On 7 Apr 05 at 8:39, Judy Glattstein wrote: > And what about bulbs that do not synchronize flower and leaf production? > The majority of colchicum for example - flowering must draw on stored > food reserves. These reserves then, are not replenished until leaves grow > the following spring. And the clever colchicums also wait until spring to > produce their seeds, when food reserves are re-supplied. On 7 Apr 05 at 7:57, Merrill Jensen wrote: > I've always followed the "Observe, Deduce, Apply" method of fertilization > in these cases. No foliage, no fertilizer. I have applied any good > organic fertilizer just when the new leaves start to nose out of the > ground. This has worked well in the past and I'll do this with my new > South African friend, Amaryllis belladonna... I'm not so sure the "no foliage, no fertilizer" rule is sound. A few years ago, I decided that my entire garden needed fertilization: the soil is a pretty good heavy loam, but in the forty years since the house was built, there's been a constant crop of vegetation taken off it, and I felt that the basic nutrients were very likely depleted. More by accident than design, I ended up broadcasting fertilizer on the entire garden in early September so it could be washed into the soil by the rains that started a few weeks later. [I used 13-16-10 at a rate of about 2 oz per square yard.] Everything was fertilized: lawn and flower beds both, willy nilly. The next spring, to my surprise, many spring bulbs flowered more strongly than in the past, including e.g. Narcissus 'Peeping Tom'. [Peeping Tom is right by my front steps and gets more attention than many others.] I had always understood that in narcissus, the flower primordia are formed the previous summer and hence inferred that fall fertilization would have no effect on flowering the next spring. I suspect the "no foliage no fertilizer" rule is flawed because bulbs can and do push roots out into the soil very early, and these roots *must* be absorbing nutrients. Photosynthesis comes later when the foliage emerges. Fall fertilization isn't necessarily a panacea, but it has had surprisingly good results for me. There's a sense that since most plants are actively growing in the early fall, they absorb nutrients then to boost their performance when warm weather returns in the spring. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island