Oxalis versicolor - Candy Cane Sorrel - anyone else tried this?

RainbowsInTheSpray

I bought 5 diminutive corms/bulbs from a Dutch supplier a month or so ago and they've all sprouted in the 3" pot I've set them in - which is great.

What isn't great is that they're shooting up in a very spindly way on my windowsill and are touching on a foot tall now, the stems being as thin as matchsticks. They're beginning to develop small foliage at the top - possibly flowers will come as well - and I'm worried that each may need staking in some heath-robinson way so as to avoid the stems breaking.

According to all the stuff I've read, they're only supposed to be a very few inches tall!

Any thoughts??

Sarahspangles

They aren’t a typical house plant. They come from South Africa and need lots of light. That means outdoors or a conservatory or greenhouse in the UK. However they won’t like/survive our wet autumns and cold winters. It sounds like yours are ‘drawn’ (trying to get more light) and you may have over watered too. For this season you’re probably going to have to support them.

Assuming you don’t have a cold greenhouse or conservatory you can grow plants like these by putting them in a pot with soil based compost and a few handfuls of grit for drainage, and leaving them outside from May or early June to whenever the buds start. You’ll have a compact, sturdy plant. Then bring them in to enjoy the flowers, and once they have died down let the whole pot get dry somewhere cool indoors so the bulbs don’t rot. Start them into growth again in Spring by repotting and putting them outside again. 

RainbowsInTheSpray

Thanks for that. Yes, I suspected of course that this was the wrong time of year to pot them up... although the notes they came with insisted it was ultra-important to do so right away. I've met this more than once before - growers and suppliers simply don't think through the things they say to customers and just assume we have the same knowledge/experience as themselves.

I shall do some deeper burying plus a spot of staking and see whether they can't survive the weird conditions I'm having to impose. Hey ho. 

Sarahspangles

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Thanks for that. Yes, I suspected of course that this was the wrong time of year to pot them up... although the notes they came with insisted it was ultra-important to do so right away. I've met this more than once before - growers and suppliers simply don't think through the things they say to customers and just assume we have the same knowledge/experience as themselves.

I shall do some deeper burying plus a spot of staking and see whether they can't survive the weird conditions I'm having to impose. Hey ho. 

That advice could actually be right though. We’re used to buying bulbs and tubers that have a fully dormant period where they can be lifted out of the soil and kept in a dry state. Tulips and crocuses are an example. Some bulbs and tubers can cope with being dry for a short time as a survival mechanism but prefer not to be. Snowdrops are an example, and I think oxalis are similar.

I know what you mean about poor quality information from suppliers! 

RainbowsInTheSpray

Just reporting back that the deeper burying and staking seems to have worked and flowers now seem to be on the way!