Crinum Division.

I just dug a big clump of Crinum x powelii and am wondering about a few things. I plan to pot these up but may replant some later in the summer. I'm in zone 7b and the bulbs are quite dormant now. I'll be potting up all the healthy bulbs in Peter's mix and will keep indors for now. Should this start them back into growth?

I have some bubs that have lost part or all of the basal plate. How should I care for these? Should I apply rooting hormone? Should they dry a bit first?

Then there's the basal plates (with fleshy roots attached).Sould I plant these? Is so: How deep? Will these form bulblets on top of the plate?

Thanks.
Robert.

Hi Robert,
I just dug mine up today also and wondered the same thing. while googling, this is what I found out. It does say to plant as soon as possible if they have roots.

hope this link works.

http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/crin_xpo.cfm

Hey Gourd~

I can understand why they suggest replanting ASAP. I noticed how quickly the fleshy roots dry out! In no time at all they were shriveling.

I potted all the bulbs up and took them inside. Today's temp was quite warm for early March, 77F. But that's the temperate zone for you. It'll be night temps back to 29F by Sunday. I don't want them to start into strong growth too soon as I have very poor light in the place I have to keep them til the nights warm up to stay.

Largest bulbs were each several pounds. I'll keep a couple potted indoors through the winter, I just don't have room for the whole lot. I'm going to either amend the soil and put the rest back where they were or prepare a nice rich spot somewhere else where I can keep them well-watered in summer. They've faithfully bloomed each year, but in a richer soil, I know they could be *fabulous*.

I didn't do anything with the basal plates that I man-handled off their bulbs as I wrestled the mass apart. (Now I know why they say it's best to leave them alone.) What a chore to dig that huge hole! And still I cut through root ends at 2 1/2 feet out form the edge of the clump. Those roots are so brittle anyway, I broke a lot just handling the mass.

I used my hose with a spray end to wash all the soil off and teased the bulbs apart, but I guess you know how tightly knotted together they can be. I tried to be careful but it takes a *lot* of patience and a gentle hand to get them apart without damage. or should I say, without a lot of damage? I really could have been gentler..........but they love staying together!

I started with a single bulb a *long* time ago and I swear, all the 16 bulbs I dug up were still all connected to each other at the bulb plate! And those roots weave themselves into a ball that wants to *stay* a ball! I couldn't believe it. I heartily agree with anyone who says that dividing an old established clump is a major undertaking!

I also dug up a clump of Agapanthus 'Queen Anne' that was in the wrong type soil. I had it in a dryish border of clayey soil that also gets pretty dry in summer despite my watering efforts. It acclimatized quite well to our coldish winters which for the last two years have been colder than I recall. More nights in the 20's than is "normal".

I have never given it any winter protection and it only shows light frost damage to the tips. But again, it hugs the ground and lies almost flat! Flat but healthy seeming. I know it can't be happy with that, so I've finally decided to try to make it flourish.

I took pity on the poor stunted thing so far from what it would prefer (the Monrovia tag says it's A. africanus and prefers no colder than zone 8, rich soil with good drainage and good moisture.

It has always stayed very short (8") and has never bloomed in the 5 or more (I guess) years that I've had it. I got four very large bulbs and potted them up in Miracle-Gro soil (the same as above that I mis-called Peter's---d'oh!). I was surprised at how larger the bulbs were because of the poor showing they have given.

I put them all in a 12" pot and I know they'll do much better there. I don't think I'll put them back in the ground unless they hate what poor light I am able to give them indoors in winter.

Robert.

Oh man, what a job you did yesterday. From the 5 or 6 bulbs I put in about 5 years ago, I got 50 total yesterday, but have not replanted them. It was late about 5 pm when It entered my mind to dig, then it got dark on me. Today will be a shore for sure. The ones I have are a light pink color, don't know the name and they have only bloomed once that I remember, and may have not seen them bloom after that, they are too far away from the house. They have been in a very shady spot and not doing as well or gotten as big as they should have either, so that is one reason that I decided to move them.

