[pbs] Cyrtanthus herrei
Roy Herold
rherold at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 22 07:23:10 EDT 2009
I've been growing Cyrtanthus herrei for a few years after receiving
small seedlings from Steve Hammer. They are now a couple of inches in
diameter, in skinny deep tree pots (maybe 3"sq x 8" deep). Obviously
they are nowhere near blooming, unfortunately.
My growing situation is decidedly shady in most locations, and they do
not seem at all bothered by these conditions. The biggest problem I have
had is with mold/rot/mildew attacking the top of the bulb when it stays
too wet. As the skin cracks when the bulb expands, moisture gets in and
it gets very unhappy. This happened twice, once when I had the pots
outside for their first summer, and subsequently in the greenhouse when
I top watered. Peeling and drying helped them recover. This would
probably not happen at all in a less humid climate like Ken's in San
Diego, but east coasters should beware.
I'm sure the bulbs would be much larger if they had stayed drier. That
said, they seem to love wet feet, so keep them pumped up. They'd like
some deeper pots, too, as the roots seem to fold up at the bottom. Here
they appear to do most of their growth in the summer, as winters in the
cold greenhouse slow them down a bit.
Roy
NW of Boston
More information about the pbs
mailing list