Re: Non-blooming Cotyledon, slow growing grapes

My experience with the green leaved Cotyledon macrantha(synonymous with C. orbiculata var macrantha), is that this is more typically a fall into winter bloomer here in my Berkeley garden, as opposed to Cotyledon orbiculata var orbiculata and C. orbiculata var longifolia, which are both blooming now.  I have also had some forms of C. macrantha which just didn't bloom much, and ended up replacing them with new plants which I specifically bought when in bloom.  This form also tends to not bloom well if it doesn't get enough sun, or suffers the effects of poor drainage.

Vitis 'Roger's Red' is generally a very fast grower here in the inner SF Bay Area.   Could your plants be suffering from lack of fertilizer, or have problems with gophers eating the roots?  If you are giving it enough water, and the soil is fertile with good drainage, it should have taken off after 3/4 years in the ground.

--- On Wed, 7/8/09, Ben Wiswall <benwiswall@pacbell.net> wrote:

> From: Ben Wiswall <benwiswall@pacbell.net>
> Subject: Non-blooming Cotyledon, slow growing grapes
> To: "medit plants forum" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
> Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 5:44 PM
> Hi All,A couple of
> minor garden problems here:
> I have four Cotyledon orbiculata in terra cotta
> pots.  They were purchased in one-gallon containers, and
> have grown to fill out fairly large terra cottas, but they
> have no flowers and show no signs of flowering.  They get
> watered once a week, and look happy, just no flowers.  They
> are a green-leaved as opposed to a silvery leaved variety, I
> don't know if that matters.
> The other problem has to do with grape vines on
> a pergola.  The grapes are Vitis 'Roger's Red',
> which recent genetic testing has demonstrated is a natural
> hybrid between Vitis californica and Vitis vinifera. They
> were planted in Autumn 2005, and we don't yet have full,
> or even 50%, shade over the pergola. They
>  are in a mulched clay loam soil on a berm, with low to
> moderate irrigation.  Again, they look happy and produce
> grapes, but even with my training and pruning, the vines
> don't give us real shade.
> Any advice?
> -Ben Armentrout-WiswallSimi Valley,
> inland southern California
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index