About two months ago I bought a package of 20 little Crocosmia 'lucifer' corms at a general store. They seemed too good of a deal not to buy them, so I did. I planted them right away per 3 in 1l pots in some general purpose potting soil and stored them in my basement with the thought to take them outside once the growth appeared. After two weeks nothing happened, so I carried them upstairs to the living room in hopes that the higher temperature would warm the soil and get them going faster. Eventually I just took them outside and left them there.
Now after all these weeks, 2 out of 20 have sprung a leaf above the surface. I dug around in some other pots, but saw no signs of life; no roots whatsoever.

Either they're taking WAY longer than I expected, or the quality of the corms is so damn poor. Is it normal for Crocosmia to take this long to sprout? The two that do have a leaf above soil also seem to grow very slow. Not what I expected given that people refer to them as invasive, a weed, very easy to grow etc

I had a similar experience with them this year also, I planted in groups of five and only had one group show, but all five in that group are up and growing now.

I don't know about for you and where you live, but for here, it's just been a doggone cold spring. Perhaps they are just slow to get awakesue to the cooler than usual spring. I wouldn't give up. They might just surprise you yet. I just planted some Feesia after reading on here somewhere how lovely they were and how lovely they smelled. But I tried them years ago & had no luck with them. Anyone here grow freesia and have any tips for me????

First two to sprout, and yesterday I saw another two come up. If it stays only 4 out of 20 I'll be happy nonetheless :)

I bet more will come. It has been cool.

Not here. Over 15°C three weeks straight and sunshine aplenty!

Oh, my! I just noticed, wow! You are in Belgium ! Cool!

It's downhill from here though, Donna :p Rain is forecasted. Ah well, plants need watering too I guess :p

Lee-Roy it is raining here yet again. I do believe I'm going to grow webbed feet and start quacking. It has bRely skipped a day this whole month raining and not many last month. But I am not going to complain, even though I'd love to have some pretty days. Because I know soon the rain will shut down and we will be hurting for moisture. So it is good for it to be soaking in the ground now so there is some reserve. Yesterday was pretty for a while. I got some hardy amaryllis bulbs planted this morning and some homestead verbena shared with me from a friend. The rain will do all of it good.

You will have to try hard Arico to kill crocosmias, --these very ones could be around to grace your grave.

Here's a pic of lucifer corms that I dug this arvo to show you how well they multiply.If you're taken with this cultivar, have a look out for two other varieties, Solfatare and Emily McKenzie

I had a similar experience last year with 5 different varieties from Brent and Becky's; 2 varieties all 10 corms grew, the other 3 I only saw 3-5. The catalog said to plant in cool soil in spring, I'm guessing cool temps for rooting and warmth for sprouting.

Those look really nice Vanozzi! Do the older corms also bear leaves or only the newest ones like in your photo if you leave 'm like that?

Only the top corm will flower the following year Lee-Roy, but if you separate them, eventually they all will send up a flowering stem.There are two chains there, both leading/joined to the original corm.I have never watered these and they are exposed to howling sea gales.If I took better care of them, the flower bracts would be more impressive, but I don't believe the corm quality would be improved.My summers are pretty hot --several days over 40c and I am always frost free.

Update: picture taken today. Most of them have begun sprouting ^^ (smaller pots in the front)

Awesome!

I don't know your weather but I'm betting you're going to grow to love crocosmia. My first year was slow and later blooming, and this year's new one's mentioned in another forum/thread will be as well.

I consider it a "must have" and I gifted many after 3 years of growth. In good conditions great growth and return, great in a vase with glads. The difficult end of that combination is timing, adding new corms or digging and replanting with variation makes a better bouquet. Easier than my description, both corm grown flowers are simple to manipulate for shared blooms and each compliments the other well. Just the same they're great in the ground.

I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

An update ^^ About 14 corms have sprouted and the difference in growth is really noticeable. I planted them out yesterday in the narrow raised bed. It had come available again and they were outgrowing their pots anyway.

Your garden is really taking shape Lee-Roy. You should have a wonderful display of Crocosmia next year. Someone here told me to replant the older corms and I was rewarded with a fair amount of bloom from that clump last year. I'm not sure what amazes me more, how much useful advice I've received here or how much wasteful advice is floating around on the web.

Just putting in my twocents.
My Lily Garden crocosmia bulbs came in April, planted right away.
Adrianna these are not my photos.



This is my pix of Sharona



Web image of Eva



Star of the East



Gold Rush



Did I mention the deer love the budded stems? Oh Yes.
I believe many bulbs are slow to ajust ,my crocosmias seemed to take forever to show.

Some plants - especially many hardy perennials - prefer to be planted/germinated in cool temperatures. For example, on the site for world plant seeds primula (as a new member, I may not post a link) , it says:

Sowing Advice

Primula seeds may be sown at any time onto a loam-based compost, barely cover so that around 50% are still visible. Best germination temperatures are between 10 and 15 degrees C. (e.g. a cool, northerly window sill) PLEASE NOTE: Temperatures exceeding 15 C can prevent germination, and above 20 C expect very little germination as most seeds will go dormant as a protective measure. Germination takes between 3 to 6 weeks, sometimes taking much longer.

A friend and I each planted Crocosmia 'Lucifer' bubs this year. I planted 30 outside after there was no danger of frost but the temperatures were about 10-15 during the day and 5 or so at night. My friend planted them in pots in a greenhouse where they were much warmer.

I got germination over 2 1/2 growths from every bulb. My friend got about 40% germination in th much warmer greenhouse.

Draw your own conclusion.