Albuca care in the tropics

[piyeron]

A fellow hobbyist here in the Philippines was able to acquire a couple of plants, namely A. spiralis and A. namaquensis. She's offering me both, and I really like the plants though I have no idea at all about their specific care. Them being winter-growing bulb succulents, I worry if it might be very, very tricky to keep them alive here in the tropics.

I've had about a half year's worth of experience with an Albuca 'Augrabies Hill'-- killed the main plant after a couple of months due to an accident but I was able to root a small bulb which has since grown significantly. I've been observing it closely since, and noticed that it stays shiny and plump when recently watered and will go back to a dull, kinda emaciated bulb with the leaves drooping after a few weeks. I water it cautiously and keep it where it doesn't get rained on (it's our monsoon season, and it's been raining almost daily since May). I use a very gritty mix with lots of pumice, pebbles and very coarse sand.

My main concerns are if my style of watering is OK (water only when mix is sufficiently dry) and how to figure out when I should ease back on watering (with regards to the hot-weather dormancy of the plant). Has anyone had experience taking care of these plants in a tropical climate? Any insights or recommendations?

[Aiko]

I have not experience in a tropical climate. But have you tried keeping your plant in the fridge at night? The cool temperatures of little above freezing at night might actually be a good alternation between the heath of daytime. Winter active plants probably don't mind heath during the day as much when active but do like the cold of the night, at least is what I suspect. Just don't forget to get them out of the fridge early in the morning. I don't know how well they like the shock between fridge temperatures and temperatures later in the morning, nor being in a dark fridge for a full day...

I need to heat in winter to keep the plants from getting too cold on frosty nights, why don't you try cooling your plants in winter to keep them from getting too hot during nights?

[piyeron]

I was thinking of the response in my head a few days ago and it is only now that I realize I wasn't actually able to respond to this thread ) Thanks Aiko.

Though, any sort of cooling in our climate is expensive (probably more expensive than say heating in a cold environment, even if you balance the energy expenses and all that), and as you can probably imagine, cold-temperature shelf-space is at a premium and prioritized for other, more essential stuff. Though, I was actually thinking of the possibility of a walk-in refrigerator style cooled enclosure, since it might very well be cheaper to go on larger scale (at least, not too large). I have plans to grow some of the cool-weather mesembs and succulents anyway, and though in my province we can get to low twenties (°C) for several months a year, most of the year we're stable at close to 30°C (standard lowland tropical climate)