Watering fall bulbs

John Lonsdale john@johnlonsdale.net
Tue, 06 Sep 2005 08:22:50 PDT
Jim,

Anything outside gets what nature delivers in the form of 
rainfall.  I assume your saffron crocus are in the ground? 
 Mine here won't flower for at least another month.  I 
never water dormant bulbs outside, unless they are 
tolerant and happen to be interplanted with something that 
screams for water from a hose.  The frequency and amount 
of rainfall determines the flowering time here, and this 
year is and will continue to be late because we are so 
dry, albeit not baking hot anymore.

Regarding bulbs in pots, I water newly potted cyclamen 
seedlings as soon as they are potted up, anytime from the 
beginning of August onwards.  They are fine with this. 
 Anything else gets a first watering sometime in the first 
2-3 weeks of September, but definitely not before the 
daytime temps are firmly in the low 80s and at night it 
gets into the high 50s and low 60s.  Compost around newly 
repotted bulbs wets much better than compost in pots not 
repotted, so that it is important to regularly 'soak' the 
non-repotted pots several times over a few days to get to 
the same moisture level as in those that were repotted. 
 If you don't do this you end up with a bunch of things 
much drier than they like to be.  Once the compost in 
everything is well wetted, I back off considerably and 
don't water again until they are on the dry side.

J.


On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 10:17:21 -0500 James Waddick 
<jwaddick@kc.rr.com> wrote:

>Freinds;
> 	Does this include watering for Saffron crocus? I am 
>expecting 
> flowers soon, but also awaiting some more rain. Should I 
>water?
> 	It is a bit early.
> 
> 		Best	Jim W.


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