I purchased this awesome plant from Plant Delights nursery in NC this summer. It has grown and thrived outside in a pot until yesterday when hubby brought it inside for me. I was told it most likely would not survive outside here in Maryland (half-way between DC and Baltimore) Can anyone advise me about how to handle this during the winter? Should I allow it to go dormant or try to keep it green and blooming? I don't really have "great" lighting to help it flourish but any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much!
Sinningia 'Bananas Foster' (Perennial Sinningia) NEED ADVICE
I grow several similar sinningias, and I think they do better if I let them go dormant. I do take cuttings of the top leaves before I let them dry out and go dormant, to propagate the plant. They do just fine from cuttings.
Those Sinningias usually have S. sellovii and/or S. tubiflora in the background. They usually can take a bit of frost but I am absolutely not sure how much. I would do the same and take a bunch of cuttings before I let the tuber go dormant. And then next year, you'll have plenty of material to experiment with and find out just how hardy they are. :)
Mine are definitely not hardy here. I just take cuttings, and let them go dry/cold, and resprout them in March.
I have a S. tubiflora, the tubers have filled the pot, I'm going to have ti figure out whether to just trim the roots and pot it up in a larger pot, or try separating the tubers. Two of them are enormous.
With S. tubiflora, it's normal that they make a ton of little tubers. Many times, this mass of tubers will just pretty much fall apart during repotting and it's up to you to either leave them in one pot or plant them in as many pots as you like.
I will probably propagate a few, what's a healthy spacing for them? Right now, they're crammed up against one another, I didn't choose a good pot style for the plant, I need something lower and wider, which I'll choose next time.
If grown in a pot, that's not unusual because even one tuber can produce a crazy amount of new tubers each season. They also make runners and if you have them planted in a bed, they can come up all over the place from those.
It's hard to say what a proper spacing would be, since S. tubiflora grows more tall than full, but you probably want to have like 5-7 tubers in one large pot to start with and maybe three in a smaller pot.
Oh my. I have like, thirty or so. Looks like I need to do some work when this goes dormant.
Seems like you need some people to adopt some of them... LOL
They are very prolific and I would just put them in pots for outdoors or just plant them all over the yard in Spring... :)
They are not hardy here, but I have a couple of areas where I can fake a z7, I may try a few and see how they do. I'll have plenty, apparently, lol.
I am so very grateful for all of the responses. I have been out of town for a few days and had not seen the answers. I feel dumb asking, but how do I take cuttings? Do I try to root them in some sort of medium or water? Where do I store the pot for it to go dormant? Do I water it at all? I don't have a basement to store it in and but would probably keep it on the floor in my laundry room. It's inside but cold. When should I stop watering it? When should I resume watering it? Does it just begin sprouting in the spring? I truly appreciate all of your suggestions!
I just take stem cuttings and root them in perlite.
I would suggest reading this:
http://www.burwur.net/sinns/3dorm.htm#treat
And actually all the articles on the subject here:
http://www.burwur.net/sinns/2spuds.htm