Homeria collina

Joe Shaw jshaw@opuntiads.com
Sun, 03 Dec 2006 12:39:26 PST
Hi Gang,



About 2 years ago I wrote about Homeria collina.  Mary Sue reported that her 
brother had grown the plants easily in Houston, in the ground rather than in 
a pot.

I've kept mine in a 10' clay pot just because I've worried about 
overwatering, but perhaps the corms/bulbs are fairly immune to such 
problems.  They are listed in the Global Compendium of Weeds, which suggests 
to me that they are a tolerant, opportunistic, and perhaps vigorous plant.

My pot of plants sits on the front porch in winter, and has endured frosts 
to 23 F.  If blooms are open in really cold weather I put the pot indoors 
for a day or two and blossoms are not damaged by 28 F (with the plant 
sitting right next to the house).  So far, H. collina has been a reluctant 
bloomer but not a total loss; however, some literature suggests to me that 
it can be a better performer.  Mary Sue reported that she thought the plants 
bloomed better in the ground, rather than in a pot.  I think I'll keep mine 
in a pot for another year or two, but might rework the soil a bit.  If they 
still don't put on a big show I'll plant them out.

Does anyone have information about fertilizer?  I've given my plants very 
weak liquid fertilizer with trace elements once or twice a growing season 
and nothing more.  The foliage is green and happy, so I suppose they don't 
need nitrogen but I wonder about other elements.

It is nearly impossible to get this plant now in the USA because import and 
state to state movement is prohibited by USDA regulations.  However, I 
wonder if anyone who has the plant might be interested in swapping pollen 
this year.





Cordially,



Joe

Conroe TX





LINK:  Global Compendium of Weeds, H. collina

http://hear.org/gcw/html/…


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