Re-cap
Plant 1 having been infested with Aphids, I removed all the leaves and Bracts and within a matter of weeks recovered fully and 'flowered' again.
Plant 2 Going OK at this point, probably more growth on it given the time of year and previous experiences of these plants.
February update__________________________________________________________
I did a video n January showing the progress and it was pretty good and on-track. All of the plants seem to be ticking along nicely. They've been watered around once a week using rain water using about 250ml each time. If they've looked to be wilting before that time I've watered them. It does seem that given my situation where these plants are generally in a room temp of about 18c they dry out and start to wilt after about a week.
I'm off for a week in February so it's likely that I'll do a video and upload it showing how they've done over the previous month and half since the end of Dec. I'm writing this on Feb 16th and they look to have grown quite a bit. They're very spindly for the most part, apart from plant #1. Plant #1 as you can see has a good shape, but by the end of the Jan 95% of the bracts had fallen off and the ends of the branches were looking a bit dead, so I've cut them back to see if that encourages more growth. I'm still pretty cautious about cutting them back because ultimately I want lots of plant and it seems counter-intuitive to cut them back to some extent.
I was looking at some of my old diary entries and blog posts and noted that I'd put the plants out during the day when it was sunny as early at Feb 18th last year. This may have been a big mistake even though I put them under plastic to try and reduce them being subjected to any cold winds/breezes. I noted a couple of days ago when the ambient temp in the shade was 3c and in the sun 27c and this is what I went by thinking they'd be ok in the sun. The outcome was the leaves ended up being burnt by the sun having gone without it since Oct/Nov. It seems they have to be eased into the sunlight gradually. I think in addition the ambient temp of 3c every time the sun had gone in combined with hot sunny light meant the plants went into shock potentially?
This year I'm going to be easing them into the garden in a different way. In a way this makes having these plants hard work, because this transition means moving the plants around quite a bit and I live in a small house. We'll have to see how it goes.
Previously I've said that the Tesco plants - Numbers 1,2 and 3 are a dwarf variety, but currently plant#2 is on a mission and is growing very vigorously albeit in a spindly fashion. Looking at it, I'm in two minds whether I should nip the ends off and try and encourage growth further back down the plant or for that branch to develop more 'Spurs' (branches)?
March update_______________________________________________________________
March 1st and its been sunny. The side of the house where the plants are situated is increasingly brighter with a period in the afternoon where direct sun comes in. Oustide over-night its still around 0 degrees (Freezing) and I noted today doing some tidying in the garden one of our blue (clay) pots had cracked... Frost damage? In the corner of my yard its 28c in the sun and I've sat out there comfortable sunning my face with just a long sleeved T-shirt on. So with the vast difference in temps there's no way that the plants are going out at this stage.
I've moved one of the plants No.3 from its usual place to a South facing window to sit in direct sunshine (Use picture on Phone) as it looks a bit feeble - light coloured leaves and wilting a bit. I've watered it and it looks a little better, but overall its the least healthy looking of all four plants, its spindly and growing outwards rather than upwards, so I'm not sure what to do about it. This one hasn't flowered since the summer.
March 8th
Sunny outside - unseasonably warm at 19c ambient temp - in the direct sun it's 36c. So I've had all the plants in the garden and have shot some video. Plant No.3 still looking sick and spindly with varigated leaf patterns and wilting recently. Having shot the video today I then decided to hack it back as an experiment to see if that kicks it back into life.
March 21st
Last few days the weather has been very mild, in the 18-21c degrees region, so the plants have been oustide and over-night tonight; its going to be around 8c, so I'm leaving 3 of the plants outside (1,2 and 3). I've butchered plant 3, cut it right back and stuck the hard wood cutting in dirt to see if they'll take. At the moment all of the plants including No.3 are showing signs of producing bracts, so there may be a simultaneous showing?
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