Heliconia jacquinii hardiness

[dimitris]

I just receive two rhizomes of heliconia jacquinii and i would like to ask you some more info about hardiness and cultivation , i did a liltle search on the internet but i didn ' t find much info except of that is a natural hybrid of bihai & caribaea .

I am in zone 9b and trying two years now to grow heliconias with no success .

There is anyone having success with heliconias in zone 9b as potted plants or in the ground ?

Any advise will be appreciated !

[exoticatropicals]

Hey There-

I've been growing heliconia here in Melbourne Beach, FL (zone 9b/10) in the ground (and potted) for about 11 years now. I've learned alot of do's and don'ts.

Jacquinii should do fine for you, so long as you have the water, heat and humidity. It blooms in the ground here.

Indeed the bihai x carib crosses do better than the caribs here- often better than the bihais.. hybrids are funny that way.

My advice is to use a very rich, yet draining soil. I mix sandy topsoil with composted manure and finely chopped pine mulch- alternately you can use perlite or tiny pebbles even.

But first get your rhizomes to root by keeping in a small pot, and then keep them in a hot sunny spot and only water lightly when it drys out. As leaves appear you can water more. Once busting out of the pot with roots, you can go to the ground or pot up.

Jacquinii is going to want plenty of sun to bloom. When its hot and humid, feed it often and give it water, but also let it get a little dry/dryish moist in between.

For fertilizer, use a time release like Dynamite or Osmocote and also fertlize with liquid like miracle grow (spray entire plant and drench soil)

They also like fish emulsion.

If you have it in too much shade, you may not get the blooms as easily.

When it gets colder, keep the soil on the dry side... if there has been a cold snap, stop watering and let the rain take over until the warm season.

Check out my website for some heliconia pics:

http://www.ExoticaTropicals.com

[kahili]

I have been growing heliconias in containers for years. I have to bring them in for the winter though, and they will hold ok during that time, and sometimes bloom depending on how much sun they get (whether in a greenhouse-more sun,or the house-less sun). I have found that you definitely get more blooms with heliconias that produce smaller blooms (psittacorums , sharonii, etc). I have a few of those at this minute that are full of blooms and have been blooming all summer.

I left a H. schiedeana in the ground last winter and it actually came back this spring! I was shocked-I had left it in the ground thinking it would just die (I had backups). We had a very warm winter last year. Heck-I had bananas forming in April from my groves that had never died back all the way-thats how warm it was.

[dimitris]

@ ExoticaTropicals

Thank you very much for the advices , i will follow them and see how it turns !

You have a fantastic garden there , with lots of grwat plants !

Are those heliconias flowered in those small pots ? Or did you dig them up from the ground when flowers apear and potted them ? They are great especially rostratas !

@ Kahili

I d love to see some photos of your flowered heliconias !

I have import one stricta sharonii plant from Thailand this summer , no rhizome but the whole plant in its pot with the soil and even if i had one stem flowered after that nothing . It produce two shoots but they refuse to grow !

My jacquinii rhizomes haven't grow any new shoot yet and i am worried because we are in autumn now and i want all of my heliconias gain some size to remain alive from the winter .

[bahia]

Dmitri, I don't know whether your local conditions for a zone 9b climate are hot humid rainy summers or milder summer dry with rainy winters. My northern California coastal location favors the more cool growing southern Mexico cloud forest species such as schiedeana, latispatha, auranticum and matthiaseae as doing the best here under cool summer conditions and occassional light frosts in winter. Only the aurantiacum has failed to ever bloom, the others all do so easily. In my opinion, the matthiaseae is the showiest of the lot in bloom. I haven't tried the more tropical species or hybrids here as we seldom get any real heat, and night temps even in summer average around 55°f, and usually between 35 to 40°f in the month of January. All of the Heliconia species I grow here in Berkeley continue to push new foliage in winter. The schiedeana is probably the cold hardiest in general and typically blooms on stalks that are 2 or 3 years old. The dwarfer H. psittacorum cultivars hate our cool summer nights, and fail to grow even in summer. I've tried H. angusta outdoors also, but it only bloomed for me when grown as a houseplant on an enclosed sunporch, and was a weak grower outdoors due to our lack of summer heat.

[kahili]

Bahia has a very good point about the psittacorums and the heat/humidity. We have both in abundance in the summer and the heliconias love it. I am not sure why the Sharonii isn't growing-my grows like crazy in the summer and I have probably divided it 5 times over the past 6 years. I keep it in mostly sun in the summer, and I use a good slow release fert on it in the spring that lasts all summer and I water it alot if its in the container (I stick some in the ground for the summer). I do keep it dryer in the winter.

I will try to get some pictures for you-I need to take pictures of all the yard as it looks good right now and there are a lot of tropicals.

[dimitris]

Our climate is Mediterranean so we have hot - dry summers and cold - rainy winters , and some occasional frost for a few hours only , we have humidity on average 50%-60% all year round cause i am living 20 meters from the sea but only during the night and early morning , the midday though is real dry in the summer .

[gsytch]

I suspect the persistent, long cool rainy season is a problem for your Heliconias. You might try a warmer, sheltered area where the sun may create a hot spot. Otherwise, FERTILIZE LIKE CRAZY and lots of nitrogen..

[Brian Bruning]

I live in Oakland CA (zone 10/cool summer) or Sunset zone 16 on a hillslope in the Maxwell Park section. I'm looking for hardy Heliconias to plant in my yard. I already have H. schiediana, tortulosa and lost my bourgeana to some idiot workers some years back. I'm looking for the Desert to Jungle (Gary Hammer) clone of H. bourgeana, H. spissa Mexican Red or Guatamala yellow or any other Heliconia that I can grow here in Oakland. I'm Brian 510-798-4252.

[Laisla87]

I grow Jaquinii in my garden at 33 degrees south (warm temperate climate). I bought mine 11 months ago as a small plant that I could fit in a suitcase. I planted it out in Autumn and and now it is 2m tall, multi-stemmed and very large. This would definitely grow for you but in a Mediterrean climate you have to keep it drier in winter and protect it from winds. Out of all my heliconias, this one has proven to be the most vigorous so far.