Ferraria culture in the Pacific Northwest??
Mary Sue Ittner (Sat, 17 Jan 2004 12:36:38 PST)

Dear Dave,

We've talked a little about Ferraria before you joined us. The search
feature on our archives isn't working very well at the moment. But if you
go to Google and put in Ferraria and pbs you will find that we talked about
this subject in October 2003.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…

Look under New Member/Ferraria crispa

My experience has been that Ferrarias are not very hardy (read mush when we
got into the low to mid 20ties) and do better in the ground than in
containers and that they can go very deep. The trouble with planting them
deeply is that won't help if they are in growth when it is cold.

George Krasle from Seattle told the IBS list many years ago he had
converted his to a summer growing cycle since they couldn't tolerate his
winters. And they were very happy. I tried to do this without luck. And he
quickly dropped off that list and his email no longer worked so I could
never get more information about how he did it. Mine wanted to be on a
winter cycle.

Ferraria can get very tall, but then it falls over so that means it no
longer is tall unless you stake it.

The one I grow as Ferraria crispa norterii (which is no longer considered
to be a subspecies) I've been able to grow and flower quite successfully in
a 8 inch pot. I think that one could be moved inside or to a greenhouse
when extreme cold was expected.

Maybe Rand Nicholson can tell us how his are faring since he was the one to
raise the question.

If yours haven't sprouted yet, maybe you could try to hold them and see if
moisture would get them going in spring.

Mary Sue