DORMANT TEMPERATURES

Cody H plantboy@gmail.com
Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:50:21 PST
This year I put my summer dormant bulbs (both South African and
Californian) in their pots against a sunny south-facing wall, where temps
probably break 100F at least 15 days during the summer. In that location,
they receive no rain, and I didn’t water them at all, even the (relatively
few) amaryllids. I just repotted them all and most are looking very
good—healthy roots and not dessicated, and many are beginning to grow.

The year before I kept them in the basement, where the temp rarely hits
75F, and although the bulbs looked fine when I reported them that fall,
many of them failed to break dormancy that winter and I lost quite a few to
rot. I will be putting them against that south facing wall again this
summer!

The winter dormant bulbs (mostly South American) I keep in their pots in a
slightly greenhouse (min temp 35-40F), or unpotted in plastic baggies in
the refrigerator (very dry, or wrapped in paper towels to protect them from
condensed water droplets against the inside of the bag). That seems to work
well.

On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 10:21 AM Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote:

> I live in coastal northern California and I keep my winter dormant soft
> African bulbs either in my unheated greenhouse on the floor in winter
> (Haemanthus, Cyrtanthus, Nerine, Gloriosa, Sandersonia) or sheltered a
> bit from the wet outside (Eucomis and Merwilla). I expect my
> temperatures are similar to Sylvia's.
>
> As for the summer dormant bulbs the ones that live in the greenhouse
> year round (like some of the Nerines) stay there, but I move the rest
> that aren't in pots in pots in my raised beds to shady areas of the
> garden and don't water them except sometimes seedlings. Like Ken I give
> ones with perennial roots water every now and then.
>
> Mary Sue
>
>
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