Azalea Rumor

Harold B.

I picked up a few Azalea plants from my local nursery here in Kauai, and in our conversation the gentleman mentioned that the azalea growers actually refrigerate the plants a while before they sell them to cause a sudden development for flower buds to burst out on the plant.

Is this true?......if so, let me know cause it'll give me a good excuse to clean out the fridge........

Aloha,
H

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freakwent

There might be some truth to this, because my father mentioned the same thing to me. Well, here in Chicago we don't need a refridgerator. A dark damp closet will suffice. My father told me that to get a good bloom place it in a dark corner of the basement for a week or two. The same thing happened to my Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera) Last year. After it bloomed in December, I put it on the bathroom windowsill where it received good light and humid conditions from the shower. It threw off shoots wildly, but kept on getting knocked over everytime someone reached for the soap. I then took it downstairs where the temperature was cooler and the light level was much lower -- and a month later it went into false bloom. There were more flowers that opened and lasted twice as long. So i think it's possible -- anyone else?

Leesa

I heard a similar story about orchids. McLellan's Orchids is just down the road from here. They have acres of greenhouses! Occasionally they have an Open House for the public. One of their staff related that they had determined that phaelonopsis orchids imported from the Far East bloomed regularly after arrival here - attributed to the chill they received in the cargo area of the plane. Apparently, they now incorporate this in to their production cycles.

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Respectfully, Lee Sanner