Top 8 Lessons Learned From Growing Lavender in the Philippines

As some of you are aware, I usually post about my experiment on lavender growing in the Philippines in my main blog: http://www.purpleowyn.blogspot.com/. But I thought of summarizing what I learned so far about raising lavenders here especially as one of my two french lavenders died this week. As for the true lavenders, a few more wilted since I did an update. It can be a little frustrating but I'm charging it to experience in the hopes of finding the right formula that will enable me to grow them well in the future.

True lavender thriving in the cool February weather. There's only about half left since summer started.

So here goes, my top 8 lessons learned so far:
1) Water only every 2-3 days.
2) Use a water sprayer and water them lightly at the base. Never over water or else they'll die.I can't highlight this enough.
3) Water early in the morning to give their roots a chance to dry throughout the day. Never in the late afternoon or evening If you skipped it, then just water the next morning.
4) The soil should have good drainage. I bought Folia Tropica potting mix from Ace Hardware. It has a good mix of sand, compost and coconut coir. I had the mistake of using leftover seed growing mix in the past and the ones I planted with those died because the mix is designed to retain water which is important for seeds to germinate but causes root rot for lavender.
5) Put some pebbles at the bottom of the pot before putting soil for better drainage.
6) Fertilize at least once a month.
7) Cut dead leaves as close to the stem as possible because that's where new leaves/branches sprout.
8) When transplanting lavender, take it as is and don't attempt to loosen the roots because they are super sensitive they'll die.