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I just received some tubers of winter hard Cyclamen hederifolium and planted them right away. On one side of the (flat) tuber I noticed a kind of spot which looked like it had been cut off before drying. I even saw some dried roots and thought naturally that this side must go down.

Now that everything is planted I thought again and I'm not so sure anymore. I'm asking myself that what if the roots are coming out of the same spot as the growing stem?

What shall I do?

EDIT: I read on the cyclamen.org FAQ (at the bottom, search for 'silly question' on the site) that I should have done it the other way around. Growing point up and convex/even side down. But as they are tubers (like potatoes) is this important? Will they grow anyway?

Patrick B.
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1 Answers1

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Well yes, but not sure how well they'll do - with something like a tulip or daffodil planted upside down, the foliage appears and does a u turn and then makes it way above ground. But tulips and daffodils have longer stems, so I'm not sure how well this process will work with cyclamen, having much shorter stems. The likelihood is they will appear, but maybe the stems will be shorter than usual. It's also more effort for the growth to do this because it has to get longer than usual in order to make it above ground at all, but if you've already planted them and there were only a few, and you know where they are, I'd dig 'em up and reverse them. If there were a lot all over the place, just leave them and see what happens, its likely most will flower anyway.

I am wondering how deep you planted them though - its usual to plant only just below the surface, so that the compost or soil covering them is very thin. If that's how you planted yours, then I don't quite see how the roots will start growing, as they'll be very near the surface...

Bamboo
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  • Regarding your first part, I think I will dig them up and turn them. – Patrick B. Sep 15 '15 at 21:52
  • For the second part I'm not sure what you mean: I planted them, as described in the notice, 5-10 cm deep, with drainage and lose compost/soil on top You're saying that if they are planted too high no roots will grow. But I have reversed them and roots seem to come out where the stem is growing (maybe I'm wrong). If so, even in low-soil, they should better grow with my "method", shouldn't they? – Patrick B. Sep 15 '15 at 21:57
  • Yes, if the roots are downward facing – Bamboo Sep 16 '15 at 12:01