Cultivation

I suggest to all my Blue Hippie comrades to grow in pure Scoria rock of 5 - 10 ml. This is red in colour and volcanic in composition. Basalt is the main rock where this treasure comes from. I have excellent success with this medium. I feed a small amount of composted cow manure on one side of the pot. I do this twice in the growing season. Water every morning in the growing season, except if it gets unexpectedly cool in which case cease watering. I also give them the fortnightly feed of liquid manure to help things along. Keep in mind that in the wild the pickings are slim. Some folk report that over feeding can inhibit the plant from flowering and it skips a season or 2 until the food and medium ratio become more conducive for flowering. Pot the plants into a small terracotta pot. Don't be tempted to give them too much root space. Again, the ratio to the amount of water, roots, medium and how long it stays moist is crucial. A good rule of thumb is if the pots is ready for watering the next day, the medium will be dryish to a depth of around 1/2 inch into the medium. A pot size that you can thoroughly water, saturate, and will be dryish the next day is perfect. These 2-3 year old Worsleya grow well in a 5 inch pot.

On seed raising

I am having wonderful success with raising these little treasures from seeds. I am using a foam fruit box, approx. 40 litres, 1/2 filled with scoria basalt of 5-10ml grade. Then I top it up with Orchid bark of 5-10 ml grade. I place around 40 seeds per box. I cover these with a small amount of seed raising mix. This secures the seed and keeps it slightly moist at all times. I then place a 1/2 covering of Sphagnum moss of this to ensure it dries out slowly. This works very well for the seeds as they are up in 2-3 weeks from sowing. Feeding is dilute liquid manure.

Be well and happy, Dash

Below, an example of the Scoria rock and bulbs growing in it.