November 22, 2024

1 thought on “Growing Lavender in the Tropics

  1. Km 12-5 Carretera Sur, Managua, Nicaragua: as tropical as it can get.
    Multiple experiences with:
    Provence lavender: although 15 plants reached 20cm height, I killed them all by adding fertilizaer. NO, NO, NO.
    Then tried Spike in June ´19 with excellent results. The first plant just bloomed. Less than a year. I think it is too early and probably due to the inconsiderate use of foliar fertilizer with phytohormones (carelessness). The flower spike is 5 rows of 8 flowers. 2 flowers on each row have bloomed. No fragance yet.
    Now dealing with several hundreds of Vera, Munstead and Rosea and also Dentata. All coming along fine in individual pots and drip irrigation. Dentata, Munstead and Rosea need shading. Skype and Vera do not seem to care.
    For soil, I used initially 60% compost, 10% pouzzolane, 10% limestone, 10% coffee husks and 10% pumice. Still getting fungus attacks. So, switched to 40% compost, 20% pouzzolane, 10% limestone, 10% sandy soil, 10% pumice and 10% coffee husks. Seems to be much better but not enough data points.
    To fight fungus, I am using copper sulfate and Mancozeb, straight to the roots, not on the leaves. But this remedy has not scientific base. It happens to rescue all the plants that were attacked, but I do not know what did what… Just empiric.
    For Vera (10,000 seeds) tried 28, 42 and 55 days of refrigeration. The best germination rate was at 42 days, with 14% (24% for Munstead and Rosea), the lowest was 55 days.

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