Victoria Cla

I now have a number of healthy 2-year old cyclamen plants in pots

They aren't huge though. Is it too early to plant them out into the
garden, or would they benefit from another year's cossetting in pots
first?

Yours truly replied:

Plant them out. In my experience, cyclamen don't do anything like
as well in pots as they do in the ground.


Kay Easton replied with contrary advice:

In theory, they should be OK, because after all cyclamen, esp.
C. hederifolium, self seed quite happily.

But you've put an awful lot of effort into them so far, and if
it weree I would not risk my investment! I'd probably plant out
at about 3/4 inch corms.



Victoria Clare moaned after receiving these two diametrically
opposed replies:

Aaargh - now I have a dilemma. Perhaps I should plant out half,
or use a 'growing on' bed.

Kay threw up her hands:

Rodger probably knows more about it than I do!

My advice is based on what I would do, but that doesn't
necessarily make it Right. My climate and my growing practices
are quite different from Victoria Clare's, almost certainly, and
what works for me may not work for urglers in other climates with
other soils.

I think either one of the compromise solutions (plant out just
half or plant out in a nursery bed) would be perfectly sensible.
If VC decides to plant out half and retain the other half in
pots, then I hope she will, in a year or two, give us a report on
which group first reached maturity and started flowering well.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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