[Lanzalady]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and was wondering if anyone can advise me please?

I purchased a potted Petrea Volubilis around three months ago.  It was about 5ft tall and probably had about 10 leaves on it.  I was advised by the garden centre to plant it within 3 months.  While it was in the pot I was told to water it every 2 days and once in the ground I should water it every 4 days or so and feed it twice a year.

So, it started growing and within a few weeks it had loads of leaves and loads of buds.  I was so chuffed.

Then, about 5/6 weeks ago I put it in the ground.  I filled the hole with water, let it drain away and then filled it with compost.  I took the plant from the pot and put it straight into the ground.  Fed it, watered it and up until two weeks ago I'd been watering it every four days.

For the first few days it continued to grow.  Suddenly it stopped and has not grown/changed since.  That was about 6 weeks ago.  The plant still looks healthy.  There's no sign of it dying, there are loads of buds on it and leaves that had just sprouted -  but it's just stopped!

I went back to the garden centre and someone else told me I should water it every other day and feed it once a week...every week....forever.....  Completely different to the first guy who said water it every 4 days and feed it twice a year.  Also, the first guy told me only one plant was needed. The second person told me I needed two plants.

So now I don't know what to do and I really want to do well by this plant. 

The plant faces south/southwest and the plan is to grow it up the house wall and then to completely cover my pergola which is appx 3.9sq.  I live in Lanzarote.

I'm sorry for such a long winded post, especially as it's my first, but I was wondering if you good people could shed any light on what's going on and what I can do to help this plant please?

Thank you all so much in advance.

[Caroline]

How hot is it in Lanzarote at the moment? Your Petrea volubilis may just have decided to take a summer break....

[Trevor Australis]

It's too cold to grow Petrea volubilis where I live but on the Adelaide Plains below us it can be grown tho' it is deciduous in winter and cold sensitive too. Could it be that your plant is responding to cooling weather. YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT NEED TWO OF THEM. I'd suggest it does not need the heavy watering and feeding suggested by the second nursery sales-person.

[Alice]

Lanzalady, I would also say it is nearing the end of its actively growing season for this year.
The every other day watering and weekly feeding sound ridiculous. I am sure you would notice fairly quickly if you were not giving it enough water - once every four days sounds more than enough.
There has been discussion on P. volubilis on this forum in the past. Do try a search if you have not already done so. You might get some interesting tips.

[John J]

Alice is right. If you search for P volubilis in the small window at the top right of the Climbers page you'll find several postings with lots of info. Good luck with your plant.

[David Bracey]

Sounds as though your plant is suffering from shock...to much , too little water, too much heat etc. Make a check list and see if you can spot any major differences.

rule of thumb with watering, although is rarely followed is to water after the event ie later in the day.  It is very easy for these salesmen to advise more of this and more of that.  That is what they are there for...to sell.  Why do we "fill planting holes with compost"?  never happens naturally and plants grow quite well!

[Lanzalady]

How hot is it in Lanzarote at the moment? Your Petrea volubilis may just have decided to take a summer break....

Hi there.  It's hot here at the moment and has been, mostly for months.  We do have some days where it's cloudy and cooler but mostly it's between 25-30 degrees I'd guess.  And windy!!! ;-)


I hope it's just on a break. You think it may just start growing again on its own?  What's the Max amount of time a break would go on for?

Thank you so much for your reply.

Regards

[Lanzalady]

It's too cold to grow Petrea volubilis where I live but on the Adelaide Plains below us it can be grown tho' it is deciduous in winter and cold sensitive too. Could it be that your plant is responding to cooling weather. YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT NEED TWO OF THEM. I'd suggest it does not need the heavy watering and feeding suggested by the second nursery sales-person.

Hi there. thanks for replying.
I originally wanted Wisteria but was told, by several people at the garden centre, that it doesn't grow in Lanzarote due to there being no cold snap.  We're only 70 miles off the coast of North Africa so we have a great temperature for most of the year.  From December/January the temp does drop to about 18/20 through the day and cooler during the night but no freezes or anywhere near that. We have some rain February/march. It's an arid landscape with no grass - except on a golf course and even then it's yellowed in places.

It's funny but the original guy seemed to know what he was talking about - although I'm not at all green fingered so wouldn't really know. I just trusted what he said. 

Thank you.

[Lanzalady]

Lanzalady, I would also say it is nearing the end of its actively growing season for this year.
The every other day watering and weekly feeding sound ridiculous. I am sure you would notice fairly quickly if you were not giving it enough water - once every four days sounds more than enough.
There has been discussion on P. volubilis on this forum in the past. Do try a search if you have not already done so. You might get some interesting tips.

