gunnera
The following thread was started by Donald on January 03, 2007 at 4:12 am PST
I was about to post my own gunnera topic. I first panted mine (in retrospect) in a good spot. I thought it may have been getting too much sun, so I moved it to 98% shade. It pretty much withered after the walnut leaves filled in above the plant in early June. It now looks healthy and seems to be swelling over the winter. I will be moving it back to it’s original spot, and this time I will provide it daily water. I was wondering if anyone have some recommendations as to when is the best time to dig it up. Last time I did, it was in early March. It did relatively well, but it haden’t yet become deeply rooted, and we did have a nice spring.
Any experiences you could share would be appreciated. This was my first introduction to tropical plants, and I would like to see it succeed.
The above followup was added by Cody on January 03, 2007 at 9:42 pm PST.
if the walnut was a black walnut (as oppossed to the common english walnut) your gunnera may have been having problems with toxic materials naturally secreted by the black walnut which is a natural way of getting rid of competing vegetation. some plants are more susceptable than others, am not sure of gunnera's status in that respect. unless you are in the coastal fog zone, at least half shade (in the afternoon preferably) is desirable. it needs a cool, wind sheltered place with moist soil---most especially in the summer. here on the coast, right now would probably be a good time for transplanting, but inland, i would think that it would be best to wait until later on as the chance of heavy frost hopefully diminishes---mulch heavily around the base of the plant in its new location and prepared to give extra moisture if we have any dry spells in spring. good luck. (here (oregon coast---shore acres state park), they self-sow almost everywhere and are almost "weeds"!!!!)
The above followup was added by georgeinbandon,oregon on January 04, 2007 at 5:54 am PST.
Gunneras are NEEDY plants. They love moisture all the time. They love very rich soil. The one in the picture is only on its second year i had it in the ground from the nursery. I planted it in a pile of completely composted leaves, chicken poop, seaweed, kitchen scraps, mixed in some peat moss, then i added a lot of cedar grove compost over the top of that. They cannot take hot dry days. they need to be hosed down daily when its warm, and twice a day when its really hot. If their leaves aren't standing up and they have plenty of water then they need more fertilizer and then they will stand up again. If they run low on water their leaves will collapse. They are water hogs, hippos maybe. If you notice, their leaves are shaped to catch water and pour it back to the center of the plant. The leaves in the picture were over six feet across. They don't like to freeze either, so cover them if its going to frost and cover them really well if its going to freeze hard. They only grow leaves for one flush in the spring. If those leaves get a frost or dry out (turn brown) thats what your plant will look like for the rest of that year. They can be in full sun, but for lusher looking bigger leaves give them more shade. The one in the picture had morning sun and evening sun but was in shade for the main part of the day. I love gunneras. Good luck.
The above followup was added by Donald on January 04, 2007 at 8:23 am PST.