Looking for lobster claw heliconia. Check my tradelist if you have some to trade.

I am looking for a choclate dancer heliconia. I have foxtail palms ,purple king palms, along with king sago, lobster claw heliconia for trade. Hope someone has some to trade Brian

Heliconias are very easy to grow especially Heliconia rostrata. They are very large plants which like hummidity and copious amounts of water. Could it be that your pots are too small and you are getting fertilizer burn or that they are staying too wet in your pots and you have root rot. Here in S.Florida(your climate is similar unless you are high up in the mountains) I grow Heliconia in the ground-they are far to large for pot culture IMO. If you look at the undersides of the leaves you can see spider mites if they are there-tiny little dark redish specks and they cause the top surface of the leaves to have a silvery appearance. You can blast them off with the hose or if a heavy infestation spray the undersides of the leaves with an insecticidal soap- this is completely harmless, except to the spider mites. Either method you will have to repeat several times. Unless you have had a very dry summer I don't think it is likely to be spider mites-they are only usually a problem in dry weather.The only insect pest I have really noticed on Heliconia is the mealy bug. I have found these in the roots and in the axils of the leaves where they are attached to the stems, but the plants are so vigorous they they are not much of a problem. I would take your plants out of the pots,wash off the soil and check for mealy bugs in the roots and leaf axils etc and cut of any rotten or dead roots and any rotten rhyzome. I would then plant them in the garden in either full sun or semi-sun in a spot where there is plenty of room, rich loamy well-draining soil where they will get plenty of water(the more sun the more water) and fertilize a couple of times a year(not till after they get growing, in your spring)-although I find they are such rampant growers that I don't bother to fertilize. The only problem for you now, at this time of year, is that they really prefer to be dug up,divided etc in the spring and you are now going into winter. However if they look like they are not happy perhaps it is better to do something! After 1 year you should have some big lush growths so if you have had adequate humidity and given them plenty of water I would suspect root problems possibly caused by your growing method. Heliconia rostrata can take quite a bit of cold so unless you are up in the mountains you should not have a problem. Hope this helps and good luck.

JJ, if you are in coastal SoCal, you might be in zone 11, see map. I'm close to the beach in Venice and am definitely in zone 11 (zone 24 Sunset), and I can say that in the 14 years I've been here, it's never been below 42°, even in the coldest winter. My exroommate kept all his orchids outside here all year, and they did fine. He also planted a Heliconia Schiedeana, which again. I don't remember how he germinated them, but he may have used your method. We have them on the north side of the house, shaded by fairly tall philodendrons. FRS the heliconias only get to about 5'. He got the seeds from the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia, which is in zone 10a (possibly 9b), which is known to have occasional frosts - the last one in 1989, I think. In the Arboretum, they were growing in full sun and were in a fairly wet area next to some ginger. Here are some tips on growing this variety. I would like to get some more heliconia myself, that would make larger flowers. Lars