In response to Q: Seedlings zone 8 US. - J. Giles, August 04, 2000 :
- I am not particularly familiar with the climate in Dallas. So, let's work from first principles:
The protea's natural climate involves cool, wet winters, and hot dry summers. Do not succumb to English Country Garden thinking and water your plants on a hot day - mine die very suddenly from root fungus when I do this. Water the plants early in the morning when it is cool, and keep the watering down to at most twice a week or less (more for seedlings).
I don't think the plants will mind if the winters aren't cold - as long as you avoid warm and wet conditions your plants should be fine. You are doing the right thing giving the plants a southerly aspect, since they need full sun. My experience is that the mature plants are hardy in the wind, and some prefer a draft. However, seedlings enjoy a measure of shelter from the other bushes around them.
Eventually, if the plants stay in the pots, they will need to be fed. DO NOT GIVE THEM FERTILIZER! (Unless you are tired of them). Phosphates are very harmful to the protioid roots. We use a natural liquid food mixed with water called Seagro (tm) that is made from seaweed. I'm sure you can get something similar in the states. We also now have a specially formulated protea fertilizer, that you can buy from our online store at http://FineBushPeople.co.za/farmstore/catalog/accessorystore.htm
As for transplanting: the plants need soil similar to that in the pots - acid, sandy and well-drained. Get a kit to measure the acidity of your landscape soil - you should have a pH of less than 7. You can make soil more acid by adding sulphur powder and pine needle compost. Pine needles also make a good acid mulch for the soil around the proteas. Do the transplanting at the start of the rainy season, so that the plants can get established before the dry season.
If your soil is very loamy or clayey, you need to add lots of sand. If it is not well drained, raise the beds that the proteas will be planted in above the natural ground level using river sand in a similar mixture to the pots (1/3 sand, 1/3 pine needle compost, 1/3 perlite).
One more thing - proteas HATE having their roots disturbed. When you transplant, make sure the entire clod of soil in the pot comes out with the plant and goes into the ground with as little disturbance as possible. Also, don't disturb the soil around the proteas in the garden.
If your conditions are too unsuitable, why not put the plants out in the landscape in their pots?
Does anyone else have further advice?
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