This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Houseplant Cyclamen
Hi all, I I was wondering when to let my Houseplant Cyclamen die down. It's still flowering beautifully in a partly shaded spot on my windowsill but is in need of a new pot as it dries out very quickly.
When would be best to do these two things? Any help is greatly appreciated!
0
Posts
Hi Matt, I grow lots of Persicum (florist's cyclamen) from seed and once they stop producing flowers, I carry on watering them so that the leaves build up energy in the corms for a couple of months, then reduce watering until they go dormant. I find that's usually about mid-July to August. Then stop watering completely and leave them dry until about October when you can re-pot them into fresh compost. They should then begin to grow again and should flower just before Christmas, continuing to flower until about the beginning of May. You can vary these times quite a lot so that you get the flowers when you want them, but I like them to start at Christmas.
Thats great thanks
I guess I'll have to keep checking the watering daily then, maybe I should move it to a shadier windowsill?
I watch the condition of the leaves - if they start to feel "soft" it's time to water. Don't wait till they've wilted completely! Despite advice to the contrary, I find it's OK to water from the top, as long as you make sure the water only goes on the soil round the edges of the corm, not onto the corm itself. When you have let them die off later in the year, and leave the pots unattended outdoors, watch out for vine weevil grubs when you repot. The beetles have a sneaky habit of laying eggs in the compost if they get the chance while the pots are dormant.
The cyclamen in question never went fully dormant and has been repotted twice. I now have a huge Cyclamen in a 2L pot flowering wonderfully in the same spot.