5. Growth habit
Tubers are planted in Spring and normally germinate within 2‐3 weeks,
providing ground temperatures are warm (>16°C). If planting in cooler
conditions, pre‐germination is recommended ‐ refer #18. In optimum
conditions flowering will occur within
45‐60 days of emergence. On
completion of flowering, the tuber
requires at least 30 days of maturation
before lifting. Sandersonia tubers
have a natural dormancy period of at
least 12 weeks. This is normally broken
by cool storage ‐ refer #35.
If ‘growing on’ for large tubers a
common problem is the production of
secondary granddaughter tubers
(‘marbles’ or ‘buttons’) ‐ see figure 1.
If producing tubers for sale, this is not
desirable as the button can easily
break at harvest, rendering the broken
tip non viable ‐ refer #26. The full
growing cycle takes an average of 20 ‐
25 weeks, longer in cool conditions.