Muscari muscarimi advice

[Mark Griffiths]

I've just had 3 bulbs of this arrived.

Can someone remind me, are they bottom of the pot type bulbs or just below the soil type bulbs?

Second question, I asumed they were similar to macrocarpum with big fleshy roots. These appear to have had the roots cut off. Do they recover quickly, will they flower or need a year or two to recover? Any other advice would be welcome. thanks!

[Maggi Young]

We'd pot these  2/3 of the way down the pot.
They can have quite persistent fleshy roots in cultivation..... though I'm not sure how prevalent this feature is in the wild... in hot situations they might dry off more often. 
If the bulbs seem a good size and quite fat then they may well flower in spring.... and with good cultivation and some feeding their storage roots should build back nicely for future years.

If the bulbs are on the skinny side, then they may feel the lack of their fat roots more keenly.
Good luck!

[christian pfalz]

mark, why in pots, and not outside in the garden ?
it´s a very easy species here wild in southwestern germany, any problems in my garden too, sunny stony limestone places...
best regards
cheers
chris

[Tony Willis]

Mark

these are very robust when they get going but as they have lost their roots I would be very light on the watering until they get get new ones. I would also sit them on some grit when potting.Sometimes take a couple of years to build up to flowering size.

[Mark Griffiths]

thanks, guys! I'll see how it goes in the spring - fingers crossed for flowers. Mark

[daveyp1970]

i have mine in a pot but only to get sniff in the greenhouse.I will pot mine a bit deeper next year though.

[Maggi Young]

...... why in pots, and not outside in the garden ?
it´s a very easy species here wild in southwestern germany, any problems in my garden too, sunny stony limestone places...
best regards
cheers
chris

I'm not sure what the success might be outside in the far South of the UK, Chris, but they wouldn't last long in most places.
I know that Sir George Taylor ( http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-sir-george-taylor-1504670.html ) used to grow Muscari macrocarpum in a sunny spot near the wall of his house in Dunbar, to the east of Edinburgh but this is not something I know to have been achieved elsewhere in Scotland and I suspect that it would fail in most of England, too.  

Davey, I agree that having them potted in the glasshouse is a great way to get aromatherapy! Would they survive outside for you, do you think?

[daveyp1970]

Not a chance maggie,well five years ago when i tried i failed but now i have built a raised crevise garden with just sharp sand as substrate you never know so might chuck one in next year.

[christian pfalz]

hi maggie, next year i collected seed of mine, so you can test the german clone  i forgot, you´ve got not so hot and dry summers 
cheers chris

[Maggi Young]

hi maggie, next year i collected seed of mine, so you can test the german clone   i forgot, you´ve got not so hot and dry summers  
cheers chris

 Thanks, Chris, I'd like to try the seed for a stronger clone.

 The only way we  can get hot and dry here it to stay in the house with a fire!

[christian pfalz]

maggie, that was a good joke 
remember me in spring 2011....
have a nice weekend
chris

[Lesley Cox]

Last year I bought some in pots which had been forced for early winter flowering. They were marvellous at the time and because the bulbs were half out of the pots I planted them in the garden when they died down, with the noses at the surface. The whole lot have rotted! Not a single one up this spring.

[christian pfalz]

hello,
i´m confused a bit, sorry,  muscaria  muscarimi vs comosum, sorry .... makes well-meaning old.    I cultivate muscaria muscarimi without protection  also in my garden, with no success. only the seeds with was my fault, it is not to ....
cheers
chris

i´m old