Monsoon is here, and guess what, the tuberoses in my
garden are blooming. And if you have visited this blog previously, and have by
any chance read some of my previous posts, particularly, those about the
tuberoses, you will know for sure that tuberoses are amongst one of my
favourite flowering plants in my garden, even though, they bloom once a year,
just for a month, and they lay dormant in the pots for the rest of the eleven
months, thereby covering up the precious space, and the limited resources - the
soil, water, and sun, but this one month of blooms is what makes me keep these
alive for the entire year, just for those couple of sticks of white heavily
fragrant blooms, that can make up anyone's evening stroll in the garden, an
exceptionally fragrant experience.
That said, as with all the plants, tuberoses too need
some level of care, even though these are among the plants that need the least
care and will still give you a very good outcome. What tuberoses need is not
much of hard work, but just a little care. Since these are bulbous plants,
tuberoses tend to multiply exceptionally fast. I have a strong belief that if I
get a single tuberose bulb, and sow in a small piece of land, tuberoses can
very well take over the entire piece of land in just two years. Such
extraordinary is it's propagation ability. Now since I have very limited space
on my rooftop, that too is being shared by a number of other plants, I have
containers, pots, and a number of grow bags to house my plants in, which means
that I have to be on my toes all the time to get rid of plants that have died,
or do something about those which have overgrown their container.
And, when it comes to tuberoses, as I have already
told you, they multiply very fast, and thus, a pot that I plant a tuberose bulb
in, will be full of numerous tuberoses by the end of a year, and hence I have
to make sure that I get rid of the numerous small bulbs to let a few stronger
ones grow better, and this was what this blogpost is all about. This year
around, being fed up with numerous pots and grow bags with small tuberose
plants, further aggravated by the fact that last blooming season, all I got was
just one tuberose stick blooming, which meant there was a lot wrong with the way
I was handling them. The tuberoses multiplied very fast and congested the
limited space of the pot or the grow bag within no time, and when congested in
limited space and resources, all my tuberose plants had been showing stunted
growth, even when I was supplying them with enough nutrients in the form of vermi
compost.
This time around, while the winter was fast
diminishing and the temperature started increasing, I decided it was time to
sow the tuberoses again, and this is how it's done.
1. Start by identifying the containers with a dense
growth of tuberoses. a dense growth in a limited space means that gradually
your plants will be smaller, and the flowers will also be smaller than
expected. The uprooting and re-planting is normally done after the danger of
frost has passed by. Since tuberoses bloom around monsoon, it is relatively
safer to uproot them right after they finish blooming, however, since the
winter season follows monsoon, it's good that you let the plants go through the
winter, the way they are. Also, there are sometimes when tuberoses are seen to
be blooming in the peak winter months, so, that is also one reason why I am
suggesting the uprooting to be done after the winter season is over.
2. Let the containers dry for a couple of days. Now
there's no definite number of days I would suggest you do not water the
containers, since, this entirely depends on the weather conditions in your
area. This will ensure that no new growth takes place, since after uprooting, most
of these will die.
3. Now carefully
start digging the soil in the container, taking care that you don't damage the
bulbs. And, don't worry, even if you do happen to damage a few, you still have
a lot of them, but still, try to do this carefully.
4. Once out, you will most probably see something
like the above image. Roots of the plants tend to create a nest like structure
around the soil, taking shape of the vessel, since they don't get a way to
expand further. This is also a reason for the stunted growth of the plants in
containers. So, I really suggest people who have container gardens to try and
remove roots of their old plants, once in every two to three years, however
this needs to be done with caution, as there's a huge risk of killing the plant.
5. Carefully remove
the soil from the bulbs, you can take help of your gardening tools, though, I
prefer doing this with my bare hands. This way, there's a less chance of damage
to the bulbs. You can also use a stream of water to get rid of the soil.
6. Once cleaned, you
will have something like the image above. You can now see how tuberoses
propagate, and this is something extraordinary. One mother bulb gives rise to
so many daughter bulbs, which, again will propagate to become more bulbs.
7. Once you've got
everything out of soil, it's time to choose. Most medium to large sized bulbs
are good enough to be sown. the smaller bulbs, once separated from the mother
plant will die, so you have to take a decision in this. you can choose to give
those away to a neighbour, and help spread the tuberose fragrance around your
home.
8. Once you have
separated the medium to large bulbs, you can let them dry for a couple of more
days before sowing them again in the soil. This way, you will have a new and
fresh crop of tuberoses.
For a good growth
well before the blooming season, I suggest this operation to be done atleast
four to six months before the expected blooming season of tuberoses in the kind
of weather and soil conditions in your area. If you are not sure about this,
you can try taking a look at the gift shops and vendors selling flower
bouquets, and this will give you a rough idea about the blooming season of most
seasonal flowers, tuberoses being one of those.
I being an emotionally fool gardener, didn't want to
let even the small bulbs die and so, after removing couple of those I had to
plant separately, I dumped them all in another bag full of soil, and within a
fortnight, I had the bag full of lush green leaf spikes.
Since this is monsoon season, and I have the tuberoses
blooming, yes, even the newer ones, of the single and double blooming variety
are blooming, so, the upcoming post, in the next will be all about these
blooming tuberoses. Till then, HAPPY GARDENING!
One of my favorites, too! I wish they multiplied like that here but since we only get about three months of hot weather here they can be slow.
ReplyDeleteThat's bad, but then everyone can't get everything. :) There are a lot of things exclusive to your region, and then there are some things that are exclusive to my region, and thus region's specialities come up. :D and by the way, thanks for stopping by.
DeleteThe images are very beautiful. Gardening is a good hobby. Thanks for uploading the images and sharing the post with us. Godrej Service Centers in Chennai
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the method.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Want to know if I cut the stick off from the plant will a new stick grow in its place again?
ReplyDeleteSorry, tuberoses don't work that way. They multiply in the roots, giving birth to new bulbs while they grow. That's the reason they make for beautiful cut flowers. The stems can be cut away once the buds develop properly, and can be placed in bunches in a glass vase full of water, and then the blooms can be enjoyed over a period of days.
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