Tropaeolum

[Steven McFarlane]

Hi
And welcome from me too Dora. Sorry its taken so long.   I am looking forward to learning about your growing techniques and particularly to seeing more of your wonderful photographs.
At this time of year I take cuttings of the Double Nasturtiums and I thought the forum might like to see little posies of two of these.

Margaret Long

 

Hermine Grashoff

The third type Darjeeling Gold has grown well this year but without many flowers.

Steve

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Great bunches of flowers Steven!
Thank you for these very nice ones
I find Darjeeling gold has quite strange flowers. Not as nice to me as those of Margaret Long & Hermine Grashoff. Do you know about Apricot Twist? Is it a different one?
Regards
Jean-Patrick

[DORA]

Hi
Steven, thanks for your welcome message! 
I'm very glad to talk with you here.

Lovely flowers! 
I have a question. "Darjeeling gold" is the same  thing as "Darjeeling double"? If so, I agree with Jean-Patrick.
The flowers of Darjeeling double are rather strange.
It seems that "Margaret Long" is the same as "Apricot Twist", I don't know the truth though.

These 3 types of double flowers are also sold in Japan. They have Japanese names.

Kind regards from Japan,

DORA

[fermi de Sousa]

Those doubles are rather amazing, but not seen around here i'm afraid
Tropaeolum tricolor is the one that does best outdoors for me. This one is growing on a low "hedge"


cheers
fermi

[Ragged Robin]

A magnificent sight, Fermi, like little lanterns - does the hedge suffer?

[tonyg]

A magnificent sight, Fermi, like little lanterns - does the hedge suffer?

I see a shoal of little fish! 
It certainly grows lustily outside for you Fermi.  Here it clings to life outside, planted under a Grevillea against a sunny wall.  No chance of it harming its support the way I grow it.  I should add that under cold glass it is more vigorous.

[fermi de Sousa]

A magnificent sight, Fermi, like little lanterns - does the hedge suffer?

Robin,
the "hedge" is Euonymus and is pretty resilient, but this is the heaviest growth from the trop so far - I'll wait and see what it looks like after the trop dies down.

Tony,
I "liberated" the trop into the garden as I have much less success with it in pots!
cheers
fermi

[Jupiter]

*URGENT* Advice needed

I've had a disaster with my Tropaeolum azureum. Remember I'm in the Southern Hemisphere so now is our active growing/flowering time for these. It seems a snail or a slug has damaged the main stem on my biggest plant, causing the whole thing to wilt and start yellowing. I don't think there is any hope of recovery for the growing shoot, my question is this - should I dig up the tubers now and get them into a dryer media, or leave them be and hope for a re-shoot this season? My concern is that the wetness and the warmth of the current conditions might be conducive to rot. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Maggi Young]

Don't panic!  Do not overwater the plant meantime but keep pot slightly moist to discourage premature dormancy.  We actively pinch out the growing tips of our T. azureum to encourage branching, so the chomping is not a disaster in itself.
I am wondering why, though, the chomping of the stem is leading to yellowing and wilt? Is it just that the growth above the chomp is dying? If that is all, then still no cause for panic.... though a few tears at the loss of the top growth is permissable! 
I would think it is still early enough in your season for the plant to put out some new growth to replace the chomped stem. Don't subject the planty to too much else in the way of stress.... slugs, too much hot sun, etc while it has a chance to make new growth.

If there is no sign of new growth, still try to keep the plant remaining green for as long as possible, and when it does go into dormancy, do not allow the tubers to get too dry or the dormancy may descend into one that is VERY deep and nigh impossible to get it to wake up from.

[Jupiter]

Thanks Maggi, that's good advice and I think I'll take it. Unfortunately the single stem of this plant was damaged right down at soil level. It may yet re-shoot , unfortunately we've been having torrential rain here over the past 48 hours and the pots will all be soaked. I suppose I'll have to trust that my especially concocted media has sharp enough drainage to handle it.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi Jupiter,
Nothing else to add to Maggi's excellent advice. Do NOT dig out the tubers. If they are safe and ready to re-shoot you could disturb them and they might not appreciate that. If the tubers are beginning to rot I think there's nothing to do to save them. Remember that the most important part of the plant IS the tuber and NOT the stems ( nor the flowers as beautiful as they should seem ). Just keep the pots out of hard rainfalls and allow them to dry a little if they're overwet ( exposing your pots to "a bit of sun" should help ). What temperature do you have at present? Can you move the pots to different exposures to protect them from too much heat? and too much rain? In Chile Tr Azureum grows with cool weather, exposed to "cool " sun.
So best to follow Maggi's advice: wait & see
Regards
Jean-Patrick

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hello,
This is about Tr SMITHII. I've sown MANY seeds purchased from Chiltern Seeds but I'm still waiting for any of it to germinate. I'm feeling a bit frustrated now...Apart from Steven Mc Farlane ( who succeeded ) is there any other Tropaeolum grower who have had encouraging results with this species?
Waiting for your contributions
J-P

[Lesley Cox]

And even if the top growth is all gone, the roots will still be active so no, don't think of lifting them yet.

[DORA]

Hi
Fermi, your T.tricolor is beautiful! Maybe it has a huge tuber, isn't it?
How do you treat this in winter? Do you dig your tubers up? Or leave them alone?

Jupiter, there's nothing more to say, all important things have already been told here.
I hope your azureum tuber is safe.

Jean-Patrick, I'm afraid it's not success story, but I have T.smithii seeds(from Chiltern Seeds) that have never germinated.
I sowed them last year. I sowed other smithii seeds (also from Chiltern Seeds) 3 days ago.
Of course, it's too short time to occur something, I know. All I can do now is wait for germination.

Kind regards from Japan,

DORA

[ashley]

This is about Tr SMITHII ... is there any other Tropaeolum grower who have had encouraging results with this species?

I've tried several different conditions, but have had no germination yet after 5 months.  Perhaps later this autumn or next spring ...