Ferraria culture in the Pacific Northwest??

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Sat, 17 Jan 2004 12:36:38 PST
Dear Dave,

We've talked a little about Ferraria before you joined us. The search 
feature on our archives isn't working very well at the moment. But if you 
go to Google and put in Ferraria and pbs you will find that we talked about 
this subject in October 2003.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…

Look under New Member/Ferraria crispa

My experience has been that Ferrarias are not very hardy (read mush when we 
got into the low to mid 20ties) and do better in the ground than in 
containers and that they can go very deep. The trouble with planting them 
deeply is that won't help if they are in growth when it is cold.

George Krasle from Seattle told the IBS list many years ago he had 
converted his to a summer growing cycle since they couldn't tolerate his 
winters. And they were very happy. I tried to do this without luck. And he 
quickly dropped off that list and his email no longer worked so I could 
never get more information about how he did it. Mine wanted to be on a 
winter cycle.

Ferraria can get very tall, but then it falls over so that means it no 
longer is tall unless you stake it.

The one I grow as Ferraria crispa norterii (which is no longer considered 
to be a subspecies) I've been able to grow and flower quite successfully in 
a 8 inch pot. I think that one could be moved inside or to a greenhouse 
when extreme cold was expected.

Maybe Rand Nicholson can tell us how his are faring since he was the one to 
raise the question.

If yours haven't sprouted yet, maybe you could try to hold them and see if 
moisture would get them going in spring.

Mary Sue


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