dividing strelitzia reginae
 

Hi,
I've a couple of these grown from seed now 7 and 8 years old.
I believe these like to be pot bound but now the huge tangled mass of
tuberous roots leaves hardly any room for soil in the 25litre pots.
They are flowering at the moment (or about to) but I thought I'd try
and divide them later in the season.
Has anyone done this? Do you try and prise the roots apart or cut
through them with a bread kinife or something? Looking at he leaves
there is an obvious point of division but when I tried repotting last
year the roots were entangled but quite fragile.
Any suggestions?
Regards,
Nick
Nick Harrison Lancaster UK

dividing strelitzia reginae
 

"Nick Harrison" wrote in message
...
: Hi,
: I've a couple of these grown from seed now 7 and 8 years old.
: I believe these like to be pot bound but now the huge tangled mass of
: tuberous roots leaves hardly any room for soil in the 25litre pots.
: They are flowering at the moment (or about to) but I thought I'd try
: and divide them later in the season.
: Has anyone done this? Do you try and prise the roots apart or cut
: through them with a bread kinife or something? Looking at he leaves
: there is an obvious point of division but when I tried repotting last
: year the roots were entangled but quite fragile.
: Any suggestions?
: Regards,
: Nick
: Nick Harrison Lancaster UK

Can't answer your question, Nick, but wondered if this is their first year
to flower as I was told - on this group - that they take about 7 yrs. Mine
are about 3 yrs old, which reminds me I must repot them soon.

K

dividing strelitzia reginae
 

On Sat, 5 Apr 2003 08:41:58 +0100, "K" wrote:


"Nick Harrison" wrote in message
.. .
: Hi,
: I've a couple of these grown from seed now 7 and 8 years old.
: I believe these like to be pot bound but now the huge tangled mass of
: tuberous roots leaves hardly any room for soil in the 25litre pots.
: They are flowering at the moment (or about to) but I thought I'd try
: and divide them later in the season.
: Has anyone done this? Do you try and prise the roots apart or cut
: through them with a bread kinife or something? Looking at he leaves
: there is an obvious point of division but when I tried repotting last
: year the roots were entangled but quite fragile.
: Any suggestions?
: Regards,
: Nick
: Nick Harrison Lancaster UK

Can't answer your question, Nick, but wondered if this is their first year
to flower as I was told - on this group - that they take about 7 yrs. Mine
are about 3 yrs old, which reminds me I must repot them soon.

K

Hi,
Thinking about it, you're probably right about year of flowering
although I think mine were sooner, year 5/6. Anyway it's not the first
year of flowering more like the fifth/sixth year so my memory is
playing its tricks (becoming more frequent). They're probably more
like 11/12 years old.
I love them. One flowers more than the other 2 or 3 flowers instead of
1. I vaguely remember some discussion on the group last year about the
need/appropriateness of dividing but not how to do it. The root system
is amazing but daunting. I imagine it will set the plants back in the
short term but as I said there's barely room for soil in the pots. I
have sort of repotted them in the same size pots a couple of times in
the last four years and top dressed them in the intevening years but
there is so little soil the water runs straight through when I water
them.

Nick

Nick Harrison Lancaster UK

dividing strelitzia reginae
 

On Sat, 05 Apr 2003 09:00:45 +0100, Nick Harrison
wrote:

~On Sat, 5 Apr 2003 08:41:58 +0100, "K" wrote:
~
~
~"Nick Harrison" wrote in message
. ..
~: Hi,
~: I've a couple of these grown from seed now 7 and 8 years old.
~: I believe these like to be pot bound but now the huge tangled mass of
~: tuberous roots leaves hardly any room for soil in the 25litre pots.
~: They are flowering at the moment (or about to) but I thought I'd try
~: and divide them later in the season.
~: Has anyone done this? Do you try and prise the roots apart or cut
~: through them with a bread kinife or something? Looking at he leaves
~: there is an obvious point of division but when I tried repotting last
~: year the roots were entangled but quite fragile.
~: Any suggestions?
~: Regards,
~: Nick
~: Nick Harrison Lancaster UK
~
~Can't answer your question, Nick, but wondered if this is their first year
~to flower as I was told - on this group - that they take about 7 yrs. Mine
~are about 3 yrs old, which reminds me I must repot them soon.
~
~K
~
~Hi,
~Thinking about it, you're probably right about year of flowering
~although I think mine were sooner, year 5/6. Anyway it's not the first
~year of flowering more like the fifth/sixth year so my memory is
~playing its tricks (becoming more frequent). They're probably more
~like 11/12 years old.
~I love them. One flowers more than the other 2 or 3 flowers instead of
~1. I vaguely remember some discussion on the group last year about the
~need/appropriateness of dividing but not how to do it. The root system
~is amazing but daunting. I imagine it will set the plants back in the
~short term but as I said there's barely room for soil in the pots. I
~have sort of repotted them in the same size pots a couple of times in
~the last four years and top dressed them in the intevening years but
~there is so little soil the water runs straight through when I water
~them.
~
Hi Nick
Glad to hear they do get to flowering eventually. I have one that's now 20
months old, has only one heart and each leaf is bigger than the previous.
The last one was about 9" long and I keep on wondering what is the final
size! But at 2 months to grow each leaf it's a painfully slow process!
It's currently in an 8" pot and a warm conservatory. I once read too that
they are next to impossible to germinate and then impossible to kill : I
suspect this is because of the roots!
Anyway, I read a few months back in Amateur Gardening that you are best
doing the back to back garden fork trick to split them - Anne Swithinbank
did just that and wrote about it in her column. I may well still have it
(being a hoarder). Watch this thread as I don't know how long it will take
to find!

best wishes,

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

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