Chad and Brian:
Feeding is not over important but strong sunshine is. The floppiness is due to insufficient light. And large single corms are capable of producing a large plant with lots of flowers, no need of the "rosary" to form.
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> When I grew these in my unheated greenhouse I had similar results. The next year I planted them out and I got a few blooms, but less than half the corms bloomed. I have also bloomed them in pots outdoors. The gophers seem to leave them alone even though they look tasty. I am in Zone 9 California. I would guess they need more light and or feeding, but mainly I think they like to build up a string of corms before blooming.
> Can someone advise me on growing Ferraria in the UK?
> I have 1 pot labelled Ferraria crispa, origin tha AGS 2006, and 2 other pots labelled Ferraria sp. origin PBS 2005. Neither have ever flowered. At present the AGS sourced plants have healthy erect leaves up to 12", the PBS sourced shoots are just emerging. Later both will get 15-18" tall and then tend to flop over if not supported. I grow them in a frost free (min 7C) greenhouse.
> I wonder if they need more warmth, or maybe more warmth earlier in the season; i.e. do I start them off too late after the summer, when they would get more light? Maybe they just need feeding more.