Step 1
Choose a place in the garden that gets full sun (at least 6 hours a day). Prepare the planting area well by
- a) digging a hole twice as wide and to the same depth as the root-ball.
- b) fill the hole with native soil (i.e. Rocky Point Native Planting mix)
Step 2
Carefully remove the plant from the pot ensuring not to disturb any of the roots.
Step 3
Position in hole and backfill with soil, gently firming down. Form a raised or doughnut shaped ring of soil around the outer edge of the plant's root zone. This helps keep water where it's needed. Always water in well after planting to settle the soil around the roots and keep the soil lightly moist for several weeks while the new plant establishes.
Step 4
Mulch with an organic pine mulch. Other options are sugar cane, macadamia shells or pea straw ensuring to keep it away from the trunk.
Step 5
Feed in March and September with a native fertiliser to ensure strong root development and flower forming. DO NOT use normal fertiliser, your plant WILL die if there the fertiliser is high in phosphor. Please read about Phosphorus toxicity by Heidi – J Hawkins and Michael Cramer.
Step 6
Water your young protea. Certain proteas are more drought tolerant than others but to establish your plant, you need to water it. In Queensland, you will need to water your plant more from October to end of February – this means 3 times a week for 10-15 seconds. In winter, you can change this to 2 times a week for 10-15 seconds. Once established (from year 3 onwards), you can change it to once a week. The only time you won’t water your plant is if it rains more than 8mm on the day.