problem with freesias in pot

Hi everyone,

Bit of background first....

I bought 10 freesia bulbs in March last year, and planted them in a pot. Nothing happened, so I figured they didn't work (someone at the pub mentioned that freesias are hard to grow and need greenhouses etc)

I left the pot where it was, and some 'poor man's lettuce' (that's what my mum called it, can't remember the real name, sorry) grew over the top of the pot.

When it was really windy in November, the weeds got blown down, and the pot was revealed, showing me that two of the freesias had sprouted, and were about 2" high!

I brought the pot indoors as it was getting pretty frosty, and another 2 poked their heads out.

So I now have 4 freesias sprouting in this pot.
My questions are:

have I done the right thing bringing them in? Or should I put them outside again?
They're about a foot high now, and very floppy. I've supported them with canes, but I'm worried this is due to lack of light - they are in the sunniest window I've got, but obviously it's a bit dreary at the moment...

One of the leaves has gone a bit brown and dry - any ideas what might cause this? I'm keeping the soil moist, but not over watered.

When should I expect flowers to appear?
And how to I know they're coming?

Sorry so many questions, would be really grateful for any help. I'm very new to this gardening thing... loving every minute of it though!

Thanks, Polly

 

Hello Pollyc, I don't think I may be much help but I have grown freesias outside in Yorkshire with no problems. If you've brought them in and the leaves are drying it could be the central heating if you have it. Indoors they need good ventilation, full light and temperatures below 55 degrees. They also need freely watering and fed when the buds form. Hope this helps.

 

I friend of mine grows freesias from the same corms every year.
As far as I know they flower naturally in the winter in S Africa, so they like cool conditions and moisture.
They get leggy very easily and our dull winters are not really good times for them.
If you bought them in spring they should have been prepared to grow in the summer, maybe they weren't.
To get them to grow well in the summer months they need a spell of hot dry weather first, easily done by putting the corms in the airing cupboard during the winter.
I think yours may have now become confused.

They wont take frost, and they should really be flowering now.

 

Hello pollyc and welcome to GC. I hope you enjoy your stay here.

I sympathise as I could never grow Freesias in Bucks and they are my second-favourite flower. However, my girlfriend had great success every year with them in a pot on her balcony and was also kind and gave me one or two for a vase.

They bloom late summer in the UK. If my memory serves me correct, there are actually two types of corms ... one for indoor/conservatory blooming and one for outdoors ... no doubt I'll be corrected here. :D

Here, I have had great success and have pockets of them in four or five places in the garden, plus a large pot full of them to put outside the backdoor so I can enjoy the scent when I'm at the computer. They bloom here February-April. I have had all of these for 3-4 years and have never divided them and, because of my weather do not have to uproot them for the winter as they are winter-flowering here.

Pete, I've not been there, but I didn't think it was cool and wet in South Africa in the winter. :confused: We should be that here being that much further North, however our day temps are hitting 20 now, not going below 10-12 at night.

Persevere, pollyc, and keep us posted. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your replies guys!

I agree, they must be very confused...

I think you're right about the brown leave/central heating - the sunniest window where they're sat has a radiator in front of it :(

I'm going to try moving them to the far corner away from it and see what happens.

If not, I'll try popping them outside during the day while it's not so cold.

If that's no good for them I'll see if mum or mother in law can look after them for me (neither have central heating!)

Fingers crossed!

It's funny, when I first heard they could be tricky, I thought "well they've got two chances..." then they didn't seem to work and I thought "oh well, never mind"
But now they've really given it a go I REALLY want them to work! Here's hoping.

Thanks again
Polly

 

LoL, I'm sure you know that the further south you go it just doesn't keep getting hotter, once passed the equator it starts to get cooler.
As I understand it, (I've never been there either, but would like to) they have a very varied climate, some areas have hot dry summers and cool wet winters, others have wetish summers and dry winters.
Growth occurs during the wet times, so some are summer growers and some are winter growers.
Combine that with mountainous terrain and anything can happen.

When I say winter I mean the winter in S Africa,( May - August).

 

I know what you mean, pete. I've only been to Guinea in West Africa where it is unbearably hot and humid ... at all times! Makes Alabama seem like a dry climate. :eek:

South Africa, Zululand/Natal, I thought were more dry ... but I'll have to look that up as I've not get up with my geography for many years ... and climate change has probably occurred in the past 50 years ...

I'm sure there are the two varieties and I'll try to look that up by the weekend.

 

I think we can safely say that naturally freesias get baked in the summer and bloom in the winter.
Thats what yours do?
In the UK,that cant happen, the winters are too cold for outside growth and inside growth is difficult without ideal greenhouse conditions.
Put the corms in the airing cupboard in winter and fool them into thinking its a hot dry summer, take them out to cooler conditions and they will then grow well in the summer given water.
Its a bit like my relatives in Australia, who put daffodil bulbs in the fridge for a few weeks to fool them into thinking that they have gone through a cold winter, in order to make them flower.

We even do that here, prepared hyacinth bulbs to flower for Christmas.

 

Hi Polly - I tried to grow Freesias outside in a pot last year. But the corms just rotted. I think that was caused by the very wet weather we has early last year. Other things rotted as well, such as Liatris tubers, which I had left in the ground. I had grown them from seed over a couple of years and they were lovely big fat tubers, ten times the size of ones that you buy in garden centres.

 

On reflection, I just must say, the ones in the ground stay there irrespective of weather. The clump in the pot gets moved to a shady place after flowering (with little water) where it stays until winter and the shoots start again. Hmmmmm ....

 

I grow freesias every year under orders from my MBH. In their natural climate (S. Africa) they produce the leaves about Sept, and then sit there all winter and flower in the Spring. They need a period of cold weather to make them flower. In this country you can get bulbs about now that have been treated to make them think they've been subjected to cold for that long and then will flower in the SPRING. You have to ask, when you buy them, if they've been treated. SO you might be out of luck if you don't know which type you've planted. They are root/bulb-hardy to about -5C. The ones that are in the ground, I leave alone (bearing in mind I live in a warm area). The ones in pots I pop indoors when they forecast a frost 'cause -1 at 3' is -5 at ground level. They're a fussy plant but like Brugmansias, well worth the effort! I'm not an expert but just lessons learnt having been beat over the head by my MBH. Good Luck