Turbina [=Rivea] corymbosa cultivation

[mutant]

Unlike Ipomoea and Argyreia with which I had relative 'success' so far, I have found Turbina [Rivea] corymbosa to be somewhat difficult to cultivate.

The seeds are rather easy to germinate if nicked and soaked, but my plants are rather slow to grow and I can't make them thrive.

Do they need big container? They also 'sleep' in winter, like Argyreia? Maybe spidermites damage this plant too much? Does it like humidity? I got a rather hot and dry climate, especially in the summer. It really likes full sun, or part shade??

In any way, 3 of my plants are still alive in pot and in soil and seem to wake up at last.

Any opinions, suggestions?

EDIT: Things eventually went fine, scroll down the topic to see the growlog

Edited January 27, 2010 by mutant

[Vertmorpheus]

I have three riveas, two in pots, on in ground, all the same age... no matter how much pampering the potted ones get, theyd be lucky to be 1/30th the size of the in ground one, no flower buds yet despite the in ground one being totally covered in em. maybe with some grow bags or something, but I reckon they seem happiest when they can run roots pretty close to the surface but over a fairly wide area. hawaiian seems happier in a large pot, but even then its hardly the the cheery camper I wish it was.

My rivea lives on a mix of very rich garden bed, chook poo, horse poo, native wood ash, urine, wattle slash, kelp mix and good intentions, and hasn't looked back..the in ground one that is... potted ones are in an organic base but getting occasional doses of Peters Professional bloom booster, to no avail...they still just kind of suck. If nothing else, theyll be nicely ready to go into the ground themselves, next season muwhawha.

Otherwise, mine gets mostly full sun cept for the very middle of the day, likes increased humidity, is trellised to about 2 metres up, and 4 or 5 metres across, and has no complaints. Nothing eats it but me, haha.

I did have some spidermite issues early on, dunking plants in a mix of pyrethrum and kelp emulsion seemed to fix it, and it only really fucked with the first few sets of leaves anyway. Certainly better if they dont get spider, but not the end of the world either.

Otherwise, anytime my in ground one had a runner poking out more than a couple feet from the main plant mass, it was tip pruned to encourage lateral growth, which is where the flowers are... I see a lot of pics online of lovely riveas trained along some french guys front porch, etc, but theyre all lanky runners and no lats... otherwise flowering seems to be climatic and apparently connected with the wet rainy warm end of summer turning into cooler drier winter time... photoperiod is meant to make no difference... anyways, as the rain stopped and it got colder around here, I kept up the occasional leaf misting, to cool it down...seems to be helping.

Seems the best thing is to only grow em in climatically sensible places to start with... people try growing em in say England and wonder why they just dont act the same as they do in say, Jamaica.

What im wondering is, will doping my plant with extra carbs boost the growth of fungal residents? Time to restock molasses methinks...

VM

btw here its the other way round, my hawaiian has never been too happy with me but the rivea, never looked back.

[mutant]

Thanks for prompt and detailed reply

[kadakuda]

mine are in full sun, but wilt at the hint of dry [completely] soil and if kept dry for only a couple days drop leaves like mad.

[mutant]

Here are my two Turbinas, side by side, some days ago. They were transplanted recently. In the same spot I had a heavenly blue Ipomoea [the one in my avatar] from July to November, which did very well.

They are starting their climbing habit and seem quite happy. I use nicotine insecticide and keep an eye on greenflies to protect the tender climbing vines. Nicotine seems to work with this plant, as well as Argyreia. The plan is, if they manage to climb a bit more up those sticks, they will be reaching a good sun-spot.

[kadakuda]

looking good bro! once they start, they really grow FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you only got 2 going? i got some seeds from my plant. i only have a few left but if you want a few (only like 5 lol) i can send you some, diversify your bloodlines!

I think greece is a great climate for them!

[mutant]

I already got numerous seeds left, the two in soil are doing great and I also put my last one which was in a big pot also in soil

~ but we should be doing some trade sometime soon, sure ;)

[kadakuda]

free bro. if your interested just let me know. i dont have many and sowed most myself, but if you want some different ones from yours, just say.

[mutant]

thanks for the offer... I will let you know friend

[Vertmorpheus]

Cheers ears, those flowers seem a lil less ruffly than mine? I'm still keen to find out why JCU in TSV says they have a red flowered rivea... are some of us growing hybrids with some other white MG and dont know it? Those flowers also seem a touch pointier...

VM

Edited August 3, 2008 by Vertmorpheus

[apothecary]

Can't see your pic Vert. Here I'll stall them till ya get your techno-bits in order.

Here's one I didn't but someone off-camera prepared earlier. The problem with rental houses is when the tenant moves out the landlord might want to increase the value by pulling down "weedy" plants.

EDIT: Smiling Cloud should recognise these...

Edited August 3, 2008 by Sina

[Vertmorpheus]

what a bloody mess... don't let gardeners near computers I reckon.

And here's one we prepared earlier... Praise be to St. Bee, without his tireless efforts none of this would have been possible!

Interwoven with Jicama Yam Beans.

Watering tapered off as weather cooled into winter, most pods now 7mm across, 1-4 seeds, average 2 in classic Sacred Heart shape ... Yerba Maria, n all that hey.

