

Thanks, Pete. Yes, they are the ginger family, but this is new to me with my three gingerlets from my supermarket root.

With all the varying comments on the net, I'm wondering whether to plant it in my shandy border under one of the Jacarandas ... I'm holding off till perhaps someone says what to do! :eek:

What a stupid thing, buy a plant, then ask everyone what you do with it ... dumb blonde (strawberry) or what, I ask?

 

My guess is no, dont plant it out, I tend to think its from the tropics.
Cant you get advise from where you bought it?

 

A newly-opened French DIY store .. me thinks not. They were still on the trolley being loaded off when I grabbed one, only a dozen at the most. The checkout girl said how beautiful she had never seen anything like it! This is a store with only a few plants at every checkout so I think the knowledge would be less than I have! :D

In saying the above, they have the best seed selection in Algarve! :D Got my Albizia there and as variety of chillies ... even do Camellia seeds very cheap but don't think the heat would suit them.

[ 25. September 2006, 10:07 PM: Message edited by: Lady of Leisure ]

 

Ah, the bane of my life that plant In fact the entire genus (Curcuma) frustrates me. Quite right, it is a member of the ginger family and amongst its closest relatives are turmeric, zedoary and bombay arrowroot. Some develop huge rosettes of very handsome leaves that are big enough to satisfy the banana growers amongst us and the flower spikes are invariably very handsome. All in all a busy and interesting group of plants really.

They revel in seriously hot, steamy heat in summer and when growing well, need copious amounts of water. By late autumn, they all start to die down to smallish corm-like tubers and should be allowed to become nearly dry. When fully dormant they can withstand a fair amount of cold, but getting them to restart in spring is the problem. Rather like Caladiums, they must be watered very carefully to avoid rotting and only reluctantly resume growth after temperatures have risen considerably. I usually manage to get them going again, but more often than not they start to grow and then rot because I can't provide that extra bit of heat

For the time being LoL, keep your plant well watered and in a fairly bright spot. A feed of general purpose liquid fertiliser every 2 weeks will suit it well. Eventually the leaves will start to yellow and you can slowly reduce the watering. Leave the plant in its pot until spring making sure it doesn't become dust dry. Curcumas start very late so gradually resume watering about mid-late April. It will need some heat to kick-start it into growth, but I suspect that won't pose too many problems for you. When the new shoots are growing strongly carefully remove some of the old compost and replace with fresh.

If you decide to plant it out, wait until average temperatures are in the 20C range. Given dappled shade, humus-rich well-drained soil and plenty of moisture, it should do OK out of doors with you.

 

Thank you very much, Dave. I'll follow you advice and advise in the Spring!

I understand they come from Siam, hence the Sian Tulip, / Thailand, also China, Japan and Burma.

It was just too pretty to resist and didn't cost much!

 

I could always get a good leafy show Dave but never flowers, it was my usual problem,..... I ran out of summer. :D

 

Well, Pete ... there's a remedy for that! :D :D :D

 

yeah :D :D :D

 

:D :D :D

 

Hi LoL, growing mine as a full time houseplant. I bought 4 and they all seem to be growing well. I wouldn't chance them outside in the UK and I couldn't comment on growing them in Portugal. As a houseplant they seem to hate being watered. It seems they need little excuse to rot, and I have lost a few leaves which seem to have previously been too wet. I am watering stricty from the bottom. I have never seen or grown this plant before and it really is a case of suck it and see. I, like you bought from a DIY store, it caught my eye as I was looking for a birthday present but it had no growing instructions. I bought my mum one and it is doing well from what I saw yesterday so I will ask if she is doing anything different to me, but as a houseplant I think neglect is the order of the day.

BM

 

Thanks BM. I did have care instructions ....

"Care. Position in a good light, water twice weekly, feed now and then. Direct sunlight aids better growth and darkens flower colour in." Could be talking about anything really!

There were also pictures: a full watering can (looks more like a coffee pot actually!), a full sun, a temperature of between 15-30C and a plate with a knife and fork with a cross through it, which I assume means that you shouldn't eat it! :D :D Oh, what a beautiful flower! although one of the sites I looked up said that tumeric comes from the root of this plant! :confused:

I think I'll be wingig this one!