Problem with Pancratium maritimum

[JPB]

Hi, I don't seem to find a way of growing P. maritimum properly. I tried every potting mix including Seramis and sea-shore sand but I keep loosing bulbs by rotting. I haven't found any seasonality in their behaviour. They are very hard to be forced into growth, and they go into rest whenever they like. Giving a little water to wake it up mostly ends in rotted bulbs..

P. canariensis is much easier as it resumes growth in autumn and like to be started by a gentle watering in September.

Any help? Thanks, Hans

[Tony Willis]

Hans

I have four pots of them all growing in a mixture of silver sand and seramis (cat litter)

One I dried off and kept warm to see if it would flower and this is just now starting to make new roots  but no top growth or flowers after I started watering about a month ago.All its existing roots died.

The other three sit on top of  my sand plunge and have rooted through into it very strongly. Although I have not watered the pots the plunge is wet all year. These have not gone dormant and are now making new leaves. No flowers.

My answer is that the bulbs need to be dry in the summer but the deep roots which seem to be perennial kept moist.

I have no idea how to get them to flower in our cold sunless area.

[Guus]

I find it a very difficult species to grow. Took an few young bulbs last year (2011) from Malta. They were just on top of a sand ridge near a beach, dry, no roots. Planted them in bare sand in an bucket (deep) and kept them indoors at the south faced window, as cool as possible. They grew well. No flowers becuase the bulbs were too small. Kept dry in summer and planted them a few weeks ago. They show up now. But, I also took hundreds of seeds. Almost all germinated and start growing again now. Bulbs about 1 cm. Keep them inside as soon as it is getting cold. Keep them quite dry. Hope they survive. The bulbs are in situ near to the surface and the roots are really long! So I keep the top dry and try to water from below.

[JPB]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try the seramis/sand mix and do a plunging. I didn't plunge them until now. Maybe a long-tom pot will work better allowing the roots to go deep for moisture and at the same time keeping the bulb better protected from excessive water.

Guus, do you have some spare seeds from Malta for swapping?

Cheers, Hans

[Guus]

Hi Hans,
I used all seeds for sowing. Please remember me in late spring 2013 and I will send you some young bulbs when they leaves died off. Ok?
I will try to find someone on Malta who can collect seeds and send them to me. If that succeds, I will tell you later.

Greetings, Guus

[JPB]

Hi Guus, that would be great!

I'll drop you a PM next spring.

Cheers, Hans

[Ezeiza]

I grow mine in 20 litre buckets. It was very problematic at first on a dry summer dormancy basis. On their own, they do not lose the foliage in summer and it is evergreen. Flowers every year without any extra care, in fact, very easy now. The mistake was to force it dry in summer. Full sun and very gritty mix. Slight frosts in winter. Bulbs planted deep.