Re-rooting a Cyclamen

Rodger Whitlock totototo@telus.net
Fri, 20 Dec 2013 10:52:25 PST
On 19 Dec 2013, at 13:42, Laura & Dave wrote:

> ...One of our cats ... discovered softer digging in one of my protected pots.
> Unfortunately, it unearthed an eight year old Cyclamen graecum tuber, and in
> the process broke its taproot off just below the tuber.  The tuber is about
> the size of a golf ball, firm and with a few leaves. Is there any hope that
> it will put out new roots? What can I do to help it along, besides putting
> it back into its cleaned pot. The tuber itself appears undamaged.

Wash the tuber free of soil under a gentle spray of water. Pat dry the break, 
then dust it with sulfur. Repot in clean washed sand, in a terra cotta pot 
plunged in a sand bed. Be patient. Sand because it doesn't support the growth 
of fungi and bacteria that might otherwise invade the wound and rot the tuber.

The broken off part of the root may be capable for forming shoots, so dust that 
with sulfur too, but otherwise leave it alone. Don't expect miracles, but 
nothing ventured, nothing gained.

No guarantees; this is just what I would do under like circumstances.

Incidentally, here in Victoria BC, Cyclamen graecum is fully hardy and grows 
much more strongly and flowers much more freely if planted out. Plenty of sun, 
and in a well drained site so there's no standing water even during our wettest 
winters.


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate



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