Overwintering Nerine bowdenii

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Sun, 24 Mar 2013 10:41:30 PDT
It's definite that Clivia miniata hybrids need chilling for 4 weeks or so 
at or below 50 F to trigger flowering.  The Belgian hybrids seem to be less 
dependent on temperature than other strains of C. miniata.  Other species 
of Clivia may not be so directly dependent on temperature.

I agree that Nerine bowdenii might need the same thing as C. miniata.  My 
bowdenii spend the summer outdoors in the lath house.  Before frost, they 
are moved into a greenhouse where the temperatures get down to 55 F in cold 
weather.  They bloom in Sept-November, but not all of them bloom in any 
given year.  They loose their leaves  and don't start growing new ones 
until just about now.

Nerine initiate new blooms more than a year before the bud actually starts 
to grow.  Your Nerine bowdenii will need good conditions for at least two 
consecutive seasons before you can expect to see many blooms.

Broad-leaf nerines like bowdenii and sarniensis also need very careful 
feeding.  Use low Nitrogen (N), high Potassium (K) fertilizers during the 
growing season.  I use a custom formulated fertilizer with N-P-K of about 
0-15-35 on my Nerine bowdenii and sarniensis.

My conditions are not perfect.  Indiana's climate and my greenhouse 
settings (not optimized for Nerine) may contribute to the problem.  Still, 
I do get some blooms every year.

Jim Shields


At 01:11 PM 3/24/2013 -0400, you wrote:
>Overwintering nerine.
>It could be temperature related. I have a few pots of seeds grown clivias.
>They bloomed very sparsely when wintered at room temperature, but since I
>started wintering them in a cool greenhouse (+4 C minimum) they set buds and
>bloom profusely without fail every year. Now I have a couple of pots of seed
>grown nerine. They are not big enough to bloom, but it gives me some ideas.
>
>Bea Spencer zone 5  Ontario

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Lat. 40° 02.8' N, Long. 086° 06.6' W




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