On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:37:42 -0700, Dave Poole wrote:

On Jun 24, 12:29 am, Andy Spragg wrote:

Lack of sun.?

Hmm. Yes and no. They get plenty of full-on sun for three or four hours
first thing in the morning, but that's their lot.

A combination of nitrogen-rich soil and just a few hours sun will
result in lush leafy growth and few or no flowers. These are South
African plants that normally grow in sharply drained, rather
impoverished soils in full sun all day long. The UK sun is barely
half as intense so any reduction caused by shade is bound to have an
adverse effect. The planting site should be well drained, in full,
direct sun and the soil should be given just a sprinkling of growmore
prior to planting. Unless the soil is clay or very 'heavy', don't
worry about adding organic material, they don't need it.

All you can do now is to wait for the nitrogen levels to drop (it
should leach out with all of this rain) and hope that they start to
bud up before the sun loses its power. You might try to counter the
nitrogen levels by carefully sprinkling Sulphate of Potash between the
plants at about 1oz. per square yard. Water it in immediately to
prevent any burning to the leaves. There's no guarantee this will
work, but if it does, you might end up with a good late summer/early
autumn display long after most Mesems have exhausted themselves.

That sounds like it has to be worth a shot, particularly since I have a box
of the stuff in the shed that I've never got around to applying to anything
yet!

Andy

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