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What the heck is this?
peacepuffin
Posts: 5
Would anyone be able to identify this thing I dug up recently? It is quite hard but I can break off one of the round bits with some pressure. Other than that they are all attached to each other. Is it a rock? Some sort of mutant potato?
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Posts
...their Desiree potatoes.. make lovely chips... get the pan on...
...no seriously, I don't know what they are.. so just bumping this up in case someone else does.... I think I might be tempted to gently tease one of those off, cut in half and see what it looks like...
Might it be a crocosmia corm. I have the variety Lucifer...they make a new corm each year and you end up with a knotted chain of them. They are the devil to break up.
I think Bilje could be right, have a look at this
http://www.growsonyou.com/question/show/57780
They are crocosmia probably lucifer, I have exactly the same oversized corms in my garden. I pot them and let them grow bulblets, which I break off and replant for new flowers. That's all they are good for when they reach that size. I sell some of the excess to my local shop who sell them on, and we all make a little profit from it.
You can mash them and put the mash on the compost heap to recycle them if you wish.
Thanks everyone! Interesting. Well I googled crocosimia it looks pretty so I might have a go at getting some bulblets. Dave, can you tell me how long after potting should I expect to find the bulblets? Should I try to break apart the whole thing then pot it? Do you leave it in a shed or outside?
Many thanks!
They look too big for Crocosmia corms to me.
..yes I've been doubting they're Crocosmia... they usually have lots of rooty bits all around the corms... but these are clean...
Each bit can be up to 2 inches across and if they've been left for a while have been over 8 inches long.
they re grow from the newest corm and throw out subsidiary shoots between the last two or three segments in my experience. If I grow any on I plant up the last four inches or so then when they show signs of growth I tip them out the pot and cut away any none growing parts and chuck them in the compost bin. Then repot the growing parts. they are tough little blighters, I always dead head as they can be a bit of a pest for self seeding.
But crocosmia produce huge clusters of corms, not 5 or 6.
peacepuffin, do you happen to have any pics of them flowering?