A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 caldiums

kinda wondering
i stuck a whole buncha bulbs in the ground
kinda early and im thinkin i may have screwed up.
whats the earliest i should be seeing something here in st louis of caladiums? also havent seen a trace of the guinea hen flowers,should i ask for a refund?
the hardy glads only sprouted 4 of 25 bulbs.
not real happy with that either. and how can they even compare them to glads. they are so puny compared to the regular glads.
kinda think i trusted the advertising too much.

Caladiums are suppose to be the leaf ones right?
I think you planted them right but they take a while to start off.. I had the rainbow ones last year and I got my money back... none grew had bad luck..

Caladiums about 8 weeks to see the first tips of the plants for me last year and then even at that stage it takes forever for them to come up and unfurl their leaves. My concern would be that they are tropical and if you put them in too early and had some late storms like the hail storm I had they would be very dead. Tropicals mean that the temperature doesn't go below 55*F I believe.

My glads are just starting to show leaves so far about 50% have produced leaves and some of those have had babies. I left them in from last year rather than lifting them. Space is at a premium in my small apartment.

Now my questions about the glads are when did you plant them, how deep did you plant them, and how did you amend the soil before you planted them? All of that can have something to do with when they come up. They don't bloom until mid summer for me so you have plenty of time left for them to come up.

these were a variety that is supposed to be winter hardy in this area.they were planted in an established bed that is amended yearly when my compost finishes. they were planted correctly. in fact every thing ive planted this year including more glads is up and growing well.the real problem was that they arrived real late in poor condition after spending considerable time in shipping.
when they arrived they didnt look too good and some actually had mold on them. same with the guinea hen bulbs. was really frustrated with the vendor and let em know it. they gave me a bonus credit and said if they didnt grow they would refund my money. about ready to send em an email with the request for a credit on em!

Well I'm a beginner and it sounds like you need one of the experienced gardeners for your answer. Good luck with your garden.

if they had mold on them, they should have been returned immediately. actually, i would have had the company replace ALL the bulbs...even if you don't see the mold, it could have been on all the bulbs.

i'd get hopping and send that email!!