Frit. imperialis

[Boyed]

My experience with frit. imperilis shows that they like very sunny position, very well-drained soil, preferably rich with nutrients. In such conditions they grow and bloom perfectly and can not be harvested for several years.

If the soil is moiture-keeping, it is better to put sand under and above the bulb to prevent rotting, and in this case annual harvesting is preferable. Exposing the bulbs to the higher temperatures during storage stumulates flowering of even smaller bulbs.

Planting bulbs on their sides make no sence. It is just a fairytail. It is true, there is a hole in the bulb, but it is not a one-side hole and water doesn't keep in this hole.

[bulborum]

Boyed

The sand-layer under plants is also a fairy-tale
it is one of the most stupid thing to do

I will explain why

The system is stolen from the botanic gardens
where they use it in pots for drainage

The big difference is:
A pot has a hole where the water can go out
a garden doesn't have a hole
especial for the more heavy soils
where you create a swimming-pool if it rains a lot
I hope one day that they stop talking about this fairy-tale

Roland

[Boyed]

Roland,

I don't very much trust the books, and in my opinion, the best is learning from growing experience. In my main garden, where the soil is moisture keeping, from year to year I lost some frit. imperialis bulbs, beacause of rotting. Since I started to put sand under and over the bulbs, I never had rotted bulbs. In my opininon, when you use sand the probability of rotting is minimized as fungas doen't live in the sand. But when you pland the bulb directly in the soil, then the bulbs is in direct contact with the soil, and in case of extra humidity the fungas can easily attack the bulb.

[bulborum]

Boyed

As long as you don't have a lot wet weeks
probably it works fine
but if it rains a lot
the drainage in the direction from your sand-bed is fantastic
and then the water stays in your sand-bed
and you have your swimming-pool

as long as the soil absorbs the water it is fine
but when you have a summer like we have this year
sure they will rot

better to plant them on little slopes
with a lot of sand mixed in
they are always dry that way

But probably the summers in Armenia are much drier as here

Roland

 

[PeterT]

Rolands theory, -that a hole in clay, filled with sand and bulbs will flood with heavy rain is correct. If the soil is not clay, or slopes,  and drains quickly, then sand hopefully will protect the bulb.

[Arda Takan]

what about altitude?

[Boyed]

Roland,

The thing is that we live in very rainy area. I line in the North of Armenia, where the weather is quite rainy. Would you believe if i say that this year we had dayly rains from mid March until mid summer without any breaks.

[David Nicholson]

Roland,

The thing is that we live in very rainy area. I line in the North of Armenia, where the weather is quite rainy. Would you believe if i say that this year we had dayly rains from mid March until mid summer without any breaks.

Sounds like Devon

[Boyed]

Roland,

The thing is that we live in very rainy area. I line in the North of Armenia, where the weather is quite rainy. Would you believe if i say that this year we had dayly rains from mid March until mid summer without any breaks.

Sounds like Devon

Sounds strange, but it is true. There were many sunndy day, but with evening rains.

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Zhirair, we had lots of days like that here, but sometimes with rain in the morning then sun or sunny morning and rain in the afternoon or evening. There were not too many days when it rained ALL day.... but that is how it seemed to us!