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Re: 'Geranium'

Joan Steele wrote:
> 
> Dear Sue,
> Thanks for yout message, good to hear from someone who gets the same sort
> of heat we do.   I water my plants about every 6/7 days in this hot
> weather.  I have to wait until the soil is absolutely dried out, otherwise
> they will die with stem rot.  It was hard to get used to at first.  I have
> now got into the habit of leaving them an extra day, when I see they need
> water. I have come to the conclusion that they almost go into hibernation
> in the heat.  They don’t grow much and really don’t need the amount of
> water we would expect.  I do mark the calendar every time I water a certain
> area .. (I have 4 growing houses around the place .. a case of putting them
> where they woild fit!)  so I know exactly when I last watered.
> I don’t have any in the ground any more.  In winter they get too wet,  and
> in summer thet get the water from my sprinkler system, which seems to
> incrrease the humidity.   The geraniums houses are all covered,  some with
> polycarbonate and some with fibreglass sheeting.  In the summer I put
> shadecloth covers over all of the roofs.  The walls in one ‘house’  are of
> glass adjustable louvers, which work out very well and give the warmth they
> need in summer (the afternoon sun side has a shadecloth awning to keep the
> sun out in summer).  Other areas have either shadecloth sides,  or one area
> ,  being quite large is left open on 2 sides.
> Yes Zonals are used in landscape areas but only where they can be watered
> without wetting the leaves. Such as trickle irrigation.
> Mine are mostly the new more sensitive varieies, which would struggle to
> survive in the open.  A lot of them are English or German varieties and
> have super large blooms .. great for competiton work in our Society.

Joan

Here in New Zealand we have a real mavrik summer because of El Nino, but
certainly cannot match your West Australian temperatures (Thank
goodness). Today has been one of our hottest so far, indeed in some
areas the hottest February weather since records began, with many places
reaching the high 30s. Here near Wellington it reached 27 today, which
is high indeed for this rather mild area.

I also grow geraniums (zonals) in pots, but mainly because they are not
winter hardy in my garden, where temps normally drop to-3C, but in the
odd year have been known to go down to-6 for several days on end, which
will certainly finish off most geraniums, I think. I actually live up in
the hills and down in the adjacent Hutt valley outside Wellington many
gardens do grow them outside, They don't seem to have trouble with
rotting, but a lot with rust disease.

What I  wanted to discuss with you is the problem I have had with some
of the varieties which produce very large heads. By the time these are
fully open the stalks do not seem to be strong enough to remain upright
and I have had to  stake them. Is this inevitable, or is it due to some
failure in my cultivation? I usually feed a couple of times a year with
osmocote and also give (rather erratically I am afraid) boosters of
liquid fertilizer, either Nitrosol or a fish-based preparation. 

The pots spend the whole year in a glasshouse, which is well shaded and
ventilated in summer and the plants grow and flower very vigorously
virtually all year round. I cut them back regularly and raise new plants
from cuttings whenever the growth appears to be slowing down and getting
leggy or gnarled..

I should be very interested if you have any answer to my problem

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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