Flower lovers can hardly have enough of the pretty crocuses in the garden. How can the harbingers of spring be multiplied? Basically, once you've planted crocuses, you don't have to do anything. Propagation is very easy with onion bulbs.
Crocuses form brood tubers for propagation
Propagate crocuses via corms
The propagation of crocuses in the garden works automatically, even without you doing anything for it.
Crocus bulbs form corms that provide new flowers in the first year and more crocus plants the next year.
You can always pull the crocus bulbs out of the ground after flowering and plant them elsewhere. If you leave the bulbs in the ground, whole carpets of crocuses will form over time.
Caring for crocuses indoors
If you want to bring spring into the house with flowering crocuses, collect a few corms from the ground in the fall. In order for the tubers to flower later, they need a special treatment.
- Dig up the brood tubers
- Clean the onions and let them dry a little
- Keep bulbs dark and cold
- Then put in a pot
Crocuses only float when the crocus bulbs have gone through a cold phase. This period, called "stratification" by experts, must last ten weeks.
If you don't have a cool, dark place to store the onions, keep them in the crisper of the refrigerator for 10 weeks.
Growing crocuses from seed
Crocuses can also be grown from seeds, but this method rarely works with purchased bulbs. The planting of pre-grown crocus bulbs is much faster and the plants bloom vigorously in the first spring.
Seed from crocus breeds is almost never germinable. If you want to propagate crocuses from seeds, you have to buy seeds from a specialist dealer. According to the instructions, it is spread out widely, covered with some soil and put on.
Wild crocuses seed themselves. If you want to plant whole crocus meadows, you can harvest the seeds and sow them in the desired place before winter.
tips and tricks
The biggest enemy of the crocus is the vole. It can destroy entire stocks of crocus bulbs. Chase away the pest or plant the crocus bulbs straight away in special plant baskets.