Worth knowing:
The carefree, annual Apple of Peru is a markedly fast-growing plant that shows already after a few weeks its blossom and can reach, outdoors in the garden or as a tub plant, heights of up to two meters. At first, it brings out hundreds of bell-like, two to four centimeters big blossoms with a light blue colour on white background. Later on the Apple of Peru produces balloon-shaped, parchment-like fruit calyxes, which look like Ground Cherries and contain the fruits and seeds for next year’s natural self-seeding.
Natural Location:
The Apple of Peru has its natural habitat in the Andes mountains of South America, from Peru up to northern Argentina. Today it is also found throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
Cultivation:
Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. Spread the seeds on moist potting compost, put just a little compost earth on top and cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out. Don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20°C and 25° Celsius and keep the earth moist but not wet. The germination should begin after a week. After three to four weeks you can plant the seedlings.
Place:
The Apple of Peru likes to be kept preferably in a sunny spot, but also a bit more shady places are fine.
Care:
Especially during the summer time the Nicandra should be watered sufficiently, otherwise the leaves will soon become floppy. While blossoming it also needs a good quality fluid fertilizer every two to three weeks.
During the winter:
When the seed vessels start to get brown coloured in November, you can cut them off and store the seeds somewhere cool and dark until spring for next year’s seeding. You can dispose of the rest of the dying plant on your compost.
Picture credits:
- © © AnRo0002 - CC0 - http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © ADNUTUM - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Harald Hubich - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Forest & Kim Starr - CC-BY-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
- © - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © M Shades - CC-BY-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
- © ADNUTUM - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
