Plant Doctor Archive

Alstroemeria not flowering

I HAVE made a garden with just rotted lawn clippings and have planted alstromerias. It is a very dry garden beneath trees. The alstroemerias didn't do very well. Can you advise whether I need to add something to the soil, considering it is only rotted grass?

WHILE alstroemerias can tolerate relatively dry conditions, they grow better given reasonable moisture during spring and summer, and especially while they're becoming established. And rotted grass on its own is not a very good soil conditioner.

I suggest you first sprinkle a dressing of general fertiliser over the area. Follow the label for application rates, but usually 50g per square metre is a reasonable amount. Then apply a liberal layer (10cm or so deep) of compost, garden mix or similar mulch all over the area. Doing this in late winter will allow the soil to build up a reserve of moisture that should carry it through some of the dry times ahead. But it still might pay to water during the worst of summer droughts, at least until the alstroemerias are well established.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.