Hi Juju ~
Oops, zone 6b. They will not live in cold temps. as they're semi or full tropical (?). I lose mine if we have prolonged 32 degree nights.

They will need to be potted up. The claws are being offered here also (we're past frost danger). I doubt yours have been on the shelf for a year.

Pot them with the claws pointed downwards (1 per 4-inch pot) and cover with 1 inch of potting mix. I'm not sure about water at this point. You don't want them to get dessicated but if they sprout, your temps. are too cold for them to be outside. Maybe water once, let the potting mix get dry before watering again. If you have a space that stays 40-55 degrees I'd store the pots there. If leaves emerge they will have to be put in sun.

Hopefully someone who's done this in a cold winter zone will share their knowledge. Or you can be our first!!

These keep very well and I would just wait till you can plant them in your yard. At the end of the season you can dig them and store for next year. If you are patient you can separate and actually multiply them for next year. Al

Posted by calistoga USDA 9 Ca 15 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 7:57

Posted by iris_gal z9 CA (My Page) on Mon, Feb 24, 14 at 21:12

Thank you so much. I bought a bag of 25. I soaked them in the old water from my fish tanks last night. This morning, they look a lot larger. Each claw has a large number of fingers - like 20 to 30. I think these are large. Yes, I plan to put these in pots to start early. I do have South window and the temperature is 69F or 20C.

My question is: How many days do they need to complete one growing season in full? My guess is 90 days.

Just to put the record straight, Ranunculus asiaticus are not tropical or semi tropical. They are native to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Posted by floral_uk 8/9 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 14:57

Floral, what are their active months (meaning leaves above ground) in Eastern Mediterranean?

I have no idea. I have never seen them there.

Aha, they have shown shoots now. Initially, it is just white tips, then they rise up into buds.

I have a way to do it. Wet a rug and squeeze all the water out. Place the rug at the bottom of a transparent box. Then, place the bulbs on top. The rug must be dry to touch but it keeps the moist well. I can also observe what is going on.

Mine have leafed out and will, I expect, start to bloom in another month (end of March, early April). I keep them in pots in the greenhouse. After flowering, they are stashed on a shelf and completely dried out all summer and autumn. I drip a bit of water in the pots around the end of January and the leaves emerge within a fortnight when I continue to water (sparingly) until flower buds form (around April, so yep, about 90 days).
I have seen these in the wild.....but not the many-petalled varieties bred in Israel but the clear yellow and orange singles (in the Black Sea area of eastern Turkey and also near Lake Van). Mine are also less double than most varieties....As far as I can see, cold is not really the enemy....but winter wet.....or indeed, any water during its season of dormancy, is deathly. Timing is also essential. I use a loamy potting soil with a fair proportion (almost half) of alpine grit ....but will add a slow release fertiliser such as Osmacote.
I have never risked growing them in the ground (because it is easier to manipulate flowering times when in pots) but I do have little fantasies of huge drifts of ranunculus and anemone coronaria. I suspect they prefer it slightly more acidic than my usual mix (because the leaves often look a little chlorotic).....so might even add a tiny bit of sequestrene

They are sensitive to daylight lengths, quickly changing from vegetative growth to flowering growth as soon as the vernal equinox arrives.......so it is essential to get them into active growth whilst there are less than 12 hours of daylight so that they have enough leafy bulk to sustain flowers and roots as soon as daylight hours lengthen. This is the reason that many spring sown plants fail....nothing really to do with cold.

Incidentally, these are easy to grow from seed, flowering in the first year of growth - sown in late autumn, they will be in bloom in around 5-6 months.

Posted by campanula UK Cambridge (My Page) on Sun, Mar 2, 14 at 7:28

Thank you so much for sharing the expertise. So, these are timed by the sun. Wow, no wonder. I checked, the equinox is 20 March and Solstice is 21 June this year. That means I am too late, already ... ...

I took a couple pictures this morning. I hope this season is not too late for them. It is still freezing out side.

Notice the damp rug beneath the claws. The rug must be completely squeezed and dry to touch. Otherwise, the claws grow white and fluffy hair.

{{gwi:6009}}

{{gwi:6011}}

{{gwi:6013}}

Before the 24 hour soaking:

{{gwi:6016}}

This post was edited by jujujojo on Sun, Mar 2, 14 at 15:07

I have to say, they look incredibly healthy and vigorous Juju - suggest you go ahead and plant them anyway - at worst, you will get some growth this year but probably no flowering. Next year, they will start into growth soon after the winter solstice - you don't need to do anything apart from start watering sparingly around Xmas - as long as they are not left in wet soil, they are remarkably tough and will flower for you next year.

Posted by campanula UK Cambridge (My Page) on Mon, Mar 3, 14 at 17:56

Thank you for your suggestions. It is still -15 C (5 F) outside now. Do they tolerate below freezing temperature? If they do, what is a safe below freezing temperature for them?

Here where the freezing is very mild, only down to about 25F, they live happily in the garden year around, and are budding up already. Al

Posted by calistoga USDA 9 Ca 15 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 4, 14 at 10:30

When you were 25 F (-4 C), did they have leaves above ground? If they did, were the leaves frozen or not? Were the leaves damaged?

