Here's everything I can tell you from my experiences with growing these plants on Vancouver Island.
Growing
- They grow super fast when the ground temps heat up in July. When it's hot like this you can water/fertilize the heck out of them if you want super huge plants. Any time it is cool (even sunny and cool) cut back on the water/fertilizer.
- I grow and store them mostly in Promix or Sunshine mix with great results. I've tried just digging a hole in my yard and planting them in existing soil and they didn't really get very big. My soil has lots of rock and clay though.
- I fertilize with Miracle Grow 24-8-16 once a week when it's hot and sunny. Once a season I'll also jam a fruit tree spike at the base of each plant.
- If we get a stretch of rain or cold weather don't water or fertilize at all.
Digging and Storing
- For plants in the ground just sink your shovel in around the base around 6-8 inches away from the stem. I don't worry about cutting the roots at all. After they pop out of the ground I brush off any loose dirt I can with my hand or by shaking.
- Next I start at the base and cut off almost all the leaves except the top 2 or 3. Cut from the inside out to avoid scarring the leaves you are trying to keep.
- After they are trimmed I place them on an incline facing down. This is to drain away some of the water that collects in the base of each leave where it comes off the trunk. Doing this really improves the success of storing as you don't have a pool of water just sitting there all winter. Frogs like to hide out in these spots to so be careful.
- If you have BIG ones don't break your back. Roll them on their side.
- Next I plant them in the smallest pot that will hold their root ball. I literally jam them in and most cases don't even add more dirt. I don't water at all at this point. They are already full of water.
- Then I move them into my garage or shed for the winter. I try to keep the temperature about 7-10 degrees C. I only water about once a month and very little at that. Maybe a cup at most for the small guys and double that for the big boys. I also pay attention to only water the soil. I really try to keep the water off of the plant itself and out of those pockets where rot will occur. Sometimes when checking on the plants after they've been sitting you'll see a little pool has formed in one of the pockets. Simply tip on it's side and drain.
- Plants that are in pots just get trimmed and pulled into the shed.
- Throughout the winter the leaves that I've left usually start to turn brown, wilt, and look really bad starting with the lower leaves. A couple times during the winter I'll trim off the lowest ones but only when they are completely brown and wilted. I find this really helps keep the bug and mold problem down in spring. If the bugs/aphids get bad I'll use a soft paint brush to remove. I don't spray liquid because it just rolls down into those leave pockets and seems to start rot. I let the spiders run rampant in the winter. I'm not sure but maybe they help eat the bugs.
Spring time
- Around the start of May I'll do my final trim of dead and wilted leaves and brush off any bugs again. Most plants will only make it thru with one or two leaves that are still green/red. For the ones that have turned totally black or look really bad I'll just hack the entire stem. Start at the top and move lower and lower until you see fresh green. Sometimes these ones make a comeback and sometimes they just die. These are the plants that are good candidates for chopping/dividing the corm into 4.
- Sometimes the only leave remaining (the one that has yet to unroll) looks mostly green except for maybe a patch of black/brown right at the tip. Lots of times this dead section keeps the entire leaf from unrolling. I just cut it off and that first leave has a square tip for awhile until the next one starts.
- I'll usually leave most of the plants in their pots until late May or early June depending on the weather. Once it starts getting warmer (especially at night) and drier then they go in the ground.
Dividing:
- As I mentioned above any plant that looks like it didn't make are the 1st candidates for dividing. If after hacking the stem down and I don't see the center leave trying to push out then I just go ahead and hack the entire stem off right at the base. If after doing this you see black or rotted looking corm then the plant is most likely a goner. If its all nice and white (like a potato) then you are good to divide. With the bulb in the upright position (the cut side up) cut down the center splitting the corm in two. Then split the two halves the same way and you are left with 4 chunks.
- Take the four chunks of corm and plant them in a smallish pot. Anything too big leads to rot. Keep the pots in a sunny warm place and don't let the soil get too wet, just damp.
- It will take a long time and nothing will seem to be happening. If you are curious just turn the pot upside down and pull the dirt and corm out to check. Eventually you will see some new white roots forming. Eventually you will get a whole bunch of new shoots coming up. Each shoot will be a new plant.
- Here on the coast our summers aren't long enough or hot enough to get these new shoots big enough in one summer. So in my experience I've left the divided corms and their new shoots in the shed just like I store the other ones. Then the following spring I'll divide the shoots and plant them in individual pots. This is as easy as gently pulling the new plants and their roots apart.
- Presto, now you have way too many plants and you neighbors think you are nuts!
Anyhow back to work. Lunch is over. I will post more if I think of it and maybe post some pictures of what I'm doing for better understanding.
I realize that others may not find any of these steps necessary but I do also live in a very wet and damp location. Keeping the rot away from stored bulbs and corms can be difficult. Years gone by I've had almost all my plants die. I trimmed all my Reds last night and out of 36 plants I think 34 made it so it's definitely working here.
Cheers