Cyrtanthus herrei

Roy Herold rherold@yahoo.com
Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:23:10 PDT
I've been growing Cyrtanthus herrei for a few years after receiving 
small seedlings from Steve Hammer. They are now a couple of inches in 
diameter, in skinny deep tree pots (maybe 3"sq x 8" deep). Obviously 
they are nowhere near blooming, unfortunately.

My growing situation is decidedly shady in most locations, and they do 
not seem at all bothered by these conditions. The biggest problem I have 
had is with mold/rot/mildew attacking the top of the bulb when it stays 
too wet. As the skin cracks when the bulb expands, moisture gets in and 
it gets very unhappy. This happened twice, once when I had the pots 
outside for their first summer, and subsequently in the greenhouse when 
I top watered. Peeling and drying helped them recover. This would 
probably not happen at all in a less humid climate like Ken's in San 
Diego, but east coasters should beware.

I'm sure the bulbs would be much larger if they had stayed drier. That 
said, they seem to love wet feet, so keep them pumped up. They'd like 
some deeper pots, too, as the roots seem to fold up at the bottom. Here 
they appear to do most of their growth in the summer, as winters in the 
cold greenhouse slow them down a bit.

Roy
NW of Boston


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