INDOOR BULBS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 21

INDOOR BULBS

TREATMENT AFTER FLOWERING. Only too often bulbs and corms which have been used for indoor decoration are ruined for want of suitable after-treat-ment. Quite a usual procedure is to relegate any plant which has finished flowering to some dark corner, even some cold outhouse. Bulbous plants still require a considerable quantity of water, although this will not be as great as that needed when the flowering stems were growing rapidly. Water must not be withheld suddenly, and in the case of cyclamens the pots should) never be allowed to dry right out. Lack of water affects the foliage just as seriously after as before flowering. The leaves of bulbs or corms grown in fibre cannot manufacture large quantities of food materials to swell the next year’s storage organs, for the necessary chemicals; are absent from their rooting medium. It is, therefore, additionally important to give .the plants every opportunity to return to .the underground reserves some of the materials used to produce the leaves and flowering stems. To this end, the plants should be kept as healthy as possible. ' They require plenty of sun, and, if their flowering positions are requisitioned for more ornamental specimens, must be put into less conspicuous but equally light and warm situations. A sharp watch must be kept for attacks of greenfly, which weaken growth considerably. The plants must not be put out of doors until they have been hardened off, and there is no danger of severe frosts. REMOVE SEED VESSELS.

All dead blooms should be removed to prevent further loss of strength by seed formation, but only the actual faded portion should be cut away. The succulent stalks must be left to send back' their supplies of water and dissolved food materials. The seeds of the crocus are, formed bclew soil level. There are no visible stems. ' .

As both foliage and stems wither with age, the water supply will need decreasing. As usual, each pot must bo treated according to its individual requirements. Pots containing tulips and daffodils may be put on their sides in a sunny frame or window to ripen the, bulbs, once all the foliage has turned yellow and dry. This treatment is quite unsuitable for cyclamen corms, which must not be dried out or exposed to great heat. As £oon gs the weather is sufficiently warm, usually by the beginning of November, pots of cyclamens should be buried up to their rims in shady situations. They do quite well under low shrubs. Once in this position they must not be neglected, for, except in very wet summers, they will require more water than normally penetrates to-such sequestered nooks. Crocuses, tulips, and daffodils, which have been grown in fibre, can be planted out in the borders in the following autumn. These plants wil] take a year to recover sufficiently to produce more blooms, but with proper treatment will then give a good account of themselves. Forced hyacinths, on the other band, do no make suitable permanent plants for border or wild gardens. The bulbs should be placed in rich soil in some sunny but secluded area, such as the kitchen\garden. In this they may accumulate sufficient reserve stores to permit of use in the spring bedding display in three or four years’ time. It is only with strong bulbs and in favoured gardens that this can be successfully done, and most growers will need to buy fresh bulbs annually.—G. C H., in Amateur Gardening.