Scoliopus bigelovii
John (Fri, 28 Jan 2005 11:55:51 PST)

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 11:22:11 -8 "Rodger Whitlock"
<totototo@pacificcoast.net> wrote:

Roger,

I'm not sure I'd recommend this, and I don't know anyone
who uses such an approach. Sitting any cyclamen in a pot
in a saucer permanently filled with water is a recipe for
rot, especially whilst dormant in the summer. With the
exception of C. graecum and maybe persicum, cyclamen have
pretty pathetic root systems that will rapidly rot if too
wet when dormant (or even when in growth). They hate
being over-potted, with a lot of unused or stagnant
compost around them. It has been hypothesized that C.
graecum likes to have some moisture at the roots whilst
dormant and this improves flowering. After playing around
with this for several years in several ways I've not been
able to see a consistent correlation, and I know for
certain that too damp will be disastrous. Last year my
hundreds of graecum flowered quite the best ever and they
received no water for 3 months. No cyclamen, except
possibly rohlfsianum, likes undiluted heat, and over
desiccation is detrimental. The tubers with thin skins
(coum, the repandum complex for example) are very
susceptible, as is hederifolium, strangely. Once a tuber
is wrinkly and shrivelled it can be carefully rehydrated
but this can lead to rot if it very hot. I have taken to
witholding water from all my cyclamen from mid-June to
mid-September, apart from an occasional quick flicking
over with a hosepipe if they are quite dry. I do keep the
pots in a shaded greenhouse and also put a sheet of
insulation over the pots of those that most dislike the
heat. Cyclamen graecum is like the oncocyclus irises in
the summer - asleep on top but busy down below - they also
have deeply delving perennial root systems. I suspect
Scoliopus is the same and mine are kept pretty dry on top
in the summer but never hot and desiccated down below

J.