Maybe closer to the house they will get more attention. Also, I had not thought of putting them into containers, that may be what I do with some of them. The biggest ones were not all that big, mostly because they did not get water for several months inbetween, so they did not grow that well. It rained for several hours here a couple of days ago so it was a good time to dig here.

There are a couple of clumps of Agapanthus and they need to be moved also, where they can get more water. The older we get, the smarter we get about where we plant things. They are too far away from the house also. (WHAT was I thinking when I put them there?).


Thanks for all the information about these. This year I started with some Large Squill (2 bulbs) and they are already leafing out.. I can hardly wait till they bloom.

Antoinette

Antoinette~

White squill (Urginea maritima)? Oh if only I could grow one here! I have been thinking of getting one anyway.....My problem is poor poor winter light and those squills are winter growers. :-( I think there isn't anywhere in the yard protected enough to grow them outdoors without a lot of damage or death. I am envious of your climate!

Wish list: A nice heated greenhouse with a trust fund to keep it going from then on!

The only thing neg. about potting crinums is that they will break most everything you put them in eventually. They're called "tub plants" and I guess that means supported whisky barrels and such if not cast iron cauldrons! I guess if you keep up with the dividing, they'll do ok.

I just read that it's better to divide crinums in the summer so you don't lose a season (or two) of blooms. But I am not going to dig a huge clump of anything in our humid summer heat! Not even for free bulbs!

Some say they've transplanted and not missed a season's bloom but I guess it depends on how they were growing before, when transplanted, how little damage is done etc.

I think if they're potted large and divided every few years in summer that wouldn't be so bad. You can drag the pot to a shady area to work on it!

I was looking at the crinum bulbs and they look just like narcissus bulbs only 10x bigger!

What type crinum was yours? 50 bulbs, WOW!

I went to eBay and bought three 3" diameter Crinum scabrum (Wine and Milk Lily) for 11.99 and 8.99 shipping (20.98), "But it now" option. from talljohn101. I think I got a good deal (if you don't count the shipping). (tee-hee).
I've wanted some of that one for soooo long! Happy dance!

Robert.

That's great, sounds like you got a great buy. The Wine & Milk is also a favorite of mine..

Well, got them all into the ground (or raised beds), decided to put them all into three of the raised veggie beds made out of wood. They are at the end of each bed and will be there for a few years. There is still room for the veggies but hopefully will have flowers there when there is nothing else.

You know on one of the web sites they said that it is best to order criniums during the growing season like Feb, Mar, and April. So that means they have to dig them up at this time. Maybe it is alright to dig and divide too during this time.

Tomorrow I will take photos of my giant squill (I think it is the Red one) the bulbs are red and weighed 8 lbs each when I got them late last year. They are as big or almost as big as a human head..lol.

I don't know how long they take to multiply, but read that they also produce seed capsules, the seed looks kind of like the Agapanthus seed, very thin and papery from the photos.

The crinium I have was given to me by a lady that goes to old homes and rescues plants from homes that are being restored or torn down. She said they were big fat bulbs and that's all I knew about them. After I traded most of them away, one of the ladies told me that I had some criniums.. they are a light pink, very pretty. Hopefully they were not too disturbed now that I moved them (they did have alot of roots in tact) and maybe they will bloom this year, at least some of them. I wish I had known what they were five years ago before I traded most of them. That was my first year gardening.

A.

Gourd you will find that most bulbs or rhizomes of this type of plant are best divide in spring just as it is warming and they are going into growth, that way they will make roots quickly and establish without too much stress. Good luck, you sound to be discovering the joy of plants!

wallaby1,
Thank you for the information. Yes, just really discovering bulbs.. I want all of them. I guess I got discouraged one year after planting several Tulips (about 100) under a couple of fruit trees. Well, they never came up. I thought maybe they were upsidedown or something, but later found out that the gophers probably ate them.

