Hi Sylvia,
In addition to the other suggestions offered by others there is the possibility that your corms are still small and that your larger ones may end up blooming next season. This depends on just how small (1st year?) they were when you acquired them in Jan 2019.
I have been growing S. tricolor in my yards in Hayward (1990?-2005) and Castro Valley (2016 to present), in a similar climate to Oakland. I have also grown them in Fresno in the blazing heat there (2005-2016).
These all began with corms purchased around 1990 and planted in Hayward, with transplanting to Fresno in 2005 and from Fresno to Castro Valley in 2016. Most of my Hayward plantings were in fun sun, whereas my Castro Valley yard lacks areas with full sun, so the S. tricolor planting areas get a moderate amount of sun but are all shaded at some point of the day. As I have propagated little cormlets over the years I find that there is, on the average about a 2 year time between when I get the small corms from near ground level of the larger clumps or the little ones that grow a bit higher on the foliage (harvested after foliage dries up), plant them, and get them to flower, but some have taken longer (3-4 years). Given that some of them have taken longer (up to 4 years from planting), it is possible that yours may be on that sort of pace.
The treatment of the corms in the ground during dormancy varies depending on what the plantings are next to. Those planted next to other bulbs etc. with a similar active season, such as Babiana, get little to no water during the summer, whereas others next to some of my summer-active plantings (such as Dierama, Neomarica) get wet during their dormant season.
Best wishes to seeing your Sparaxis bloom next season.
Cheers,
John
On Friday, April 30, 2021, 08:04:40 AM PDT, Sylvia Sykora via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
>
> The recent discussions and explanations have been enormously useful not only to new bulb growers but for those of us bumbling along for years never quite getting the dormancy seasons correctly managed. Yesterday I spent a good hour among the seedling bulb pots, some seemingly - but not - empty of life, others with small green spears, organizing and relocating. This seems a good time to ask if someone can suggest why my January 2019 planted and locally sourced (SF Bay Area) small Sparaxis cormels have never bloomed. The cormels remain in the pot where originally planted and continue to send up green spears each winter with the rains, but these do not bloom and eventually - as now - wither and go into dormancy. Is it a question of bulb size or of culture? The pot spends the summer outdoors in shade with occasional light applications of moisture. The annually appearing growth means, at least, things remain alive.
>
> Many thanks for suggestions on how best to treat these bulbs.
>
> Sylvia Sykora in Oakland, CA (Sunset Zone 16)
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