Strange goings-on with Leucocoryne

[Gene Mirro]

I bought some Leucocoryne bulbs in Spring of 2006 and potted them up and put them in the cool greenhouse.  Nothing happened.  I let them cool down during Fall and Winter, making sure they did not freeze.  Spring and Summer of 2007 went by with no sign of them.  In October of 2007, I emptied the pots and found the bulbs, still sound and dormant.  I had no idea what to do, so I decided to try them under the fluorescent lights in the basement at roughly 15C.  Within two weeks, foliage was appearing above ground, and they have been growing like weeds ever since.  The only thing I can figure is that they want to grow in Winter, but they can't grow at temperatures in the 5C range, which is what we get here in Winter.  I don't understand why they refused to grow in Spring or Fall though.  Any theories?

[Paul T]

Gene,

Leucocoryne have done best for me when in full sun, watering when in growth but kept dry in summer after they've gone into dormancy.  I have had them survive for years in small pots on total neglect, but they may not appear above the surface during that time.  I had 2 of them flower spring a year ago and virtually none of the other pots (there were about a dozen in all, "mixed bulbs" potted individually, plus a couple of particular species) even produced growth.  I expected there to be nothing in them at all.  I was somewhat surprised when I repotted to find that 10 of the pots still had content, some of which were a single bulb while others had multiplied to half a dozen.  I moved them to somewhere where they'd get more regular watering in winter/spring and they all shot this year, 8 of the 10 then flowering.  They are obviously a corm that will sit and wait for their conditions to be optimum before doing much, or at least they are for me anyway.

Is that any help?

[Ezeiza]

Hi Gene:

            Paul, good to see you are in such good health.

            Leucocorynes grow in the wild very much as does Cape bulbs at the Cape in a dryish, msotly frost free environment. They are of course dormant in summer.

             In Holland they are baked dry during the winter and grown under the rest of the year. This method has been a success for them but as Gene's plants have shown they are eager to revert to their normal (summer dormant) cycle. They need very well drained soils (they grow on hill slopes) and the bulbs must be planted deep, otherwise they take a lot o fenergy burying themselves deepeer and deeper. Offsets are typically produced deeper into the soil than the mother plants.

Regards

[Gene Mirro]

It sounds like my Leucocoryne are not so strange after all.  They are just doing what comes naturally.  Thanks Paul and Ezeiza.