Flowers and Greens - Newsletter # 3
Success with clumps depends on checking carefully for the following:
1. Check irrigation system: one gardener speculates that he lost four clumps owing to their drying out during the first week or two after planting. That happens often when emitters get clogged with insects (usually earwigs), pieces of dirt or compost, algal buildup and even salt deposition in areas with high carbonate water.
2. Protect against slugs and snails: the gastropods). I’ve lost clumps owing to severe slug and snail damage during the first weeks after planting. Usually I’m quite rigorous in using one of the snail⁄slug baits, but if the rains are unusually heavy and⁄or frequent, as they were this spring, the slugs find a way to feast on the young alstroemeria shoots and they gather around the innermost portion of the clump - snail bait has to be close or on top of the planted material.
3. Drainage and soil texture: In poorly drained soils I’ve observed rotting of the rhizomes developing. this may have happened to a client who lives in a cold climate and finds that the new spring shoots become chlorotic as they emerge through the mulch she used.
4. Importance of shade in warm climates: In Davis I may be outside the climatic range of A. aurea and A. pulchella which grow at the Russian River site, about 5 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The maximum day-time temperatures there are on the average 20 oF cooler than in Davis in the summertime. Also, the mean temperatures are lower owing to morning and evening fogs and on-shore breezes
One cure for the problem in Davis, will be to increase the shade from 30 to 50%. If you grow these species and do not live in an area where there is a moderating maritime influence, find or create areas where sunlight is attenuated by about 50% all day, or at the very least there is total protection from the afternoon sun.
Good gardening, dirty hands and all, Roy
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