I am hoping to get some crocus and trilliums too. Don't know when or where yet..lol.

A.

www.vanengelen.com for crocus, really cheap. Do gophers like them?

Trillium you should be able to find at www.plantdelights.com

Gourd~

I planted three dozen tulips a few years ago and only one small one came up.

Culprit: Voles!

They have really put a damper on what I'm willing to put in the ground. I have one placr left where I have some tulips and one hosta (a vole faveorite, too).

Maybe crinums are toxic to voles too and mine haven't been touched. I know they're listed as poisonous to humans and can cause contact dermatitis.

And strangely, none of my hemerocallis (daylilies) have shown any damage though the voles burrow through the clumps.

Robert.

Antoinette~

(Forgot you're Gourd too!) :-Z

Thanks for sharing about you crinums. Hope they bloom for you and you can post some pix.

The ones I potted up are showing some growth though they're in a coolish basement. I cut the damaged and mushy tops from them and now the centers of the necks are getting longer.

I went to the Southern Spring show in Charlotte, NC this week and got a few amaryllis ("hippies") and two hemerocallis: "Sulfur Queen" and x festalis. Small bulbs and not expensive.

Robert.

Hymenocallis I think you mean if it's x festalis and Sulphur Queen.

That's what I meant.
Didn't smell-check my post. For sulphur.......
I had daylilies on my mind from the previous post.

Robert.

I really massacred my 'Mrs. James Hendry' crinum last summer when I tried to get some young bulbs off. Amazingly, that just stimulated more growth; the plant put out many new bulblets and has been blooming steadily all winter. It has a huge bud on it right now.
These are very resilient plants.

Oki Doki,
Here are my Giant Red Squill bulbs starting to leaf out. They are huge.

Here is another that shows the bulbs a little better.

Here are the raised beds with the crinums at the edges. It was really couldy here today.

Gourd we had your sunshine here for a change! Looks like you have been busy. I don't know what those giant red squills are, an 8lb bulb is heavy, do you know the scientific name?

Hi wallaby1,

the giant squill are Urginea maritima, when they bloom, watch out.

I found this http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2227/


just added my photo to the database

This message was edited Mar 6, 2006 8:11 PM

So it's Mediterranean, here's some info. I think it would be too tender for here.

http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/plants/Drimia.maritima.cfm

Great pix Gourd. Thanks. You have some nice plantings there. The raised beds are awesome!

We're haveing our usual "early spring" here: sudden unseasonably warm days followed by the usual cold of winter. A few days ago we had a couple of mid-seventies (F) days and then back to 40-50 days, just now, with frost at night. This weekend temps may be back near 80F! And of course there will be more hard frosts. Our latest last frost date is May 2, but things are usually good for planting outside by April 15. You just have to be careful "what you plant when and where". So, I cart plants out during the days and then back in at night, or leave certain ones out, etc. About the time I'm absolutely tired of that routine, the weather is pretty much settled and my plants are pretty much acclimatized. They'd better be! I really get so fed up with that, that I have *almost* refused to bring in plants due to late frosts, but I remind myself of what I've gone through up to that point....and I go through it again.

Why don't they just give people nice greenhouses and free fuel and electricity? Hunh? ;-)

Robert.

Same here, the weather is very unpredictable... a couple more of my cactus rotted with this rain, then cold, then wet again.. oh well.. back to the drawing board..lol. get some stratedgy going.

Where are those nice FREE greenhouses? I can't and shouldn't complain about this weather, it is a green winter and very tolerable compared to other colder regions. This weather agrees with my old age.. of 52.

A.

My Crinum scabrum "Milk and Wine" lilies came today and I am more than pleased with them! They were listed as 3" dia. bulbs, but the smallest I got is 3.5" and the largest is a solid 4" !! I am so happy!

