Cyclamen 2015

[Mark Griffiths]

yes, definately intaminatum. Nice one too!

[Rimmer de Vries]

Thanks, it is typical to flower 8 months from seed and out of season?

what is this cyclamen also blooming now?

[Mark Griffiths]

sometimes they flower quickly if they don't go into dormancy.

re the other one - I think if the leaves are think it's one of the C.rhodium complex, possibly a hybrid.

[SJW]

CYCLAMEN WATERING REGIMES

Here's post I made recently in another thread but thought I should try it here.

"I wonder if I've made a mistake? I got this idea in my head that I would take out the grit and hortag, on which my pots stand, from my greenhouse benching and line them with polythene and stand the pots on capillary matting. I even ordered the matting and it came today but now I'm having second thoughts!

The major reason why I thought I might change is that given the number of pots of Primulas I have (over 185) and the time it takes me to look after them something else doesn't get the attention it deserves. This year it has been my ever growing Cyclamen collection. I don't have the time to water them from the bottom and I'm very careful when watering from the top to not over-water. I've not, so far, suffered any losses to tubers rotting but my plants leaves do die back very early. So, I thought, change to clay pots and stand them on capillary matting.

Am I on the right lines  or should stick to grit and hortag? Views for and against welcomed."

Also another Cyclamen watering issue. Should I start to water the Spring flowering species at the same time I start to water the Autumn flowerers or leave them until later?

David - it's a tricky business, isn't it! I'm not sure what the answer is either. I suspect the most forgiving way of growing cyclamen is the traditional clays in a sand plunge. The pots are more insulated against sudden temperature changes and they don't dry out so quickly. Having said that, I don't have a sand plunge although as I get more into alpines I'm starting to think I should give it a go. For what it's worth, most of my cyclamen are in plastic pots, including all seedlings and young plants. Standing the pots on gravel, sand or capillary matting all work well for me. I only put my better, mature plants into terracotta pots and these I put on sand in trays. I'm not sure I'd use capillary matting for terracotta pots personally (if the matting dries out the pots tend to stick to it). One holiday though, I did rig up a capillary matting/water reservoir system and stood my purpurascens in terracotta pots on that and it worked well while I was away. There's no getting away from it though, cyclamen in pots will repay neglect or negligence by dying; quickly by overwatering and slowly through drought! Sunny spring days when the temperature quickly rises can also send them into early dormancy so shading is also important for most species. Unfortunately, they do require fairly regular attention to keep them at their best. 

I also find it tricky getting the balance of watering right for the spring flowering species. I tend to give them all a good soak in August and then, by and large, don't water again until I can see growth is underway. So hold back on excessive watering of pots of the later flowering species. The soil needs to be damp but if too wet there's a danger that the fragile leaf and flower stems of the repandum group - which won't appear above ground until the new year - will rot off. I don't think the spring flowerers come to much harm if watering is left until a bit later but the compost shouldn't be bone dry at any time for them.

[Naoto The Zombie]

Hi there!

I've just noticed that there are some cracks on the corm of pseudibericum  .....and my question is; is this normal? The corm is still firm when I push it gently and there's no sign of any rot (at the moment). Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks!

[Anthony Darby]

Why is it sitting on top of the soil?

[Naoto The Zombie]

Why is it sitting on top of the soil?

Hello Anthony. The corm used to be covered with the grid but I removed in order to show the symptom easier and clearer......My plan is leave it as it is then water below the pot to make the cracks dry, but I don't know if this way is good or bad.....

[Anthony Darby]

I see. Could it be an excess of water or nutrients causing it to expand too quickly and split?

[Mark Griffiths]

I was thinking the same, it's the sort of thing you get on tomatoes but I wouldn't expect a cyclamen corm to be growing at comparible rates to a tomoato. Some species like C.persicum show some skin splitting and they seem to naturally work themselves proud of the grit. However I've never seen the splits so deep.

I'd try and keep the splits dry and clean. I'd probably not use sulphur which is my go to fungiscide because it's concievable the cracks might close up in the future.

[Naoto The Zombie]

@Anthony @Mark

Thanks for your reply......I've sprayed Fungus Fighter on the cracks and see what will happen.....I asked some Japanese cyclamen experts about this problem and they also replied the same 

[cycnich]

Many years ago around 25 I guess, there was a plant in cultivation called cyclamen hederifolum ' Daley Thompson'. It was listed at the time by Roger poulett of Chichester and described as a very vigorous white form with flowers at least 3 times larger than normal. Does anyone still grow it I wonder. In view of the ongoing research by the cyclamen society into hederifolum and crassifolium it would be of great interest. It is possible that it is just a vigorous hederifolum or possibly crassifolium but there is also the slimmest chance it may have originated in crete and turn out to be the elusive white form of confusum now that would be something special. The cyclamen society will be sending leaves for analysis this autumn if we could include this just out of curiosity the result could be very interesting. Can anyone help.

[Maggi Young]

Repeating cycnich's post  wit ha new title to draw attention to it!

Many years ago around 25 I guess, there was a plant in cultivation called cyclamen hederifolum ' Daley Thompson'. It was listed at the time by Roger poulett of Chichester and described as a very vigorous white form with flowers at least 3 times larger than normal. Does anyone still grow it I wonder. In view of the ongoing research by the cyclamen society into hederifolum and crassifolium it would be of great interest. It is possible that it is just a vigorous hederifolum or possibly crassifolium but there is also the slimmest chance it may have originated in crete and turn out to be the elusive white form of confusum now that would be something special. The cyclamen society will be sending leaves for analysis this autumn if we could include this just out of curiosity the result could be very interesting. Can anyone help.

[Rimmer de Vries]

Does anyone know how to contact the publication secretary or or anyone knowledgable of the publication sales of the Cyclamen society? 
I ordered and paid for books in February but it seem my money went into space.

Thank you

[David Nicholson]

Does anyone know how to contact the publication secretary or or anyone knowledgable of the publication sales of the Cyclamen society? 
I ordered and paid for books in February but it seem my money went into space.

Thank you

It's Arthur Nicholls, a regular on the Forum. Contact him at membershipATcyclamen.org (replace AT with the usual @ )

[SJW]

Many years ago around 25 I guess, there was a plant in cultivation called cyclamen hederifolum ' Daley Thompson'. It was listed at the time by Roger poulett of Chichester and described as a very vigorous white form with flowers at least 3 times larger than normal. Does anyone still grow it I wonder. In view of the ongoing research by the cyclamen society into hederifolum and crassifolium it would be of great interest. It is possible that it is just a vigorous hederifolum or possibly crassifolium but there is also the slimmest chance it may have originated in crete and turn out to be the elusive white form of confusum now that would be something special. The cyclamen society will be sending leaves for analysis this autumn if we could include this just out of curiosity the result could be very interesting. Can anyone help.

Hi Pat - Bob Worsley (Show Sec AGS Bakewell Show) posted a photo of a hederifolium named 'Daley Thompson' on the AGS online show site back in 2012. See http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/competitions/online-show/2012/Cyclamen+hederifolium/968/. Perhaps Bob could confirm a) if he still has it! and b) its provenance? If if was raised from seed exchange seed then it may not be true to type - the flowers in the photo don't look that much bigger than normal - but worth checking with Bob? The variety was offered in the CS seed lists back in the 90s (listed as a synonym of 'Serenity') so their offspring now would be quite a few generations down the line, and you know that could throw up all sorts of possibilities!