Worsleya procera

[ton wijnen]

Very nice flower.
I have also a Worleya for several years now, I think the bulb is also so big that it can flowering, but how...
In my collection I have different Amaryllidaceae, most will flowering , but this one ?
do you give this bulb a special treatment, such as watering, temp, light?
I am living in the Netherlands, and my Worsleya is standing in a warm greenhouse. Temp. at night 18 celcius and now in summer max 25 Celcius.
In winter the temp is than max 20 Celcius.
Must I give this Worsleya a cold  period and no watering or so ?
Can you give me some advice, please?

Thank you very much

kind regards

Ton Wijnen

[santo2010]

Hy Ton,
Being no expert in Worsleya (I dont even have one) I can tell you that somewhere I read that It lives in Hills, facing the sun, with big oscilations of Temp. between night and day. And out of the ubication in Brasil, I think that 25C wont be enough for it to behave normally.
I am sure that you will get a better answer soon by someone growing it. But I hope it helps a little.

[rob krejzl]

Mine didn't start flowering until it got about a dozen leaves but has since flowered every year, the flowering stem making a very evident bulge in the pseudo-stem as it grows.

One thing I have noticed with pictures of greenhouse-grown Worsleya is that they often appear to be out of character - the leaves look floppy and the pseudo-stem itself seems to get very tall in proportion to the apparent size of the plant. My own plant, and pictures such as those from Glen Calcott or Ron Redding, shows a much more compact habit. To me that suggests light levels can be a little low under glass, but it may also be a temperature thing.

There isn't a dormant period. Even in winter, where mine can experience overnight temperatures around 5 or 6 Celsius, growth continues. I wouldn't refrain from watering at any period - provided your growing medium is sufficiently fast-draining there shouldn't be a problem. Watering in the winter certainly doesn't seem to inhibit flowering.

For me this is a robust and fairly easy plant. At times I fertilise quite heavily and also water very freely - the free-draining and non-retentive nature of the potting medium stops water from hanging around and makes it easy to flush excess fertiliser.

[BULBISSIME]

Same advice as Rob Ton !
I water it every 2 days, planted in mixed gravel, pine bark and some peat, full sun afternoon, outside after frozen time to next frozen period ( mean from May to end of september here )