Taking Care of Crinums

I was hoping you knowledgeable folks on this forum could shed some light on how to properly care for crinums :)

It is my first year growing them and I have often had people ask what the optimal conditions are for them. I am wondering how large they have to be before they bloom. I have read that they are tolerant of sun/shade, and not picky about soil, water, etc, but I'd like to hear from those who have been successful with them in this area.....cough....tggfisk...lol. Thanks so much

Mine are in full, full sun-like from 8am to when the sun goes down. I think they do benefit from some water-in that if we are in a drought-to water them some-but not as much as you would other plants, partly because I think they might bloom more.

I have heard that they dont like to be disturbed-dug up and moved around, so I picked a place alongside a grhouse that I can't have tall things growing. I love them! Esp the very fragrant ones. Thats all I know about them! Not much, sorry Tropic....I do fert them with a slow release fert and I do mulch them pretty heavily in the fall.

Might want to look on the Plant Delights website--they grow and sell them, and are in the same zone. I've seen them mostly in full sun at their garden, I believe....

Mine are in full sun. But if you have a location that gets some afternoon shade that would be fine too and might help the flowers last longer. Too much shade though and you won't get many flowers. Once established they are drought-tolerant but they need water to grow and bloom well. Mine were a bit late to start blooming this year because it was so dry; now that we're finally getting rain on semi-regular basis I'm getting lots of flowers. I give them a bit of fertilizer in the spring and again in mid-summer. And I do mulch them in the winter. If the bulbs are planted deeply enough they won't freeze but the mulch keeps the tops from getting frozen as much and they grow back faster in the spring.

I'm just a notch warmer but will tell you mine are morning sun ~ shade for the rest of the day. Yes to burying them deeply and I have never mulched. We have temps in the teens twenties in winter and have never lost them. I find they start blooming after a good soaking rain and seem to bloom better when if they get regular moisture...

If started from seed expect from 2- 10 years for blooms. Bulbs will bloom more quickly. I have 3 types of crinum and find care the same for all. pod

disregard that photo ~ sorry but I picked the wrong one... : (

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 9:08 PM

Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge. Mine are in mostly full sun, although some are in more afternoon shade, I'm trying to keep them watered and fertilized well. I have a couple from trades that have leaves that are 2-3 feet long, but I don't know if I should expect blooms the first year after transplanting.

Hey! Sorry I didn't get in on this earlier for you...You know my story for today!

I know that the EB that I sent you wasn't the biggest bulb I dug...No way I was mailing the monster!! It may not flower for you this year...mine has already been flowering. When I planted the original bulb, I thought that it wasn't going to flower and was in the process of telling a neighbor that when I saw the flower stalk coming up...Neighbor thought I was wacky, but what's new;-)
I gave the monster to LavinaMae and she did get flowers this year, I believe.

The Hannibal's Dwarf may take a while. Give that one plenty of water for flowering!

Bev

OK, I thought of something else, I just got some new crinums in and not sure if they will have a chance to be well established before it gets cold.

Should I go ahead and plant them (some are coming in next week)? Or, if I were to pot them and keep them in the GH over winter, would I want to keep them dry?

Just be sure to plant them where they will stay. Transplanting a mature tree would probably be easier than moving an established crinum. The bulbs get enormous!

tggfisk, thanks for mentioning Hannibal"s Dwarf takes a while to bloom. Mine has been stubborn and I was about to shovel prune it. I'll give it a bit more time; it has had plenty of water.

Yep, ardesia...I thought it was just me, but the folks at one of our local vendors told me that they had the same thing happen in their personal gardens. Guess it's a diva;-)
Bev

Well, I guess we can't have everything. The small sized non bloomer vs. the out of control monster that blooms year round.

Maybe someday, maybe...

I just purchased 10 crinums this year. No way they would overwinter in zone 5 (even I don't overwinter well here). I put them in very large (17x17) pots and will be sinking them in the ground for the summer, pulling in the winter. Do I put them in the greenhouse or the basement? I'm not sure how dormant they go (or if I want to lug these monster pots downstairs.). If they go in the greenhouse, how much do I water? The minimum temp in the greenhouse is 55 degrees.
The JC Harvey has bloomed, and I expect others will. I would like more, but they will take up massive amounts of space in the greenhouse unless I can shove them under the benches, but then they will get all the water runoff without much light.

I should think with a 55 temp they will do just fine but they probably won't go dormant for you and they do get BIG.

What do you think about putting them under the benches? Can they stand being rained on by the plants above the benches, or will they rot? And what about the lack of light?
My husband calls the month of September "The Awakening" when I realize all the plants that I have purchased won't fit in a 20'x36' greenhouse.

The 'Awakening" lol ~more like the reckoning here!

Mine stay in ground and we see a number nights of 20s (a few teens) but the ground does not freeze. I also have some in pots and they can remain dry. They won't rot unless left standing in water. By this time the foliage will freeze down so light is not an issue.

Surely they won't freeze in your GH if the temp stays at 55. I don't think you will rot them either as long as their pots drain well. They are such sturdy plants.
Do you have a 'Mrs. James Hendrey'? That one is my favorite; like most of mine, it is an ugly plant but it has the most extraordinary fragrance. Neighbors are always coming by to ask what smells so good.

Tropicanna - go ahead and plant your crinums now, in NC we still have plenty of time for growing for them to get established. As long as the bulbs are planted deeply enough to avoid freezing and you give them a bit of mulch over the winter they will be fine.

dbsmith2 - the crinums should be fine in your basement for the winter. Just let them dry out completely this fall before taking them inside so they won't try to grow. As they dry out the foliage will die back - that won't hurt them any. (Here in zone 7/8 the first frost will kill the foliage, it just grows back in the spring.) They would be better off dry/dormant in the basement than in the GH under the benches where they're not getting enough light but still trying to grow. Once the danger of frost is past in the spring just take them back outside again and resume watering and give them some fertilizer and they will take off.

Tom, thanks so much for the advice, as I also have a couple of crinums that aren'y hardy here and wasn't sure how to treat them.

Now the plants just need to get here...lol

Not knowing much about Crinum I brought three indoors over Winter, they coped fine plonked on a pantry shelf, dusted with sulphur.

Planted out for Summer, they never flowered.

Giving up on them they were left outside to fend for themselves, in a foot of water in a semi shaded pond. All three flowered the following Spring.

I juuuuust might jump to the conclusion, they need a cold, frost free dormancy...

Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/

Hi again, Andy!

I have criunums and most of them flower well...planted in full sun and left alone over the winter. I gave LavinaMae a giant Ellen Bosanquet bulb this June, I think it was...Hers has already flowered in a pot! Can't keep a good EB down!!

BTW...did you see that we're having a trip to Plant Delights? Check the Roundup forum:-)

Bev

Aloha Bev,

A trip to Plant Delights? My dim noggin has not seen that thread.

Will go read, and figure out how I can tear myself away from digging ponds and shuffling waterlilies about.

Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/

adavisus - what crinums don't like is being transplanted, and losing their roots. Like many members of family Amaryllidaceae they generally form flower buds the growing season before they actually appear. So if you happen to get a large bulb with pre-formed buds it might bloom the same year after transplanting ... otherwise it will take an extra year to recover while it regrows its root system.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the observations, I shall have another look at trying a few more Crinum's when I come across them. Knowing what their tetchy quirks can be makes all the difference.

Now if they are goat/deer/rabbit/possum resistant, that really would be a plus...

Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/

Don't know if technically they are pest resistant, but I've never had as much as a nibble from anything on any of mine, so the outlook is good in that aspect. Can't say I have a possum problem, though:-)
Bev