Fdk. After Dark seedling care for Winter

[jay]

As promised I am going to let everyone know what to do that has one of the little Fdk. After Dark seedlings.

By this time some of them are starting to plump up and lose leaves. Remember, some of them woke up late and will probably go into dormancy late. I will recommend that you watch the plant instead of going by hard dates this year.

If the plant has "plumped" and still has all of the leaves, keep watering like normal.

When it starts to lose some leaves you will cut the fertilizer and just use plain water. Keep watering like normal until it gets down to about 2-3 leaves. At this point you can cut back on the watering. When you get down to about 3 leaves, stop using fertilizer. You will water for about a month until you quit watering all together. When it gets down to 1-2 leaves left you will stop watering all together. I know this is hard, but you can do it.

You will not want to water for the rest of the winter unless the bulb shrivels up A LOT. A little wrinkling is fine and to be expected. They generally plump back up when they resume watering in the spring. If you add water over the winter do it early in the day and only enough to re-plump the bulb. I rarely water any of the dormant bulbs and I live in an extremely warm and dry climate.

This is where you begin the waiting game. Try not to check it everyday because you will drive yourself crazy. In the spring it will start a new growth. Remember not to water until the new roots are a couple of inches long. You will want to wait just for the roots to get a little longer this year since the plants are now bigger.

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions. I will try to check in soon. There are several members that grow many of these now that can also answer questions.

[kmarch]

Excellent tutorial Jay!

[rcb]

jay that is perfect advice!

[patticake]

Thank you, Jay. Mine didn't get much bigger than the last year's growth. No signs of dying leaves, yet. Mine are the "twins" Frick and Frack... Should I just keep going, then?

[norris]

Thanks Jay,

Like Patti, my new growth didn't get much bigger than last years growth. It is still going strong though with bright green leaves. I will post an update with pics to my thread on my days off.

[jay]

Frick and Frack look great. They are plumping and look fine. I wouldn't worry if they didn't double in size this year. Remember it is stressful to the plants to ship them and they did get a late start this year for whatever reason. Next year you will see much faster growth. Stop using fertilizer soon and use just water. When it loses another leaf, maybe two, you will stop watering for the winter.

[jay]

I realized that I accidentally deleted a line from my original post and can't edit it back in. When you get down to about 3 leaves, stop using fertilizer. You will water for about a month until you quit watering all together.

[patticake]

Originally Posted by jay

I realized that I accidentally deleted a line from my original post and can't edit it back in. When you get down to about 3 leaves, stop using fertilizer. You will water for about a month until you quit watering all together.

Thanks, Jay! I put the sentence into your original post. I'm really glad that you're available! BTW- Thank you again for doing this project for us.