Oxalis adenophylla

Rodger Whitlock totototo@mail.pacificcoast.net
Sat, 22 Nov 2003 20:32:46 PST
On 19 Nov 03 at 11:35, Judy Glattstein wrote:

> This fall I purchased 5 Oxalis adenophylla. I potted the firm, dark
> brown string covered tubers in a pot which was placed on the floor
> of my cool greenhouse (heated to 50° F.) Curiosity is this cat's
> besetting sin (but remember that while curiosity killed the cat,
> satisfaction brought her back.) So I did some poking around on
> Monday. Four are rotted and one has two white roots. Gently repotted
> into a smaller pot. So it cannot be winter low temperature that is
> the problem.

I've had Oxalis adenophylla -- the ordinary form you buy dried in the 
fall, just like yours -- in my garden for about 15 years and it just 
keeps on trucking along. I planted some more new ones last fall 
(2002), bought cheap at an end-of-season markdown, and all (most?) of 
them leafed out and grew just fine this last spring.

As far as I'm concerned, this species is as tough as old boots and 
reports of difficulty with it puzzle me.

The older planting is in rather heavyish soil, the newer in quite 
sandy soil, but neither spot ever gets standing water in the winter. 
Not in full unabashed sun; shady in winter, noon sun in summer.

Let me hazard a guess: you kept the bulbs too warm, and fungal growth 
outstripped plant growth.

-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate

on beautiful Vancouver Island


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