I have, as set out in earlier posts, six potted Strelitzia Reginae that are doing very well. Of course they would not survive a Vancouver winter outdoors so they go into my tiny greenhouse each fall. I try to keep it as cool as possible - I have some hanging cacti there too - and the temperature never exceeds 60F. Most of the time it is around 55-60F. That is during the daytime; I don't know what it is at 4 am but I suspect that it is closer to 50F. It is well-lit. My problem is the exact opposite of many peoples': they love the greenhouse's environment so much that they bloom very early. They are about to start blooming within the next few weeks. Unfortunately they have a fairly short blooming time and so they will have finished blooming by the time the weather is warm enough for me to put them outside for everyone else to see. (In fact one of my cacti is about to bloom - but that will be for a later post, I guess.) I would love to prevent them from blooming so early. Failing that, I would love to extend their blooming period. But I do not know how to achieve either result. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Hi there, I don't know if bloom time can be extended to be a great deal more than what the plant is naturally encoded to do. Temperature and daylight hours (or technically darkness hours) are usually what tell a plant when to bloom. In my personal understanding, late winter early spring is the typical time for this plant to bloom. I have heard they may bloom a little longer (or perhaps a second flush) if they are grown in ideal conditions (which I believe is a lot of sun (over 6 hours) and a lot of water and temperatures above 15C, and probably in the ground where it is hardy). So, I don't think there is a lot that can be done this year. One suggestion I might have is to keep them a little more stressed in the winter? Maybe water less? If they're getting tons of water, its easier to flower.
I water them in minimal amounts and very infrequently throughout the winter so that can't help. I guess that mother nature is just hard to budge.