I potted them up and, as I do at this time of year, will Abe moving them in and out for awhile. I'll prolly put them in a well-prepared and well-planned area later in the summer.

The weather is going to be pretty mild the next few days, so I can leave a l;ot of my potted plants out overnight. This is good. I tend to be a night-owl and don't always get my plants out as soon as I could......

I have several areas all tilled and ready for lots of transplanting. I'll be moving a bed of variegated Solomon's Seal to a richer bed with good part shade. Some other things to move: Dwarf crested iris, cardinal flower, heuchera, pulmonaria, hardy ferns, variegated yucca, bloodroot, trillium, to name a few.

Oh, spring is happening for me. I do my seasons a bit differently from the "proper" way:
Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August.
Fall: Sept, Oct., Nov.
Winter: Dec., Jan. Feb.

It works for me.

Your squills look great, Antoinette. I am so tempted to get one......I might be able to keep it potted and only take it in when it's very cold...I am soooo tempted. I love that plant! I saw a picture of it in the very first plant book (a trade paperback) I got as a boy. I was immediately attracted to that big bulb on top of the ground. it appealed to my (innate?) love of unusual plants.

Robert.

There is supposed to be a nursery near San Diego that carries the giant squill at better prices.. the ones I got were 25.00 ea and now I saw one for sale for 50.00 a piece, can you believe that? They quit selling the bulbs near Oct, I got lucky and was able to get in the last order there. I don't know when they start to sell them again, "easy to grow bulbs" I think the place was called here in CA, will recheck.

Yes, Spring, Spring, Spring, that is the best time here, now summer is another story, too hot in the desert here. July, Aug, and Sept. are over 100 degrees every day. Then we get some nice fall weather.. I love it. Also December BBQ for Christmas is not bad either..lol, our frost nights start in Jan, Feb, March, they are very few but they do lots of leaf damage or just plain damage the whole flowers (all the Aloes that had budding and starting to try to bloom froze), not the plant itself, but the stalks with buds. So now I have to wait for next year, but I have a plan. Next year they will have a blanket at night during the Frost nights.

This is part of my Cactus Garden

Antoinette~

Nice garden. Mmmmmmmm!

Yes, $50.00 is outrageous! The nerve!

I saw then for half that at Easytogrowbulbs and thought about giving them a call as to whether they would still ship at the moment. I have a funny feeling that I'm going to have one this year. (I can almost guarantee it ;-) )

I have six pots of cacti. I have only a general idea of a couple of the genera and am hoping I have a "night-blooming cereus" of one sort or another among them. One of them is one a plant-nut friend gave me and makes a nice ever-expanding mound-clump and has been good about blooming every year I've had it. They're smallish and barrel-like, covered with spines and bloom green.

None of the others have bloomed yet. I've had "the boys" (as I call them for their phalliform shape :-0) for only a couple years. They were in small 3.5" pots and now I have them in 5" ones. They may need to go up again this year as they're growing quite nicely.

Cacti were one of my early interests. When I was in 3rd grade, I had a long window box with 5 or 6 kinds I had gotten from my grandmother and have since loved and appreciated cacti and succulents. I have a Bowiea volubilis and a nice 12" Aloe vera that I hope will bloom this year.

Robert.

PS Apparently they've change Urginea to Drimia. http://www.bulbsociety.com/GALLERY_OF_THE_WORLDS_BULBS/GRAPHICS/Drimia/Drimia_maritima/Drimia_maritima.html

BTW: There's also a great collection of pix from Panos and Stavros.

Edited to add PS


This message was edited Mar 9, 2006 1:37 AM

This message was edited Jun 28, 2007 6:14 PM

Only 6 pots of cactii? I have at least 50 in my house, most in the long kitchen window! I have some agaves I grew from seed August 2004, they are in the shed with a window and go through no probs, they are hardy to -23C, they are a good alternative to aloes, there are plenty that are quite hardy also cold tolerant as they grow in mountains, I have a site somewhere listing all the ones ever documented, will find it and post later.

