My friend had passed this plant to me sort of to rescue it and somehow it had managed to "jump start". The best part another friend had passed to me few of the bulbs and I now have 2 pots of these. These are my tips in keeping these successful:
1) Most of the time, these plants are bought from the nursery.
So my personal advice, remove all of the bulbs carefully from the soil and replant them in good soil mix (50% black soil & 50% brown soil).
This advice applicable only for Malaysian gardeners.
Let me explain - the current nursery plants (those commercial ones) are actually planted with a coconut fibre mix which somehow kills the plant in long-term duration.
You can also use this coconut fibre mix and mixed it together with (50% black soil & 50% brown soil) mix.
THE NO. 1 KILLER FOR OXALIS IS THE WRONG SOIL MIX.
This also applies to roses, cactus & succulent species.
Anytime you find your plant is slowly dying (leaves turning yellow) chances are its a root rot and its just might be too late.
And for plant such as Oxalis, its already dead as the life line is on the bulb.
Coconut fibre composite is not suitable for oxalis especially when it comes to watering as it doesn't drain out faster causing water stagnation and bulb rot.
Well, I got it started from this when I got it first (click here)
to currently this.
If you find your oxalis dying especially bulb rot - change the soil.
But do investigate whether its dying or going dormant just like Caladiums.
When its dormant, it just springs back again after few months.
How do you know its going dormant - you will notice the leaves remain closed (folded) and no new ones emerged.
The second most important thing to watch out for is: WATERING.
Over watering kills this plant.
(Let me repeat this again..) Over watering kills this plant.
So, its best to slightly water them and water them on alternate days.
Or you can water them heavily (using the water hose) and water in that style twice weekly.
In anyway, these plants adapt to a watering system in your garden, if they had adapted well, stick to your watering routine, but you find the plant is dying then you may have to make some changes.
Another thing that I have noticed is they don't do so well in relocating to a new place.
Once they find there is a shift of lighting, they tend to go dormant.
A dormant period may last a month but it may vary from different locations and climate changes. So, if you find the leaves suddenly disappear - don't throw the pot away as it will spring back to life. (that is, if it didn't rot away)
This will be a good time to undo the soil and collect all the bulbs and replant & propagating them.
This is one of the lovely unique plants in my garden. I may have to return this revived plant back to my friend, the only problem is that this plant grows ever so slowly in my garden.
By the time I had it over, this plant might have gone dormant.
