planting depth
Johannes Ulrich Urban (Thu, 21 Nov 2019 10:47:24 PST)

Hello Matt,

Welcome to our society! You will find that the Pacific Bulb Society has
a lot of collective knowledge from members all over the world. Most
members are based in the US but there are a lot in other countries, too.
Personally I always got a good reply to a question I have asked. My
garden is in Portugal and I used to live in Germany before.

Planting depth of Bulbs. Bulbs are bulbs because they are bulbs...... I
want to say that bulbs come from natural harsh conditions so they have
their own emergency food pack always with them. And they are used to
stress, some even do not perform (well) without a certain stress like
drought, cold, fire.

Almost all bulbs can choose their optimal depth themselves. The bulbs in
general find it more difficult to move upwards if planted too deep but
from experience I can say that bulbs can come up from incredible depths.
Both in nature and in the garden if accidentally buried too deep, for
example during excavation works. I have never lost a bulb because I
planted it too deep. If planted too shallow the bulb will drag itself
down. They form so called contractile roots which loosen the soil below
the bulbs so that it can move downwards.

Again in other words, no need to worry too much about planting depth,
bulbs are in general very forgiving for mistakes. A good rule of thumb
is to plant bulbs twice as deep as they are in diameter. Very flat big
bulbs or tubers like Arisaema or Dracunculus should go deeper but not
Cyclamen.  Some plants form a large part of their roots above the bulbs,
like many Lilium species and hybrids and all Aroids. They would suffer
if planted too shallow but still survive.

There are some bulbs with special requirements concerning the depth of
planting. Lilium candidum for example wants to be planted with the neck
just at soil level, Bearded Iris want their rhizomes to be exposed and
heated by the sun and the winter growing Tropaeolum tubers would descend
so deeply if planted in the open garden that they will never be found
again. Some Tulipa do that, too, and when raised from seed even in deep
pots they like to escape through the drainage holes if stood on suitable
ground.

And, Matt, when I saw your signature I noticed that you live in
Ferndale. I do not know if there are several Ferndales in California, if
not, there is Telos Rare Bulbs also in Ferndale. I do not know if the
owner receives visitors but it may be worthwile asking. Diana Chapman is
also on this list and I hope she does not mind me mentioning this. Just
look at her website.

Do feel free to ask all your questions! Sometimes it may happen that you
will be referred to the archives of the Wiki if it is a question that
has been asked over and over again. But still, there is nothing wrong
with asking.

Happy growing!

Uli

_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…