Tropaeolum

[Michael]

Maggi, are these flowers familiar to you? 

[Maggi Young]

They are indeed, Michael...... I am pleased to see them enjoying life in Madeira!

[Michael]

I never thought that from those thread-like stems, thin as hairs, i would get these pretty flowers this season! The pot is well secured to avoid being moved by someone or something.

The T. azureum is also doing well, it is a bit smaller though. 

[Maggi Young]

I never thought that from those thread-like stems, thin as hairs, i would get these pretty flowers this season! The pot is well secured to avoid being moved by someone or something.

The T. azureum is also doing well, it is a bit smaller though. 

It is to be expected that the azureum is smaller, though it will grow quite a bit still, from this stage in the season. The tricolorum may yet surprise you with more growth and flower! In future years you will be most pleasantly surprised by just how much growth and flower it can produce!

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi Everyboby,
I have by now some Chilean Tropaeolum with small flowerbuds appearing . Flowers within a month?
and 7 tropaeolum leptophyllum seedlings emerging ( from J&J Archibald ). It's so exciting!!! But will they go to flower? and produce seeds? and ( most important ) little tubers? with a little luck...By the way, I'm looking for tropaeolum Moritzianum seeds for next summer. Does anybody know of a seed source for this species? If my tropaeolum flower well I'll try to understand how to post photos. I have a few tropaeolum argentinum spare seeds harvested last autumn on my plant ( from J&J Archibald seeds ). Anyone interested?
Regards
Jean-Patrick

[Maggi Young]

Jean-Patrick.... it may take longer than you imaginefor the flowers to fully mature and open.
To get the tubers as big as possible, give a regular half-strength food to the plants.... even tomato fertiliser is okay, and keep them growing for as long as possible.... if they get too dry at any time they will move too quickly to dormancy.

[mickeymuc]

Hi Jean-Patrick,

Do you have a photo of T. argentinum ? I have some seedlings of these growing very fast and am wondering how the flower might be - google doesn't seem to find a picture of this one.

I also got some seeds of "Tropaeolum hybrids" from the seed exchange, which produced 4 plants up to now - I am very curious what will come out of those, and certainly I have some great expectations after having seen the hybrid pics here...

Does anyone have a hint at which size I can start giving the seedlings a little feed ?

Thank you !

Kind regards from Munich !

Michael

[Maggi Young]

Mickey, if your seed compost has a reasonable amount of nutrients, there should be enough food there for the young seedlings. In a month or two, probably  by late April you could then begin to feed them ...but be sure to give dilute feed , it is very easy to burn the roots of young plants.

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

    If your Tropaeolum argentinum is growing now, it is under the opposite cycle. It starts into growth with the spring well advanced and will go dormant before winter. The dormant season is very long.

Regards

[mickeymuc]

Thank you Maggie, then I'll wait a little and be careful !

Thanks Ezeiza, for the advice with T. argentinum ! I recently ordered the seed and immedieately sowed it (after applying GA-3, no idea if it's a benefit in Tropaeolum), and it's growing very fast for some 3 weeks. Maybe I can keep it growin until autumn?
Do you have an idea where I can find a photo showing this species' flowers ? I have no idea, I bought the seeds thinking no Tropaeolum is ugly, and now I'm curious what they will look like....

Best regards,

Michael

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

     I think there is no image available now.

     Granted, there are no Tropaeolums that are not attractive.


      Try to grow it for as long as possible so it can follow the natural pattern (Cool/dry/dormant). And only go dormant in your coming autumn.

       It was you who generously offered seed of his own plant? Desirable as it may be to others, it is an unwise move. Much more convenient woudl be to sow such seed and try to obtain more parent plants. These species are so rare that it would not be surprising not to see them in the trade again.

Regards

[mickeymuc]

All right, that sounds good - I'll keep you updated on how they will perform. All I can say now is that they are the fastest growing seedlings I have ever seen in the tuberous Tropaeolums with rather large leaves already.

Ezeiza, it was not me who offered the seeds in this thread - I just received the seeds from JJA and they have been growing for some weeks - so there are no parent plants here yet....

Best regards,

Michael

[Michael]

Michael, could you post a picture of that species?

[mickeymuc]

Hi Michael,

Sorry it took me so long to reply, I had some fights with my PC (which I won, finally :-)
All I can show you of that species is seedlings, which grow very quick - I'm really curious how this species will perform !

p.s. the tiny shoots on the left are seedlings of T. hybrids grown from seed from the exchange - much smaller, but they grow well and hopefully will flower in 2010 or 2011....

Best regards !

Michael

[mickeymuc]

btw: the rest of our bedroom window is invaded by T. tricolor, I'm looking forward to flowers in 3-4 weeks.......