Thank you Alice,

I did gave a quick look but I arrived at one discussion about PV and decided to register as my question was quite specific. 

I really don't know much about gardening but I knew that feed should only be given periodically so when she said every week and water every other day I was really surprised.  It's very dry in Lanzarote, but I did read somewhere that Petrea Volubilis is quite happy with dry conditions, so when she said every other day.....

Anyway I'll look some more for discussions on Petrea Volubilis.

Thank you.

[Lanzalady]

Alice is right. If you search for P volubilis in the small window at the top right of the Climbers page you'll find several postings with lots of info. Good luck with your plant.

Thank you. I'll definitely do that.
:-)

[Lanzalady]

Sounds as though your plant is suffering from shock...to much , too little water, too much heat etc. Make a check list and see if you can spot any major differences.

rule of thumb with watering, although is rarely followed is to water after the event ie later in the day.  It is very easy for these salesmen to advise more of this and more of that.  That is what they are there for...to sell.  Why do we "fill planting holes with compost"?  never happens naturally and plants grow quite well!

Thanks David.

I wondered if the plant was in shock but I figured if it's in shock, surely it would loose some leaves, or droop or give some visible sign of deterioration.  Plus, it did continue to grow for about three days after I planted it.  I'd found that a bud would take a good week to grow but once those leave popped out they were growing really fast and I could see a difference not only over night, but from getting up that morning to the sun going down.  I was amazed how fast it was growing and then on the 4th day... No change. 

I watered it after planting, but it was immediately afterwards. 

As far as the compost is concerned, the original guy told me I'd need to do that and I assumed it was to help give the plant the best possible chance...

Thank you for your thoughts.

[pamela]

I think your Petrea is perfectly fine.  It is resting because you in the Canaries like us in the Costa Blanca have had no rain for 7??months.  I have many small seedlings of Pv in my garden and they have all stopped growing like many other plants. I also bought and planted in Feb a mature plant like yours around 5ft.  It put on growth after a month and lovely new leaves arrived (about 6 or so) and its now stopped.  Its 'aestivating' as plants do quite normally in a mediterranean climate ( I know you are not in the med but your conditions are hugely similar to the Costa Blanca.  Do not fertilize it until its cooler in Oct.  Just keep the soil around it dampish because its newly planted but also let it dry out a little for a day or two. One of my all time favourite plants. Just remember generally it is a slow grower....

[Lanzalady]

I think your Petrea is perfectly fine.  It is resting because you in the Canaries like us in the Costa Blanca have had no rain for 7??months.  I have many small seedlings of Pv in my garden and they have all stopped growing like many other plants. I also bought and planted in Feb a mature plant like yours around 5ft.  It put on growth after a month and lovely new leaves arrived (about 6 or so) and its now stopped.  Its 'aestivating' as plants do quite normally in a mediterranean climate ( I know you are not in the med but your conditions are hugely similar to the Costa Blanca.  Do not fertilize it until its cooler in Oct.  Just keep the soil around it dampish because its newly planted but also let it dry out a little for a day or two. One of my all time favourite plants. Just remember generally it is a slow grower....

Thank you Pamela.  I am relieved.  So maybe I should waster it every 3 days rather than 4?

Thanks :-)

[pamela]

I think you have to monitor it on a daily basis while it is young. If you are having lots of hot dry winds it will need more water than if there is no wind.  Wind is the scourge of new plants IMHO, certainly here on the Peninsula.  I would agree with other posters that garden centres in Spain often give incorrect information and I think one needs to read as much as you are able on the internet.  The Canary Islands have very specific flora one such plant I grow which is endemic to the Islands is Senecio kleinia
It is such an interesting plant and I am sure it will do well.  Another excellent plant although not native to the Canaries is Echium candicans

[Lanzalady]

I think you have to monitor it on a daily basis while it is young. If you are having lots of hot dry winds it will need more water than if there is no wind.  Wind is the scourge of new plants IMHO, certainly here on the Peninsula.  I would agree with other posters that garden centres in Spain often give incorrect information and I think one needs to read as much as you are able on the internet.  The Canary Islands have very specific flora one such plant I grow which is endemic to the Islands is Senecio kleinia
It is such an interesting plant and I am sure it will do well.  Another excellent plant although not native to the Canaries is Echium candicans

Thanks Pamela.

I do more than monitor it....I talk to it haha.

I don't know the other two you've mentioned hut I'll look them up.

Thanks again.