When to start watering--Second time around

Last year about this time we had an extremely interesting discussion about
when to start watering our winter growing bulbs, especially if we have
protected them in dormancy or live in an area where it is dry in summer. If
you were not part of our list then you might want to look at the archives
for October 2003:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…

When I was in South Africa I asked people when they started watering their
bulbs. Gordon Summerfield said if his bulbs had not started into growth by
April 15 (October 15 I guess that would make it in the northern hemisphere)
he watered them very well then. Others said that seemed about right, but
they'd water any others earlier if they showed signs of life. I don't
believe anyone said they watered their bulbs in summer, but they do get
some rainfall in summer so that no doubt makes a difference. Members of our
list who insisted that they lost their bulbs without watering them in
summer were mostly from Southern California which has a much shorter
rainfall season with less rain than we get in Northern California and I
expect higher night time temperatures as well.

I had an extremely interesting discussion with Alan Horstmann about this
subject of when to start watering. He observed that in the wild there were
many South African bulbs that had a very short growing season in response
to the amount of rainfall they get. If those are watered early they are in
growth much longer than they normally would be and if they bloom in their
regular time frame their leaves may have become untidy. So he is going to
experiment with starting to water some of these much later to see if they
would then become a more attractive pot subject. Genera he mentioned he was
thinking about experimenting with were Tritonias and Ixias. This resonated
with me since many of these bloom really late in the season for me and with
all the rain I get their leaves look awful by then. Many of them are coming
up now as I watered them before I left and that means they would be in
growth from September-October to when they start drying up in May, a very
long time.

He also talked about some of the Lachenalias that come from very dry
habitats. Some of these also are from cold areas. Gordon had told us to
water them from below and shelter them from the dew which he thought caused
more problems than rain so he was growing them under cover. My notes from
Alan were species like L. isopetala, zebrina, doleritica, obscura, and even
mutabilis (although this last one has a wider distribution so it may depend
on its origins.) Alan had a very tiny Lachenalia he was growing that was
quite choice that he had keyed out to be mutabilis.

Finally Alan had some gorgeous pots of Daubenya aurea in bloom. Most of us
who would have seen them would have wanted to add them to their collection.
Alan told us that he had the very best luck getting them to bloom this year
after taking them out of the soil and storing them dry for three months in
the refrigerator to provide the proper cooling before potting them. So mine
that did not come up last year at all I dumped out of the soil when I got
back and they are getting chilled. Since this is a bit late to start we
will see how the delayed planting works.

Mary Sue