----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Shaw" <jshaw@opuntiads.com> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 7:32 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Planting dormant Crinum and scabrum question Thanks Joe. > Also, I have read that scabrum is the only Crinum that goes "truly dormant" > for winter. I took that to mean that it was naturally deciduous rather than being defoliated and halted by frost. Perhaps in its home in Africa, it would naturally die back during the dry season, but might continue green until frost under cultivation. > 1. I would be loathe to violate any advice proffered by Tony A., unless > another authority had found an alternative approach to zone-breaking. I'm the same way......Tony, if you're following this, won't you chime in with any further7b tips? I'm near Charlotte and nearer 8b than you guys in the Triangle, so I'm hoping I don't have to go a foot deep...I'd have to work the soil a good deal below that and I'm just hoping to avoid that if I can.........not lazy, just not as young as I once was. ;-) (But which of us is!?) My scabrums are from the north of zone 8b and are old local stock, so I think that will help. The grower states that they are hardy from *7a* south, but didn't mention setting them *deep*. That's one of the things that has me wondering. It may be a matter of applying a good mulch regardless in order not to have to say "they did well for x-number of years and then I lost them" in an unusually cold winter. Maybe I'm just being too cautious........ > 2. <snip> However, as I read over > the manuscript in question, C. scabrum does not seem to be mentioned. C. scabrum seems to slip through a lot of cracks. I bet it's that early error about Brazil still haunting us. > 5. Offsets still attached to the mother bulb should be fairly impervious to > deep planting (just guessing) as long as the mother bulb is OK. Good to hear that. > 6. 10 inches deep, for the bottom of a bulb, doesn't worry me too much, but > plants are like kids--what works for some is a mistake for others. > 7. C. scabrum has some cold hardiness, but I wouldn't plant it near the > surface if the ground freezes deeply. > Joe Our soil only freezes a coupla-few (obscure technical term) inches deep but soon thaws again. This is usually in January and unless it's a really bad winter, is never for very long. Isn't there anyone doing any "neck-stretching"? Robert.