Hello,

I've been growing ranunculus for the last 4 years here in Melbourne and I am
always keen to learn more about growing this beautiful flower. I like
growing them in masses because they are so cheap and plentiful - $8 will get
you 100 combs. If off-peak - June July August etc.. its cheaper. You can buy
them now at the nursery for a cheap price because its slightly off-season;
$5 can get you 110 and $2 about 40 good ones. I buy about 1000+ every year.
I also harvest the seeds and try to plant them too. Each plant will produce
a hundred seeds but its difficult to grow them to a mature level.

I found that they do well when planted during March to May. They require a
cool temperate climate about 10 - 20 C. They don't do well if its too hot
(30C) or too cold (1C).

You have to try to mimic Mediterrean Spring conditions. So chill them -
putting them in the bottom of the fridge (temp of about 5C) for a day or
so, then plant them in April - May so that they can enjoy some warm weather
and think its Spring. You can also give the dry combs a good soak in water a
few hours prior to planting. Don't keep them any longer because they might
disintegrate.

Because I'm planting hundreds of the combs, I dig a small trench - 5cm deep
and as wide as you want. Then I scatter the combs into the trench- ideally
you are suppose to place them with their feet down like a spider.

The ranunculus need to get full sun for at least 5 hours or so. I found the
best spots are areas which get good afternoon sun. They also do best in
fertile but well drained spots like in a sloping garden bed. Water with a
sea-weed fertilzer for best results - blood and bone and cow manure is best
dug deep and not scattered onto the delicate plants.

They do also require a good watering to prevent them from drying out and
dying.

It seems a lot of work. But the results are amazingly impressive. You get a
massively wonderous huge field of colorful flowers like out of a dream.
Cutting the flowers also encourages the plant to produce more flowers.

I collect thousands of seeds after the season ends in Summer. Each flower
will become a tumb made up of hundreds of seeds. Keep them in an old rice
bag. Next year I chill the seed bag for about a week or so. Then I leave
the bag in the sun for a day or so so that I can warm the seeds up. The
seeds should be sowed when the soil temp is about 10C (15C is apparently too
hot). Plant them in a depth of about 5cm. They will do best in good well
drained fertile soil. They would probably do better in a pot with a top
layer of saw dust. But if you are like me and have hundreds of thousands of
seeds - just put them in the hessian bag -poke a few small holes in the
bottom and vigorously shake the seeds out onto the flower beds then cover
with a layer of top quality soil.

Cheers,

Crimson


--
_____________________________
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common
sense.
Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946)