My liquorice is looking poorly, already. I've hardly had it 5 minutes.



I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'll be really upset if I lose it. The care notes I got with it said: "Liquorice requires a deep well cultivated fertile moisture-retentive soil for good root production. It prefers a sandy soil with abundant moisture and does not flourish in clay. Slightly alkaline conditions produce the best plants. The plant thrives in a maritime climate. Plants are hardy to about -15°C (5°F)"

I put it in a mixture of MPC and sand. It clearly doesn't like it.

What the hell is a "well cultivated fertile moisture-retentive soil" anyway? How do I recreate that? It said sandy soil so I mixed a bit of sand in with the compost. I don't know what else to do. I kept it in the greenhouse for a little while, to help it recover from being posted, and it's been outside in a sheltered position for about a week. It looked ok all the time it was in the greenhouse, but now it's gone downhill. It can't stay in the greenhouse, there isn't room (although it's back in there for now).

Alys Fowler said: "It’s going to need full sun, rich, but very free draining soil and regular watering."

Please help if you have any suggestions.
Thanks
MBE

liquorice plant seeds


Some reference urls on there

Just thinking about growing sme myself

I can report that I didn't manage to kill it and it's doing much better in a great big pot.

I used to dip mine into sherbert when i was a lad. did it the world of good

Quite happy at the moment: