Crocus – planting, caring for and propagating crocuses

As soon as the first tips can be seen, crocuses stretch themselves towards the sun. Accordingly, they love a sunny spot in early spring. In the sun, their flowers develop particularly large and colorful. Crocuses thrive best in a warm location with fresh, humus-rich soil such as leaf compost. Even with the slightest fluctuation in temperature, the sun-hungry crocuses begin to close their flowers again. Later in the year, when they have already faded, crocus plants also feel good in partial shade. While you enjoy light and moisture in spring, you prefer partial shade in summer and autumn. In addition, they do not need as much soil moisture after flowering. Spring crocuses bloom in February, March or April, depending on the variety. Is less known that there are also autumn crocuses. These bloom in September and October.

After the flowering period, the narrow, green leaves of the crocuses remain. These should not be mowed with the lawnmower, because they gather strength for the flowers of the next year. If the leaves are removed early or burned in the sun, the crocuses will not be able to bloom again in the next season. You can only drive over them with the lawnmower when the leaves have dried up. However, if you are bothered by the sight of the crocus plants turning brown, you can try whether the leaves can already be pulled out of the earth very easily. If so, the crocuses have already gathered enough strength for the next year and their leaves can be mowed.

While planting crocuses in the middle of the lawn is very popular, this location also has a downside. The crocuses only get the nutrients that the lawn leaves. However, fans of a colorful crocus meadow can help themselves with additional fertilization. This gives the crocuses enough nutrients to produce large, colorful flowers. In winter, the disadvantage of being in the immediate vicinity of the lawn becomes an advantage, because it gives the crocus bulbs protection and warmth even when they are no longer completely green. Alternatively, the crocuses can be placed in planters filled with soil so that no grass grows in their immediate vicinity. Or you can plant the crocuses in sunny places under bushes such as forsythia. Crocuses are also very decorative on tree grates.

Plant crocuses

Most crocus species are bulbous. The flowers can beautify rooms, balconies, patios and gardens. Before the onions are put in pots for housekeeping, they are allowed to take root. To do this, the planters with the bulbs are placed in a cool and dark place until mid-January. Unheated cellars and garages are suitable as storage rooms. It takes about 10 weeks for the onions to root. During this time, the ambient temperature should be between seven and nine degrees Celsius. The earth just needs to be kept slightly moist. More heat and heavy watering are not recommended during root formation. If a darkened room is not available, the planter can be covered with a dark foil. A lighter location for the crocuses is possible from mid-January. Now the young plants that can already be seen need temperatures of around 17 ° C. As a rule, several flowers develop from each crocus bulb.

The bulbs of the spring crocuses can be planted outdoors between September and October. The ideal planting depth is between six and ten centimeters. The bulbs of onions may be planted close to each other, but not touching each other. You can leave a gap between them that is about the width of an onion bulb and about 5 to 8 cm. The planting depth and the spacing can vary slightly depending on the size of the bulb. In the vicinity of snowdrops, mugs and tulips, crocuses are a very attractive sight, because they expand the color spectrum of every spring meadow.

The best time to plant autumn crocuses is in August. Since the crocus bulbs do not tolerate waterlogging, the tubers should be placed in permeable soil. Garden compost soil can be mixed with sand to achieve good permeability.
Crocus care in the room and in the garden

Caring for crocuses to bloom is very simple. Once the early bloomers have been planted, they can be left to their own devices. The crocuses take what they need to grow and bloom. Crocuses that are made to bloom on the windowsill can be planted in the garden after they have withered, where they store nutrients for the next bloom. When the leaves have turned yellow and dry, the onions can be taken out of the ground and freed from root residues. Then they should spend the summer in a warm, dry and shady place. The onions are then put back into the ground in autumn.

Outside, it is also possible to leave the bulbs in the ground and give them a rest period until the leaves are dry and completely absorbed. The plant remains can then be mowed. The next flowers can then be seen in spring. If the crocuses are grown in pots or under glass in the room, they can produce flowers as early as Christmas after the bulbs have been placed in the planter or in the fresh substrate in September.

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When the bulbs get into the ground in autumn, they will begin to form roots. During this time it is not recommended to keep the ambient temperature of the plants high. Overwatering should also be avoided during root formation. The crocuses do not need large amounts of water during this time. They should therefore only be watered moderately. So much water is sufficient that the soil is constantly evenly moistened. It is not necessary to water the crocuses outdoors. Nature on its own creates the best growing conditions for the plants, which are possible under the respective circumstances.

Fertilize

Fertilization of the crocuses is only necessary if they are next to other plants or on the lawn. The fertilization gives the crocuses enough food even if the grasses of the meadow are also getting the best out of the soil. So the crocuses don’t have to live on what the lawn leaves. As the crocuses reach for the sun, they want to eat. If you provide your plants with liquid complete fertilizer during sprouting, you will be rewarded with strong leaves and bright flowers.

Overwinter

• Almost all crocus varieties are naturally hardy.
• Wintering is possible outdoors without special precautions having to be taken.

The multiplication of the crocuses

Crocuses are very reproductive plants. A spring meadow planted with crocuses can have new flowers from year to year. Not much needs to be done for crocuses to multiply. Several small daughter onions develop on their own onions, which can easily be separated from the mother onion. In autumn, the daughter bulbs are taken outside and planted there. Any bulb that is removed from the ground after flowering can be planted with all of its daughter bulbs when the hot summer is over. It is not a problem to put the onions in new places. The bulbs can be removed from the soil after flowering, as soon as the green crocus leaves have dried up. Autumn is the right time for the re-use of mother and daughter onions. The new crocuses will show up on the garden lawn as early as the end of January.
Another method of propagation is seeding, which is also possible with some crocus varieties. Colonies of the plants that are willing to spread can emerge again through a colony.

Diseases and pests

If, despite the formation of new bulbs or seeds, no new crocuses can be seen in the meadow in the next year or the number of crocuses is even decreasing, voles are usually the cause. At best, these little animals drag the crocus bulbs to other places where crocuses suddenly grow. As a rule, however, the voles are interested in the crocus bulbs in order to eat or devour them. Crocus bulbs, which fall prey to voles, can no longer produce leaves or flowers. As a result, fewer crocuses appear in spring than last year. Therefore, if you have voles in the garden, you should try to drive away the rodents as quickly as possible. If your garden is on the edge of a field and the surrounding gardens are also infested with voles, vole control is particularly difficult because the rodents then keep coming back from the field or from neighbors into your own garden. Special remedies against voles are commercially available, but if they continue to find good living conditions in the area, they will come back quickly. Keeping a cat can be a useful method of vole control. But even a cat cannot eat all the voles in an adjacent field. This is why it is best to protect the crocuses from the voles themselves. but if they continue to find good living conditions in the area, they will come back quickly. Keeping a cat can be a useful method of vole control. But even a cat cannot eat all the voles in an adjacent field. This is why it is best to protect the crocuses from the voles themselves. but if they continue to find good living conditions in the area, they will come back quickly. Keeping a cat can be a useful method of vole control. But even a cat cannot eat all the voles in an adjacent field. This is why it is best to protect the crocuses from the voles themselves.

Crocus plants can be effectively protected from vole infestation by placing their bulbs in separate plant baskets. The plant baskets should be made of plastic so that the voles have no chance of gnawing them. In addition, the soil in the plant baskets can be mixed with a fragrance that voles do not like to smell. Then the rodents will not go to the crocus bulbs, but will look for something else to eat. The plant baskets also have another advantage. They make it easier to change the location of the crocuses. When moving, each individual onion does not have to be dug up and back in again.

Conclusion