This agave I have had in a cold greenhouse for 7 years and have several offspring from it, it has been frozen solid with no damage, covered in thick white frost rime down it's central new growth.

I had typed a whole message and lost it.. dont' know what happened, but, this is one of the Agaves that does well in the cold..

Can't remember all I had typed..

oh well..

This agave site may be of interest, I have found it a good resource. The A parryii ssp. huachucensis strangely enough says keep frost free, that is the hardy one to -23C. Perhaps it doesn't like wet, but mine have had quite a bit of frost while in wet soil, albeit in the shed.

Oh and I forgot the agave site!

http://www.agavaceae.com/botanik/pflanzen/botspezies_menu_en.asp?menu=1&bgt=am&genus=AGAVE&gnr=110

That looks familiar, A potaninnii? Look on the site!

Perhaps A potatorum

http://www.agavaceae.com/botanik/pflanzen/botspezies_seite_en.asp?main=3640&menu=1&bgt=am&genus=AGAVE&gnr=110

Oooh, I love that site.. it does look like A. potatorum..

The other d-mail, said something like...

Be careful, cactus and succulents are very addicting and so on.....

here are a couple of photos.. this one really thrived in the cold, but our cold is not the same as your cold..

by the way, I love those agave seedlings.. where did you buy your seeds? That is really something that you grew those.

Here is one more that did well and is doing well.

trying to find my favorite, this also is doing well, better than what I expected. These we also have in these huge pots in the inside garden, so I did not know how they were going to perform out there. Medio Picta

Oh you lucky thing! I love the medio Picta, very difficult to find here. i bought one from an ebayer but it was only a small pup and I think it should have been grown on a bit more, it died! Your variegated one isn't the A americana variegata is it? Looks like a different one, more compact, gorgeous! I have a couple of other sorts that have survived in the greenhouse, got too big for the house! Can't recall the names, the one that has the white lines on and filifera bits, another similar but bigger.

I don't know how I would cope with growing more, would love to though!

I got those from www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com but they are expensive, the seed do grow though and you will find things there that you won't get elsewhere. I got 23/25 germinated, the other 2 were a bit smaller so probably wouldn't have. I had close on 100% with other seed too, they do look to have got a lot more expensive, but have over 40.000 seed types.

If you want agave there is a very cheap source which I have yet to use, mainly because I always have too much else to grow! They have all sorts of succulents and cactii, in Mexico, an American that went there years ago and started growing them. This is the only place I have found some seed that b and t have so I think they buy them from here.

http://www.mesagarden.com/

I don't know why, but my message on this thread dissappeared again yesterday, so I waited till today to rewrite one.

Anyway, yes the Medio Picta is a slow grower as far as the pups are concerned, they seem to take an awful long time to get past the two inch mark. I can save you some of mine here and wait about 5 month or more to mail so they can grow some if you would like some.

A.

Oh that would be great, an agave dream come true! i can send you a couple of my seed grown ones, they do look nice when mature. there is a pic on Plantdelights

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/00016_2.html

I'd love some of those agaves they have!

Janet

Beautiful Agaves!!

And yes, I only have a few cacti as I have *very* little space by windows in winter......

Do either of you recognize this one? Someone gave it to me with no specifics. I have two good-sized smaller plants and have three small pups I've just planted. I keep it potted but have left it outdoors all winter. It seems pretty hardy here. I'm not sure if the dead tips are from too dry or winter damage. I've cut away a few dead tips as you can see.)

Robert.
Ps From Crinums to Agaves in one thread. Makes sense to me! ;-)

Antoinette~

What is the name of the cactus in the pic with the GOR-GEE-OUS medio-picta? It looks quite a lot like one of my "boys".

Robert.

maybe a San Pedro, or night blooming Cereus, one of them.. let me take a couple more photos of them.