Juno repotting

[Alex]

A quick poll - who repots their Junos every year? Or two years? Or less?

I'm repotting a couple now. It strikes me that there must be a balance between the benefits of refreshing the compost and stripping away dead material, versus the inevitable loss of some of the storage roots that occurs when you repot (if you manage not to break any you're much better than me!).

If you don't repot every year, do you just trim the old dead leaves off at ground level?

Cheers,

Alex

[Alex]

Just curious to know what others are up to....lengthy reply not required!

[Steve Garvie]

I re-pot every year but not until late October/early November. I find that old dead roots can rot when re-watering commences. I re-pot the Juno and "Rhinopetalum" Frits at the same time -holding both back for as long as possible. The last thing you want is these plants in leafy growth in mid-Winter. When re-potting tip the Juno out of its pot carefully then leave it on the bench overnight and re-pot the next day. By doing this the roots become more pliable and are less prone to breakage. Once re-potted then water to restore root turgor and trigger growth.

[Tasmanian Taffy]

Hi Steve,
when you repot your Junos and start watering again do you stand pots in water or drip feed (water).
Cheers, John.

[Steve Garvie]

Hi John,
I essentially try to treat these as desert plants. I have killed lots of Junos -almost always due to excessive water exposure at the wrong time in their growth cycle. Even under glass it is difficult here to reduce their exposure to atmospheric humidity. I start the watering regime in winter. With the first watering I copiously water around the inside of the (long Tom) pots (the bulbs are surrounded by coarse grit so this water tends to bypass the bulb but soak the well-drained underlying substrate) and then I ensure that the sand plunge is very well-soaked. I then keep the sand plunge moist but give no further water to the pots until top growth appears. This works for me in Central Scotland but may need modified with you. One of the biggest problems I have here is that in late summer/early autumn we have some days where the atmospheric humidity is very high -this can sometimes "reach" the Juno bulbs and re-start growth. The last thing I want is for the new top growth to appear in late December/early January when light levels at this latitude are low and days short. Sadly this is a common occurrence and such growth is weak, floppy and prone to aphid and fungal attack.

Thinking about it my advice is probably best taken with a pinch of salt as I am more of a Juno assassin than a Juno grower! 

[Tasmanian Taffy]

Hi Steve,
thanks for that advice. I hopefully will not become a Juno assassin Lol.
We have relatively cold winters here in Tasmania minus three to four degrees Celcius at night and warm to hot summers between twenty five and thirty five day time temp's. I don't think that humidity will pose to much of a problem here but time will tell. Once again thanks and please keep posting those beautiful photo's.
Regards, John.