First Summer For Lachenalia
ConroeJoe@aol.com (Sun, 21 Nov 2004 13:24:52 PST)

Hi,

I was concerned about over-summering some Lachenalia seedlings this past
summer, their first summer. I had germinated them a bit late (some didn't
germinate till late February) and they were not very big plants at the start of
summer.

The general advice was to dry them down; most thought they wouldn't make it
through a tropical-type summer as we have here in the greater Houston, TX area.
A year earlier I had successfully killed a few Lachenalia seedlings when I
tried to keep them outdoors all summer-they really resented wetness coupled
with warm days and nights.

So, I put my seedlings indoors about the beginning of June-I withheld water
and just kept them in a bright window-they died down eventually, and I supposed
they had made tiny storage bulbs. The pots were small (12 ounce plastic
cups) and the soil dried quickly and completely indoors, so I put about a teaspoon
of water in the pots every other week. I don't know if this water was
helpful-but it was therapeutic for me.

Finally, about 6 weeks ago, I put the pots back outside; this was just as an
extremely warm October arrived-but with little rain-and no Lachenalia
appeared. However, in the past 3 weeks, every single species has started to send up
leaves-they were probably just waiting for nights to get a bit cooler. I'm
pleased that they survived so well-the advice I got to dry them down for summer
was very good advice indeed.

They have been planted in a mix that is about 50% humus, 25% coarse sand, and
25% perlite. I don't know if this is what they prefer. For now, they don't
need new pots so perhaps I'll leave them in the drinking cups another year.

Conroe Joe