A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Has anyone grown Cyclamon?

My husband bought me a surprise pot of cyclamon recently. I actually dont have green fingers but really want to make this pot of plant bloom and grow. It is very pretty when it first came...in a small pot from the florist. Week after week, one to three leaves turn yellow and i pulled them out. Is there anyone who can tell me if this is normal?

I try to water the soil every alternate day and clear away any water the pot is standing in. The new flowers arent as spectacular as those which first came. They were fainter and smaller. And they look totally different from the first flowers. First flowers look like large butterflies. The subsequent buds bloomed with small petals all turned backwards. I wonder if it is meant to be like this. Can anyone advise?

I do use indoor heating and I read that cyclamons depise heating but dont like drafts. So i am totally clueless as where to place the pot. Indoors have heating and outdoors have wind. I love the pot to be indoors where it can be admired.

Is there any cyclamon expert who can help me with the yellowing leaves and poor flower quality?

Thanks!

When a cyclamen finishes blooming, it starts to turn yellow and go dormant. You then leave it go dry in a cool place and repot in two months in a bigger pot and begin again. The plant lives best if this is done every couple of years.they are fussy.

They'd rather it cool, no drafts and no over watering also, leave it go dry before watering and don't allow it to sit in any standing water either. Drain over the sink before putting back in it's place.. Give it lots of light from late fall to early spring...but cool temps after.


....and welcome to our gardening site. Hoping someone can add to this about the flower situation.

Hi Tamara,

Do you the whole pot of cyclamon will wither and die off? All the leaves will go brown and die? Until nothing is left on the soil?? what does it mean by dormant? Now the flowers are all gone and spring is here. The base leaves are slowly turning yellow...What other signs do I need to anticipate?

With repotting, can i use the same pot? Why is there a need to use a larger pot? I dont really want to expand the current plant and have more of it. I thought one pot is enough for me to manage.

Thanks!

Oh I love Cyclamen - those flowers are sooo pretty!!! :-)
When I was visiting a friend in England I bought her a cyclamen plant as a thank you at a London florist and the lady there told me that the most important thing is that they are kept in a place that is not to hot and are constantly kept moist.

Not all of your plant will die off, but most of the leaves will wither. For repotting you can also use the same pot as long as the plant hasn't grown too big. That shouldn't be a problem!

jessie, we don't allow hyperlinks to commercial sites without prior approval. but i agree, cyclamen are cool plants!

I have several Cyclamens which live quite happily in the conservatory in the winter, as we only heat this room enough to keep the frost away and only use it during the day when the sun is out. I also keep the plants constantly moist, which they seem quite happy with.

During the summer is my problem, and I've found that they do best in our study, which is quite a dark room and about the coolest in the house as it doesn't get full sun. I think a lot of people throw out cyclamens thinking they are dead during the summer, but although the plant may look lifeless if it is kept watered through the summer it should grow back again the next winter.

Maybe I am a bit late on the topic? I am not sure whether you know a Cyclamen is a bulb, and it "goes to sleep" during summer, just like all other winter bulbs.
I found that they don’t want to dry out completely during summer. I do give them a little water, although I know they are "sleeping".
When repotting, make sure when you replant the bulb, it should not be completely under the ground. One third must remain above the ground.
As the flowers die off, you must pull it out of the bulb, by holding down the bulb with your one hand and flower stem (as far down as you can) with your other hand and pull on it with a gentle tug. By doing that, you stimulate the bulb in making new/more flowers. (The flower petals do fold backwards) If you want to play "bee" you can fertilize the flowers and even get seeds from it!
Feed them regularly with a bulb food, especially when new life starts showing during autumn.

It is winter time in South Africa now so it is Cyclamen time too!