I planted a bed of Livingstone daisies a couple of months ago, having dug
and enriched the soil. The plants have grown really well - I've never seen
such healthy-looking mesembryanthemums - only fly in the ointment is not
one of them has yet produced a single flower. Any ideas what's going on
here?

Andy

--
spargeatbtinternetdotcom

Life begins at kilofortnight

"Andy Spragg" wrote ...
I planted a bed of Livingstone daisies a couple of months ago, having dug
and enriched the soil. The plants have grown really well - I've never seen
such healthy-looking mesembryanthemums - only fly in the ointment is not
one of them has yet produced a single flower. Any ideas what's going on
here?

Lack of sun.?

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:46:26 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

"Andy Spragg" wrote ...
I planted a bed of Livingstone daisies a couple of months ago, having dug
and enriched the soil. The plants have grown really well - I've never seen
such healthy-looking mesembryanthemums - only fly in the ointment is not
one of them has yet produced a single flower. Any ideas what's going on
here?

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.

Andy

--
spargeatbtinternetdotcom

Life begins at kilofortnight

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.

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

--
spargeatbtinternetdotcom

snip
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

sheds are magic places are they not, you never know what useful things you
will find in them :-)

kate

Andy Spragg writes
On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:46:26 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

"Andy Spragg" wrote ...
I planted a bed of Livingstone daisies a couple of months ago, having dug
and enriched the soil. The plants have grown really well - I've never seen
such healthy-looking mesembryanthemums - only fly in the ointment is not
one of them has yet produced a single flower. Any ideas what's going on
here?

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.

Where the heck do you live? Rest of us haven't seen sun for weeks ;-)
--
Kay

On Jun 24, 3:48 pm, K wrote:

Where the heck do you live? Rest of us haven't seen sun for weeks ;-)
--

At the moment is is tipping down, I left the wheelbarrow out last
night, it now resembles a water butt.

Judith

On Jun 24, 4:53 pm, Martin wrote:
Here too


Where are you Martin?

Judith

On Jun 24, 5:00 pm, Martin wrote:

Back on the other side of the North Sea.
There appears to be no end of the rain in sight.http://www.meteox.nl/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur

Are you in France or UK?

I'm in the U.K. at the moment, East Anglia but I am making a flying
visit to France on Saturday as my husband is there at the moment
supervising a barn conversion.

I can't get into the garden today so I am having a total day off in
preparation for an enormously busy week starting early tomorrow
morning. It's lovely being able to play on the computer for so long,
I envy people who can post almost all day, where do they get the
time??? Maybe they are retired, roll on retirement.

Judith

The message
from Martin contains these words:

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:57:51 -0700, "
wrote:

On Jun 24, 4:53 pm, Martin wrote:
Here too


Where are you Martin?

Back on the other side of the North Sea.
There appears to be no end of the rain in sight.
http://www.meteox.nl/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur

Are you in France or UK?

Oooo, I like that link! Can you get it in English please?

--
Beryl

Winsford, Cheshire

The message
from Martin contains these words:

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:06:54 +0100, Beryl Harwood
wrote:

The message
from Martin contains these words:

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:57:51 -0700, "
wrote:

On Jun 24, 4:53 pm, Martin wrote:
Here too


Where are you Martin?

Back on the other side of the North Sea.
There appears to be no end of the rain in sight.
http://www.meteox.nl/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur

Are you in France or UK?

Oooo, I like that link! Can you get it in English please?

You could have clicked on the flag or you can use this

http://www.meteox.co.uk/h.aspx?r=&ja...soort=loop1uur

It shows actual rainfall. It is not a forecast.

Thanks, it is interesting though and you can see what is heading your way!!
Beryl

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:48:57 +0100, K wrote:

Andy Spragg writes
On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:46:26 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

"Andy Spragg" wrote ...
I planted a bed of Livingstone daisies a couple of months ago, having dug
and enriched the soil. The plants have grown really well - I've never seen
such healthy-looking mesembryanthemums - only fly in the ointment is not
one of them has yet produced a single flower. Any ideas what's going on
here?

I think that the answer here may be the fact that you have made the
soil too rich. Too much richness in the soil gives lots of leaf
growth and fewer flowers. What ever you do, don't feed them any more.


Pam in Bristol

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:51:20 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:48:57 +0100, K wrote:

Andy Spragg writes
On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:46:26 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

"Andy Spragg" wrote ...
I planted a bed of Livingstone daisies a couple of months ago, having dug
and enriched the soil. The plants have grown really well - I've never seen
such healthy-looking mesembryanthemums - only fly in the ointment is not
one of them has yet produced a single flower. Any ideas what's going on
here?

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.

Where the heck do you live? Rest of us haven't seen sun for weeks ;-)

Hello, K. Still in High Wycombe, about a mile down the road from the house
that you saw a few years ago. If you are the K I think you are, that is.

This is the group for blighted gardeners, who let Andy in?

Sorry, folks, I seem to have ruffled a few feathers by my apparent
implication that we have been getting a few hours sun every morning. What I
in fact meant was that of the hours available to my mesems, sunshine,
soaking up for the use of, only the first three or four are actually
available. After that the house gets in the way, even if non-stop rain
doesn't.

So you see, I'm not trying to cock any snooks. Can I stay and play for a
bit now?

Andy

--
spargeatbtinternetdotcom

Look after the sins of write-commission,
and the sins of read-omission will take care of themselves.

These plants require a sandy soil to flower best. If you enriched the soil with a humus rich substance this is probably the reason they are growing well without flowering.

I have a bed of them covered in flowers, planted in sandy soil.