15 Feb 16 Wendy McGregor (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi There
I moved to Bellingen 3 years ago and have been growing Rosella every year since arriving. I first tried growing them in tyres and they were great. Trying pots this year. I bought 10 seedlings that were about 5inches high from the local market.
I got 10 x 42 litre rubber tubs with handles ( those colorful ones ).
I drilled 12 holes in the bottom of each and 6 around the lower outside about two inches up from the bottom.
Put some broken pots or stones at the bottom for drainage and fill with nice soil, compost, manure, lime and anything else that would give the plants a great start, but i waited about a month before transplanting the rosellas as i wanted to make sure everything blended together nicely. These little trees are now growing nicely and because of the handles I can move them around if I need to.
1) Don't drown them....They don't like wet feet but don't let them dry out either and cover them with mulch.
2) They love sun but will survive in filtered light.
3) The plant will grow about 5/6ft tall and Fruit will start to appear as it's maturing.
4) The best time to pick the fruit is when it's about 5 or 6cm long
5) Use scissors and don't cut too close to the branch.....cut at the bottom of the fruit and leave the little stem on the tree. By doing this you just might get another lot of fruit before the trees dies off. Yes it will die after fruiting and you will have to plant new trees next year.
By the way, the flower develops first but will only be in bloom for one day. It resembles the hybiscus flower and the fruit will take about 3 weeks to develop after the flower blooms.
When they're ready I pick a few of them every day and I store them in freezer bags until I have enough for Jam.
Take the pod from the petals and freeze them in separate bags.
Well worth growing and If you need to know more let me know
Good luck
Wendy
06 May 16 Kerri Robson (Australia - tropical climate)
Thank you Wendy. This is exactly the answer I was searching for today. I needed to know how big the fruit should be before I picked it and coud I freeze it as I only have one tree and I woud like to make jam. I hope now to get another bunch of fruit come on if I pick correctly. Thanks so much. Kerri in Towsville
Hi Wendy
I am very interested to plant the Rosella plant,if you have some seeds,do you mind to send me some?
Let me know how much it cost.
Thanks
Esther
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