No dormancy - was: Boophone planting

Leo Martin stnalpsoel@gmail.com
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 11:21:21 PDT
Garak wrote


> Obviously it's quite easy to keep drought-triggered bulbs from dormancy,
> but what about others?  last July i wrote to the list about a Tigridia
> Phillipiana which went dormant in a rather young state in the middle of
> northern Hemisphere  June - sadly, it never emerged again. So I have
> some new seedlings, started them earlier to give them the whole winter
> for gaining strength, but I feel i should better try keep them "awake".
> Drought doesn't seem to be the trigger, as last years  specimen was kept
> together with T. orthantha, which grew on. so: is it worth the try to
> put them to the cool basement under lights in Mai? or could they be
> short day plants? I'd think if they were they'd start dormancy long
> before june.
>
> How about Ferraria crispa? my seedlings sown in fall don't seem too
> strong by now, can they be kept from going dormant? what's their trigger?
>

I'm not familiar with that Tigridia, but many species are relatively
high-altitude, cool-growing summer plants. If they get too hot, that is the
end. At higher elevations, air temperatures where other species grow can be
in the 25-32C / 78-90 F range. Nights even in the summer may require a
heavy jacket. However, they grow in the ground, where soil is not exposed
to heat, as would be the case in a small seedling container.

If I keep watering Ferraria crispa seedlings, they remain in leaf until
temperatures get in the 32C / 90 F range. Then they go dormant. Even small
ones are surprisingly strong, and come back next fall. In your situation I
would keep watering until they begin to yellow on their own.


Leo Martin
Zone 9?
Phoenix Arizona USA



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