Alstroemeria ligtu seedlings
Roy Sachs (Fri, 05 Aug 2005 04:35:28 PDT)
Shirley's right about ligtu and how they pull themselves deep..
Anecdotes:
a) in one of our sand beds after years of trying we find that we
cannot get a shovel deep enough to remove all of the rhizome pieces
b) even in a mostly clay soil seedlings have managed to go .8 to 12
inches deep.
c) Years ago the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens wanted to remove a
large section devoted to ligtu and I'm not sure whether they ever
succeeded entirely even with their expert staff hard at it.
Roy
Roy, I would recommend putting them in very deep pots. They love to
go down,down,down. When they first come up again, I would recommend
pulling them out. It sounds cruel and unusual punshment, but they
seem to develop much sturdier underpinnings if given this treatment
in Pebble Beach, at least. You won't get the whole plant when you
pull, so don't worry about that. If you do find yourself with no
plants because of my advice, call and I'll send you some
replacements. Nothing special, but Alstroemeria ligtu plants for
sure.
Shirley Meneice