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  Re: winter preparations
From: "Plantsman" plantsman at prodigy.net> on 2000.09.07 at 13:41:51(5350)
It's supposed to be in the low 50's here in NE Tennessee tonight
also. I've even considered bringing in my Caladium lindenii,
anthuriums and plumerias except that at 11:00 p.m. it's still
70?F outside. It's going to have to really do something fast to
hit the prediction. I really hope that it doesn't as my Kahili
ginger is just now ready to bloom.

But back to the subject. I've overwintered C. antiquorum
illustris the past three years just by bringing it inside with
it's pot still in the plastic sandbucket that I keep filled with
water. I just let it go dry and of course the leaves go
kaplooey in about a week. I just have to remember to pour a
little water in the top of the pot about once a month to keep the
thing from dying. I've not dug into the pot to see but I assume
it doesn' t have much in the way of corms or tubers. I simply
place it outside once the weather warms up in the spring and
water it a little until the leaves start to grow and then keep
the bucket full of water for the rest of the year. I just
noticed that it bloomed over the weekend.

I lost three pots of C. esculenta 'Black Magic' last winter
thinking that they might have a corm or tuber underneath that
lush foliage that would stand dormancy like the common variety.
Boy was I wrong, they had basically nothing but a few roots. I
did buy another large replacement pot from the same dealer this
year that was in the lot from last year. It appears that there
are some small corms or tubers developing but nothing I'd want to
let get too dry. C. fontanesii seems to be of the same
persuasion and I lost all of mine a few years ago buy letting
them go too dry during the winter. I know of a local grower who
manages to keep his alive in a greenhouse but they have to have
some water and plenty of light just to look like crap until
spring. Hmm...

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