Psy. vir. & Cat. edu.

[entheonoob]

These arrived from Herbalistics today and I've read alot on here about people having trouble with the Psychotria. I potted them up and was wondering if anyone can tell me if the Psy. is potted correctly. I'd like it to survive. I've got in shade so it can re-root.

On another note, I went to the Maroochy Botanical Gardens today and I've got some photos on Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyh/sets/72157594495342093/

[Alice]

yep thats fine mate, and looks like you have some very nice healthy plants there! be sure to post some more pics as they grow bigger

[entheonoob]

Should I put them in the little hothouse or just leave them to acclimatise?

[Alice]

QLD is probably a fair bit more humid than where i am... so thats an advantage. i used to keep newly-received plants in a high humidity environment, but found it didn't make a whole heap of difference, so i dont bother nowadays. where i live that is... it will no doubt be different for others.

IME the catha's are tough as nails, and need little attention. the psychotrias can be a bit more tricky, but as long as the weather is not heaps hot and dry, if you keep them out of direct sun for a couple of weeks, you should be fine.

newly potted plants, esp those shipped bare rooted, can be particularly vulnerable to dehydration until the roots recover and put out fresh growth again. providing you compensate for this, you should have few troubles.

[Hellonasty]

It all seems good to me. I usually mist the leaves on Viridis with a spray bottle for the first few weeks

to allow them to acclimatise. If the ends of the leaves go brown then it usually means you need to raise the humidity a little.

[entheonoob]

Here's an update photo. The Psychotria is growing really well. Quite a bit of new growth. The Catha edulis on the other hand hasn't grown one tiny bit at all. I thought maybe it would have to flesh out its root system before it starts new foilage but its been a while now and nothing.

Here's also a photo of a juvenile candlenut tree i got from tafe. It fell over but hasn't died off at all yet.

[Conan Troutman]

Here's an update photo. The Psychotria is growing really well. Quite a bit of new growth. The Catha edulis on the other hand hasn't grown one tiny bit at all. I thought maybe it would have to flesh out its root system before it starts new foilage but its been a while now and nothing.

Here's also a photo of a juvenile candlenut tree i got from tafe. It fell over but hasn't died off at all yet.

Looks like the khat is pretty wet. They will die from over watering I think NL is especially drought tolerant.

[entheonoob]

It had just rained when I took the photo, but I'll let it dry out and see what happens. Would it do better in the ground?

[ENtiTY]

I have a NL from Herbalistics and it started growing as soon as it saw the pot it was going into. NL's are a lot more tolerant of water than the other khats. My NL is in about 70/30 potting mix/sand. Mine likes partial sun, full sun makes it droop, and likes plenty of water in the growing season.

Has it dropped any leaves? Leaves changed colour ?

Mine doubled size in that time, maybe its the potting mix, something in it that the khat doesn't like.

[apothecary]

Hullo!

Nice plants. Congrats on the Psychotria surviving, Herbalistics never fails

As for the Catha, like others have mentioned, depends on the type. I have found it does better when you neglect it, and (apart from Narrow Leaf) most are far too fussy for pots. They take a bit of time to kick off in the ground but once they get going they are nigh indestructible.