Gloriosa rothschildiana

I have just been chatting with Charlie Pridham of http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk/ on another forum about Gloriosa and thought it worth repeating here.

I had remarked on what I thought was the strange behaviour of my Gloriosa seedling, which grew to a height of only a couple of inches and then died - but it left behind a healthy looking tuber about an inch and a half long. I had also mentioned that last year two out of my three purchased tubers had rotted.

Charlie said :-

You need sharp drainage, avoid peaty composts, the plant is only in growth for the very brief wet season in Rhodesia where it is the national flower. I used to grow them successfully from seed, they would take two seasons for the tubers to reach flowering size when they look like two man sized fingers joined. anything smaller wont flower.
Only water when you can see green shoots, and stop as soon as the flower fades, so about 6 weeks, the rest of the time it sat under one of the seats so it wouldn't get watered. In the ground if you find the right place it can be easier! I now grow Littonia instead, much easier, sadly not as spectacular

I knew it was sensitive to watering but I hadn't realised it had such a short growing period.

 

Mine has stalled ... got a green shoot that started to emerge, but has now not progressed ... dunno why though.

 

Personally, neglect seems to work with mine
It's kept very dry until I see signs of movement, mine's budding up and it's always a fantastic flower to gaze upon. So yes, perhaps poor soil and sharp drainage is the best way to treat it.

Wayne

 

Mine did as well Kristen - which is what prompted me to put a question on another forum. My seedling grew to about three inches then went yellow and died. I assumed it was a total failure, but when I emptied the pot there was a healthy tuber about one and a half inches long. The tuber was much bigger than I thought could possibly have been produced by such a small amount of foliage.

Given that it only has a 6 week growing period, I am coming round to the feeling that my seedling did exactly what it was programmed to do. It grew for 6 weeks and produced its first year tuber, which will lie dormant for the next 46 weeks in the dry, then have a 6 week growth spurt next year.

I think they need an awful lot of heat - they can't come out of the greenhouse.

 

Just had another chat with Charlie Pridham. He said that from seed the average growth in the first year was between two and four feet. But that a number were like mine and grew much less. As a commercial grower he was only interested in the larger tubers from the taller seedlings. But I presume my small tuber will do OK, though it may take longer to flower.

He also said that the tubers divided every year, so you have to repot each year.

 

I laid mine in a seed tray - to find out which was the business end. I then potted it up, vertically, and maybe that has upset it. (By the time it announced which was the business end there was a lot of root, relative to the amount of shoot)



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It has no more leaf that that as of now, and the shoot looks "unhappy" I would say.

 

P.S. i.e. not a seedling, its a very "generous" tuber that I bought.

Its not (yet) left the conservatory, and has been toasty warm in there the last few weeks.

 

Reading Charlie's advice gives me some insight into why I lost all mine!

 

Kristen - my first failure was last year with big tubers that I bought. I clearly overwatered the pot and two rotted off - which I discovered later. The third one produced 4 or 5 inches of foliage then died. I assumed that it also would have rotted, but later in the season when I emptied the pot there were two perfectly healthy small tubers. Their combined size was no more than the original large tuber - but the plant had survived. I left them in the pot and have just noticed one green shoot appearing now - lets hope there will be two.

So the moral is that even if the foliage dies down - the plant itself in the form of tubers may still survive. Its clearly not an easy plant, as Charlie said that he was now growing Littonia (from the same family) which was much easier.

 

For quite a few years I had fairly good success with Gloriosa, I dont think its really difficult but as said, it likes heat, easily rots off if wet and cool, I always give full sun even in the greenhouse.
I usually allow it to grow on into September but getting dryer all the time, until the old stems come away with a gentle tug, I' thinking a six week growing season is a bit short.
Mine usually get three months.

I must admit to having moved on a bit, (as you do), other things take over, so mine are a bit neglected these days and perhaps dont get top spot in the greenhouse, therefore not flowering so well.

So I went back to 2007 for a picture, hope you dont mind.

 

Mine has done nothing this year and it could be the watering problem.

 

Pete - interesting that you say three months - thats a rather better period. Though Charlie did say that it could be longer than 6 weeks in our cooler climate.

Join the club Victoria.

 

Hmmm ... decisions, decisions ...

Take a chance and tip it out and re-pot using John Innes with grit? instead of the 75% multi-purpose and 25% Perlite do you think?

It might have stalled because I re-potted it when it had a fair bit of root? and will perhaps get under way shortly?

 

I'm pretty sure that I'm correct in saying that Rothschildiana is a cultivar of G.superba?
I've grown both - G.superba seems to have larger tubers (that multiply better)..............


..............and it seems to grow taller, grow longer and produce more blooms.



I've always started mine off indoors and then moved them out at the end of May'ish.

However, this year I had to put them out earlier. Not being fully familiar with the new garden I reckon that I've put them in the wrong spot - the two remaining shoots (one got snapped by falling debris in the winds) have struggled to 80cm. No blooms yet and one shoot is already dividing, so it may be a poor year (especially bearing in mind the lack of warmth and sun).

Mine would usually bloom from June through to the end of August outdoors in a large pot, so a rethink required for next year I reckon.

A good airy mix is essential, as is plenty of water when in growth.

 

The lovely photos of yours and Pete's have only served to make me more determined to grow this plant.

From an earlier comment by you, I had added G. superba to my Christmas seed list, and I see that Chilterns sells them both.

Any one tried Littonia or Sandersonia - close relatives with (I believe) similar requirements?