Fed chook poo, top notch soil, local wood ashes, misted aerially in midafternoon thru a fair bit of early flower bud stage, once again tapered to a minimum as flowers started opening... trying not to get rot in pods, etc. So far, only a few rotten pods found, most perfect. Picture does not do volume of pods justice, lodsnlodsopodsmygods Decent flower/fruit feeding style until podset, then tapered off along with watering. Ripening off rainwater and morning mists for now, all going well.

Framework is galvanised 2 inch mesh held up with tomato stakes, soil is typical SEQ mountain washdown/floodsilt, watered with dam water mainly, bed previously used for beans and tomatos. Soil broken to around 45cm, raised beds, no pesticides or fungicides used at any stage. Most weeds seemed to be supressed around plant by combo of shade and competition for nutrient/water. Minimal care, no chewing or sucking pests. Some slight mould in very dense seed pod areas, spiders spin web between pods and it has a hard time drying out... but a few rotten pods is better than a million bugs.

Fine wire mesh to make protective enclosure from possums n turkeys got em off to a good start, standard high N style vege growth regime til cool weather.

A good prune at first sign of flower bud production (knock heads off any long leaders, weave laterals back into the bush, etc, standard vine stuff) seemed to send it into flowering overdrive and ensure nice density of flowers and pods. Very productive for the space it takes up! If not trained back into itself and pruned I think it would be many many times bigger and a lot less productive.

Bees ensured thorough (almost overly thorough ) pollination, mainly blue banded's and european honeys but a few natives too. past 10 am in peak flower, bees were so heavy with pollen they could barely be seen under all the dust and a few would get caught in flowers overnight as they closed around them. Delicious vanilla/jasmine scent, next year it's perfume time!

VM

Edited August 3, 2008 by Vertmorpheus

[Vertmorpheus]

mumblegruntswearbangthudrattlecrash try that

[Vertmorpheus]

And another, while it's working... and one from the same seed prop run, that lives in a pot... pots are bad, mmkay. Oh, equally disgruntled potted woodrose snaking out there, too.

VM

Edited August 3, 2008 by Vertmorpheus

[Vertmorpheus]

Ah fukkit, some more ... found the full bloom examples, gorgeous!

Flowers make the world happy.

As happy as when you stare at aquatic snails for 3 hours whilst devising a communication system based on 10 by 10 grids of varying monochromatic shades, then decide you could fit more information in there if you combined shades to indicate timing, that way you can have 3 or 4 characters occupying the same space as we currently have one. Then you decide the heart is the most important thing in the world, even if the heart symbol is an elaborated ass curve.

I like the picture where I found the same fractal form in the skyline as in the plant.Well, close enough, dash of entropy n all.

Things like that make me smile.

VM

[mutant]

My turbinas are doing great too after all! I encouraged them to climb up the house and provide all the way up... I hope I also get flowers These at teh photo are actually two of them...

Edited November 3, 2008 by mutant

[mutant]

turbinas are thriving and are becoming more hairy with time... strange and interesting

root space seems to be also very important for these, just like argyreias, maybe a bit less so...

Edited November 3, 2008 by mutant

[mauve]

inspiring pictures in this thread ! thanks

[mutant]

Hope to have flowers this year. Do they take long, like argyreias , supposedly 2years , to flower?

[kadakuda]

mine took 2. my hbwr still have not.

if your growing them together, like i did, you will find out Turbina will win, quite easily. it covers the hbwr.....which slows things down a bit.

[Teotzlcoatl]

As happy as when you stare at aquatic snails for 3 hours whilst devising a communication system based on 10 by 10 grids of varying monochromatic shades, then decide you could fit more information in there if you combined shades to indicate timing, that way you can have 3 or 4 characters occupying the same space as we currently have one. Then you decide the heart is the most important thing in the world, even if the heart symbol is an elaborated ass curve.

Wow... that was deep man.

[hutch]

Hope to have flowers this year. Do they take long, like argyreias , supposedly 2years , to flower?

Is that lengths of bamboo that you are using for your rivea to climb? It not only looks effective but attractive as well.

[mutant]

Hadnt seen that last post..

yeah they are some kind of calamus, and yeah they look ok. I will update photos soon

kada you were right, turbina wins argyreia by far, thankfully turbina wont struggle her! I am tryin le them cover separete parts... turbina is really wild! Needs regular pruning so as it doesn't get to be a jungle... been rooting some cuts these days, it works with an okay ratio... argyreia too...

[kadakuda]

they will strangled, don t let them fool you. perhaps not as harsh as other morning glories, but they are sneaky little guys no doubt! mine are always reaching over to my hbwr and wrapping around it....then comes out good ol machete.

thats a real nice setup you got, but unless your at it, the turbina will take over the entire thing super fast.

[mutant]

well then maybe that explains that this argyreia has just been making flower buds, while she was the only one to flower last [late] automn, and its in the ground, while the other which is in the barrel has been doing this for some time this year... Also, the one in the barrel had good soil, while the in-the-ground one was planted in a place where a bougainvillea used to be for many years I can only put fert in the small portion of ground which is not covered with flagstones, so I cant make the solid much richer I suppose...

Also, if partial strangling is taking place, it is being done all along for several meters until they reach the roof and kind of split, like you see in the photograph... I will be taking an updated one, since it looks quite different now...

Edited September 15, 2009 by mutant