Cynthia, I don't unpot my Oxalis until I'm repotting, either into larger pots or multiple pots. Karl Church Dinuba z9b On Nov 20, 2015 7:29 PM, "Cynthia Mueller" <cynthiasbulbs@hotmail.com> wrote: > Mary Sue, thanks for your details on Oxalis. Is it necessary to unpot them > during dormancy? It's so hot and dry here in Central Texas I wonder if the > tubers would shrivel if left exposed? > > Cynthia W Mueller > > > On Nov 20, 2015, at 10:34 AM, Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote: > > > > > >> This brings me to my current conundrum regarding Oxalis. I have > trouble getting them to bloom for me. What am I doing wrong and/or what > do I need to do to get these lovelies to be a little more forthcoming with > their blooms? HELP! > > Note to those who care, in my response I'm going to use bloom and flower > as synonyms in this post. > > > > I got hooked on Oxalis a long time ago and found a few things that have > contributed to growing and flowering a number of them. I have the best luck > with the ones that bloom in fall, but also Oxalis purpurea and Oxalis > obtusa have long periods of bloom. I suspect we all have different > experiences and since they grow in different areas of South Africa with > different conditions probably there is no advice that works for all of > them. You will no doubt get different advice from different people. > > > > I usually repot them every year and share the smaller ones with the BX. > I remember how generous some of you were sharing yours with me and pay it > forward. A few species are in my raised beds that are in pots, nestled in > pots, and those don't get repotted very often. A few species disappeared > with this treatment, but a few others have been very successful left > alone. One of the Oxalis luteola forms blooms a long time every year and > for the first time this year Oxalis palmifrons bloomed in my raised beds. > That was exciting as it had never bloomed before when I repotted it every > year so perhaps not being disturbed may have been to its liking. Who knows. > > > > The ones I'm going to repot I leave in paper bags once I unpot them. I > open the bags every now and then and when I see signs of activity I pot > them up and water them. This is usually in August. Some of them can start > blooming in August or September. Fall blooming is perfect for my climate > since it hasn't started to rain yet and we have less fog. Unless there is > sun and warm temperatures the flowers don't always open. Many of the > species I grow do better in deeper pots. Oxalis melanosticta 'Ken Aslet' > was a shy bloomer until I started potting it in a deeper pot. This year the > first flowers appeared in August and new ones continued into October. > > > > Others with three to four months of flowering this year starting in > August to September and some still going strong: O. commutata, O. hirta, > O. pardalis, O. imbricata, O. bowiei, Oxalis pulchella v. tomentosa, O. > peridicaria, O. zeekoevleyensis, O. versicolor, O. engleriana, O. assinia, > O. caprina. O. massoniana, O. depressa. > > > > Others bloomed for only a couple of months, but that is still more > satisfying than days or weeks as is the case for some of the other bulbs I > grow. O. bifurca, O. callosa are two in this category. Other species start > to bloom later like Oxalis luteola and O. compressa, but may last for many > months (five months for O. compressa last year). If it starts raining a > lot, some of them are done, but others like O. purpurea continue. Last year > when we had two "atmospheric rivers" I had some serious problems with many > of the species that got such heavy rain so plan to shelter them from a lot > of rain if we get it this year as predicted. Some years I've put the pots > in a cold frame and closed it when we got a lot of rain. I grow several > forms of O. flava and some do better than others (one to three months of > flowers in the fall). O. polyphylla is not in flower for me as long as > other species and O. glabra is a bit weedy so I don't have a pot of it > anymore although it is appearing in > other pots and usually flowers later. O. obtusa starts later (December to > February and lasts until March). > > > > You should look in the archives as there is a lot of information. For > instance there was a Topic of the Week on Oxalis with this introduction. > > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/… > > > > Also Mike Mace wrote about his experiences: > > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/… > > > > Sorry this is so long, but hope it helps. I think Southern California is > ideal for growing these and as you go farther north it is probably more > challenging. In our four years of drought I think they have been happier. > > > > Mary Sue > > > > Mary Sue Ittner > > California's North Coast > > Wet mild winters with occasional frost > > Dry mild summers > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >