Growing Advice
Protea Planting Guide
Welcome to Proteaflora’s comprehensive Protea Planting Guide, your go-to resource for cultivating stunning Proteas in your garden. Site preparation is the key to success, and understanding your soil conditions is crucial. Our guide covers everything from soil types and pH considerations to correcting soil conditions, ensuring your Proteas thrive. Learn about the ideal planting locations, the best time to plant, and the exciting process of getting your hands dirty with planting tips. We delve into reusing old flowerbeds, planting locations, and provide essential insights on watering and mulching for optimal growth.
Growing Advice
Protea Planting Guide
Welcome to Proteaflora’s comprehensive Protea Planting Guide, your go-to resource for cultivating stunning Proteas in your garden. Site preparation is the key to success, and understanding your soil conditions is crucial. Our guide covers everything from soil types and pH considerations to correcting soil conditions, ensuring your Proteas thrive. Learn about the ideal planting locations, the best time to plant, and the exciting process of getting your hands dirty with planting tips. We delve into reusing old flowerbeds, planting locations, and provide essential insights on watering and mulching for optimal growth.
Site Preparation
Site Preparation is the key to a successful planting. Understanding the soil conditions in your garden is crucial, as there are some soils that Proteas are much more suited to growing in. You can refer to our Soil Types Guide in the Growing Advice tabs to help determine the kind of soil you have in your garden.
Proteas thrive in acidic, well-draining soils. The ideal soil pH for most varieties is 4.5 – 6. Even if you don’t have this kind soil naturally occurring in your garden, there are some things you can do to improve the soil, so it is better suited to growing Proteas. If you need to amend your soils, it is best to do this a couple of months in advance.
- If your soil tends to get waterlogged, you can incorporate woodchip mulch to help improve the drainage.
- If your soil cracks when it dries out and takes a long time to rewet, you likely have a high content of clay in your soil. You can add gypsum to help break up the clay.
- You can do a pH test on your soil with a home test kit. If you have soil that is very acidic, you can add Calcium Carbonate, which is sold as garden lime or agricultural lime.
- If you have neutral or alkaline soil, it can be a bit trickier to lower the pH of the soil. You can incorporate elemental sulphur to lower to pH before planting. However, this is not a permanent solution and you may notice the pH drift back to neutral or alkaline over time. Once planted, you can apply a drench of iron sulphate to the soil if you notice and chlorosis on the leaves.
Re-using old flowerbeds
Proteas and Natives are sensitive to phosphorus which is the base of most general fertilisers. We recommend you only plant in old flower beds if no phosphorus fertiliser has been previously used. Proteas are best grown away from plants which require regular feeding. Avoid mushroom composts as they contain salts harmful to Proteas. It is also best to avoid applying blood and bone, manures and products made from them such as dynamic lifter, as the nutrient balance is not suitable for Proteas.
Planting Location
Most Proteas will grow best in a full sun position, as this will increase the number of flowers the plant can produce. There are some genera like Telopeas that are understory plants in the wild and will still grow well in shady spots.
When choosing a location, avoid areas where water can pool, such as near downpipes and drains. Avoid planting under well-established trees as these will outcompete your new plant for water.
Planting Time
The best time of year to plant is autumn as it allows you plant some time to get established in the garden before the heat of summer. If you can’t get your plants into the garden until later into spring, they will need a bit of additional watering to help them get established. Avoid planting in summer, as there is a much higher risk of the plant drying out.
Time to get your hands dirty
Once you have selected a suitable location, we come to the fun part – planting! Dig a hole to twice the width of the pot. This allows and encourages the roots to expand into the space around them and begin to search for their own water and nutrients.
Planting
To take the plant out of the pot lightly squeeze the side of the pot to loosen the soil. Next, while supporting the plant, turn the pot upside down and gently pull the plant out of the pot. If the plant will not come out, you can tap the rim of the pot on a hard surface to help loosen it. Occasionally plants can become a little root bound in pots as they grow to fill the space they are in. If your plants roots appear to be like this, you can gently tease them out. This encourages the roots to grow into the surrounding soil, rather than continuing to grow in a tight ball or in the shape of the pot.
Roots that need loosening
Roots teased out
When planting, ensure your Protea is not placed into the hole any deeper than it was in the pot. The top of the root ball should be level with the top of the garden bed.
Back fill the soil around the plant and firm around the root ball to provide some stability. If required, you can plant with a stake for additional support.
If you do have clay soils it will be necessary to first dig in compost and gypsum to break up any residual clay. We recommend you then mound up the soil before planting. This keeps the roots free of the heavy clay and helps to improve the drainage.
Pine bark mulch
Mulch
Mulch with an organic material such as pea straw mulch, sugarcane mulch or woodchips as this will break down and add organic matter to the soil. Using pebbles or stone can help stop water loss due to evaporation but it will not add organic matter to the soil.
Watering
Make sure you water your plant in well after planting. Proteaflora plants are reasonably tough once they’re established, but it’s important to water at least twice a week in the first summer and preferably daily when it’s especially hot. The soil around the root system should not be permitted to completely dry out when the plant is young. You can gradually reduce watering as the plant becomes established, usually about 2 years after planting. After this, the watering frequency will depend on the prevailing conditions.