Crocosmia fail

Two years ago, I got a Lucifer crocosmia. It was a nice big plant, and seemed to bloom happily. At the very end of the season, I noticed a few brown leaves, but didn't think much of it. The second year, the brown leaves came earlier, but still after most of the blooming was done. This year, the brown leaves started before the blooms, and the flowers were hit as well. By this time, there's barely anything left of the plant!

The only information I've found on crocosmia leaves going brown is to do with mites and thrips. I can't say I've noticed any significant insect activity on the plant, however. It gets plenty of sun and moisture, and the soil is well-drained and amended with compost. The surrounding plants are all quite healthy.

Any advice or ideas as to why this is happening? Should I just throw out the plant and get a new one and plant it in a different spot? Help!

You only have ONE Crocosmia corm?

I have one patch of crocosmia that did not bloom at all this year, and turned brownish like yours early on in the season. I did not look closely at them, but I would suspect either mites or thrips on them too. The symptoms looked the same as the gladiolas that I used to plant. Thrips were always a problem so I threw all the glads away since I did not want to deal with regular spraying. Thrips (tiny little things) are very plant specific so they won't affect the plants that are surrounding the Lucifer.

You can keep mites and thrips under control with spraying - look up what is recommended in your area.

As Kay commented, crocosmias form a lot of little corms, so maybe you can dig up what you have, and assuming the corms have multiplied, you can try planting them in different areas.

Come to think of it. Neither my 'Lucifer' the red, or my yellow blooming showed any sign of life this year. Nor my neighbor's a lovely orange blooming Croc. bloomed this year. Hmmm.

I bought a small pot of yellow crocosmias last year, and they bloomed nicely this year. I am hoping that the corms have multiplied so that I can have a few more patches in my yard. I have had the orange crocosmias for years - they grow really well for a few years, and then die off. But, they seem to find their way to other parts of my yard and thrive there for a bit. Has any of you experience this boom or bust cycle for your crocosmias? I don't know what variety I have - it was passed on to me. Here is my yellow one.

And here is a patch of my orange ones that did extremely well last year - and nothing this year. Just turned brown prematurely and no blooms. Probably thrips or mites did them in.

soilandup, those look lovely and vibrantly healthy. What's a shame, whatever happened to them. In my garden, I think I maybe voles that ate the roots and bulbs. Same thing happened to my toad lilies. I just bought some Crocs. corms 'Emily Mckinzie' (on sale), I hope they're still viable getting them this late.