Post by snapperhead51 on Oct 19, 2015 19:42:55 GMT -5
There have been some interesting tuber mixes in pots , I have seen over the years on photos forum and other places, , the mix should be keep to a very easy simple method, as most tubers live in very poor sandy loam soils,or clay based depending where they are from .
For a very basic mix, just 60% sand and 40% Canadian peat , sand can be any thing from fine to course , and peat what ever you have on hand We use TE-EM find it good for our conditions .
You can add if you wish fine to medium perlite ,just means you need to water more, clay baked balls as a filler,( natural ph ) , or any lava rock washed , don't need a lot it just helps the sand peat mix from going hard or to firm .
keep it simple and results will be much better, they like cooler conditions, not minus Temps, love some winter sun light , gives them colour, , they hibernate in summer, and seed is hot stratified in temps up to 30 to 45 c , in full sun helps , this as it is naturally way here in AU for min of 4 to 5 months , our tuber season is from early march to late early Nov , then as the temps get to 20 to 30 c they go into hibernation mode all top growth dies off and the tubes grows under ground and can reproduce other tuber's, depending on what specie it is ,many just for another signal tuber .
Seed germinates usually after some soaking rain appears in late Fed early March , and the seed do not need to be put under ground , will germinate from sitting on top of mix quite easily . the hard case seed is very hardy and can be in the wild on top of the soil for 4 to 6 years in drought conditions and a soaking rain in winter will germinate.
so no cold strat for AU tuber seed at all
keep mix simple ,use soak trays to keep pot moist , use large pots NOT small ones as the tubes like to grow down-ward quickly to escape the summer heat and keep a little moist over summer if they can or at least deep enough to say cooler .
hope this mite be helpful
john
For a very basic mix, just 60% sand and 40% Canadian peat , sand can be any thing from fine to course , and peat what ever you have on hand We use TE-EM find it good for our conditions .
You can add if you wish fine to medium perlite ,just means you need to water more, clay baked balls as a filler,( natural ph ) , or any lava rock washed , don't need a lot it just helps the sand peat mix from going hard or to firm .
keep it simple and results will be much better, they like cooler conditions, not minus Temps, love some winter sun light , gives them colour, , they hibernate in summer, and seed is hot stratified in temps up to 30 to 45 c , in full sun helps , this as it is naturally way here in AU for min of 4 to 5 months , our tuber season is from early march to late early Nov , then as the temps get to 20 to 30 c they go into hibernation mode all top growth dies off and the tubes grows under ground and can reproduce other tuber's, depending on what specie it is ,many just for another signal tuber .
Seed germinates usually after some soaking rain appears in late Fed early March , and the seed do not need to be put under ground , will germinate from sitting on top of mix quite easily . the hard case seed is very hardy and can be in the wild on top of the soil for 4 to 6 years in drought conditions and a soaking rain in winter will germinate.
so no cold strat for AU tuber seed at all
keep mix simple ,use soak trays to keep pot moist , use large pots NOT small ones as the tubes like to grow down-ward quickly to escape the summer heat and keep a little moist over summer if they can or at least deep enough to say cooler .
hope this mite be helpful
john