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[Ian Morris]

I am too ashamed to post pics but I understand what went wrong and I need some help.  (my Wild Dagga is long and spindly and unlikely to flower)  I noticed most people here have it on their growing list so here goes...

I have three Leonotis leonurus plants that do not look like they will flower.  They are only a year old but nights are around the low sixties here and because I live in USDA zone 7, I don't think they will overwinter. 

What should I do?  do I scrap them and try again next year?  do i cut them down to the roots and stick them in the shed?  or outside under mulch?  should I let them continue to languish all tall and skinny? (bringing these mutants into my house is not going to work, I cannot tell you how many people asked me what type of pot I was growing)

What do you wonderful and kind seedians do with dagga in the winter?

Thanks in advance,
Ian

[fairdinkumseeds]

Give up and switch to nep.
Pm'd

[Sunshine]

When did you plant it? I've never had a problem getting dagga to flower and I'm in zone 6b. You could always take a small cutting and keep it in a really small pot indoors. That way it would stay small and stunted. It doesn't really look like MJ imo...I mean, not like japanese maple does anyway...

They are annuals if I remember correctly. I don't think they'll survive over winter. I chop mine down in the winter and start fresh in the springtime.

[Chicsa]

Give up and switch to nep.
Pm'd

Is Nep more hardier? I only have had Nep, just curious.
Mine are very frail in the wind, and the wind gusts here really devastate them.

[fairdinkumseeds]

Much hardier, at least for me.
They handle frost here and southern winters of NSW fine. We don't get ice and snow and stuff like you guys do, but they are definitely hardier that all the other Leonotis I have grown. I grow them in blocks, 10mx10m so they support each other.  Some fall over but they just reshoot.
I struggled with Leonotis leonurus for a while, and now I don't bother. Didn't like the heat or the cold or the dry or the bugs, and didn't produce much biomass.
Not a fan. Got a couple left struggling away looking sad, when they finally die I won't be replacing them.

1 Like Ian Morris likes this.

[Greentoe]

Nepetifolia seems to also flower faster than leonurus. Last year I grew leonurus and it didn't flower until the end of October. The nepetifolia I'm growing this year have already flowered several times.

2 Likes Frog Pajamas and fairdinkumseeds like this.

[Ian Morris]

I started them indoors in Feb. but way too far from the lights (I didn't expect them to sprout so soon) and they all really got spindly. 

Then I was away for a scorching hot weekend and they each lost about 60% of their leaves. 

fairdinkumseeds is right, they are really never happy, I put them in all manner of sunlight levels and even when on my irrigation system they still seemed to need more water.  They also fell over all the time in rainstorms, even when I braced the pots with head sized rocks.

My plan is to let then run their course and maybe see some interesting flowers by Halloween. 

RE:  MJ -  I think it was just the compactness of the inflorescence, and the fact that lawyers pretend to know alot about drugs, the other half of my friends were just underwhelmed by the source of those cool velvety orange petals