First watering for fall growing bulbs

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Mon, 05 Sep 2005 17:19:45 PDT
Mary Sue, in an August 30 post (Re: [pbs] Wi sowing times) mentioned
something recently which I meant to follow up on. She was wondering when to
begin sowing fall growing plants. Coincidentally, I had been reading Ian
Young's Bulb Log on the SRGC site, and read that he gives his fall-winter
growing plants their first good watering on September first. Ian is in
Scotland where I suppose the day length is about to begin to shorten
dramatically. 

Here in Maryland we still have a good month and a half of good growing
weather ahead of us, and there is always the chance that there will not be a
killing frost until well into November. So there is no rush here to get
things going, and in fact, soil temperatures will probably remain relatively
high for weeks. Wet warm soil and bulbs are not in my experience a good
combination.

Do others follow a strict schedule in starting to water fall blooming
Crocus, Colchicum and other fall bloomers? If so, when and why?

Jim McKenney
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the soil is dry as
powder and the fall bloomers show no sign of life except Colchicum bivonae
'Apollo' which is on the way up - although Scilla scilloides has been in
bloom for weeks.  



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