This post was edited by jujujojo on Tue, Mar 4, 14 at 14:40

Campanula that's great info. I always thought it was warmer weather that did mine in, I never knew to check into day length. Some winter when I'm bored (too late now) I may give them another go!

But I still envy the Californians who can grow these outdoors :)

I guess my question remains:

When you were 25 F, did they have leaves above ground? If they did, were the leaves frozen or not? Were the leaves damaged?

In metric system:

When you were -4 C, did they have leaves above ground? If they did, were the leaves frozen or not? Were the leaves damaged?

Posted by lauriewood 8 SC (My Page) on Thu, Mar 6, 14 at 10:21

Hi, I lived a long time in South Carolina. I would say the winter in January is colder than a 25 F (-4 C). It always reaches below that like 10 F (-12 C), unless you are on the coast. So, when did you plant your ranunculus? Were they subject to 10 F?

Here is the official notes:

These bulbs perform best when they have 6-8 weeks of cool weather in which to sprout and grow. Ideal conditions are typically 35-50 F (1-10 C) degrees at night, with daytime highs in the 60-75F (15-23 C) range. For this reason we do not recommend planting bulbs in late spring or early summer where temperature rise above 80 degrees (26 C). At these high temperatures, ranunculus bulbs slip into dormancy and fail to sprout.

Ranunculus are winter hardy to Zone 8. They can tolerate a light overnight frost, so in mild years they may overwinter in the warmer parts of Zone 7. Typically, to grow Ranunculus in zones 4-7, we recommend planting in the early spring when the chance of frost has passed. Then enjoy late spring blooms.

These banana-bunch looking bulbs are unusual in that they will hold well out of the ground for extended periods of time, sometimes more than a year. If you wish to hold your bulbs to plant at a later time - perhaps when weather is more suitable - simply tuck them in a brown paper bag and store them in a cool and dry environment. Warm, dry air may cause the bulbs to dry out and high humidity/excessive moisture may cause them to mold.

Ranunculus produce complex, multi-petal flowers and use a lot of energy doing so. To encourage strong flowering, add some all purpose fertilizer when you plant and supplement with half strength fertilizer every two weeks while the plants are actively growing.

This post was edited by jujujojo on Thu, Mar 6, 14 at 23:04

Hi all, thank so so much for the insights. Even if this is too late, I would like to try, at least.

Now the claws have roots and shoots. I am ready to bury them in pots. Here are the questions:

1 How deep should I bury them?
2 What is the distance between claws if I place them in large pots?
3 Do I water immediately after planting?

Delighted I am wrong about the hardiness of these!

Growers put 3 claws in a gallon pot.

Posted by iris_gal z9 CA (My Page) on Fri, Mar 7, 14 at 20:31

Thank you. Now the bulbs in the box are showing both shoots and roots now. If I bury them, they will have no access to sun light again. So, the question is:

Should I wait until they have more greens before I bury them, so that they always see some sun?

Just plant them. I planted a bunch of narcissus last week that we're sprouting in the bag. They have already jumped right up!

Ok everyone, I have planted them in several pots. As instructed, I watered generously after planting.

Now, the second day, I touch the soil and it is still wet. The water seems to retain well in the soil like it is just after a rain.

The water is not going away because of the low temperature.

I worry if the ranunculus bulbs might rot. What can I do? Dig them out again?

Ok, I gently removed some top soil and examined the bulbs. They are doing wonderfully. It has been only 2 days since I planted them, but the shoots have grown to 2 cm (0.7 inch) tall. Wow, that is a surprise. They almost reached the surface of the soil! How wonderful.

This post was edited by jujujojo on Mon, Mar 10, 14 at 15:29

We had some warm days again, like above freezing over night. I placed the pots outside. The sunlight is reflected by the white snow. The light level is blinding. A number of green shoots have emerged. Each claw produces a cluster of shoots.

My question is: should I thin out the shoots?

mmm, they might act like anemone coronarias for you - with a spring planting, they will flower later in the year than they would normally in their Mediterranean habitat....which might lead to attenuated bulb (corm? tuber?) growth making them less inclined to flower the following year (thereby acting more like an annual). They are often grown as cut flowers across a longish season in greenhouses and treated as single season flowers. I tend to lump anemones and ranunculus together as being slightly tricky.

I wouldn't be thinking of doing any thinning of the leaves (although your 'claws' did look rather lush) - you want as much greenery as possible until a flowering stem appears..

Posted by campanula UK Cambridge (My Page) on Sat, Mar 15, 14 at 19:05

Thank you so much. I will keep all the greens. The shoots are loaded with energy like just emerged tulips. We have a couple days with low above -4 C. I am keeping them outside in full sun :-)

Posted by lauriewood 8 SC (My Page) on Thu, Mar 6, 14 at 10:21

Just to let you know that you are absolutely correct. I have kept them outside for nights of 25 F (-4 C). The leaves were frozen in the morning but they were not damaged. Later in the day, the leaves were no longer frozen and they were healthy looking.

We are going to be -6 C or 21.6 F tonight. I am leaving them out to see if they survive :-) I think they will.

Ranunculus are a cool season plant with a frost sensitive rhizome. In an ideal climate (like Carlsbad, CA) you would plant the rhizome in late fall and it would put out roots and then leaves from December - February and then bloom in March or April. After that it would go completely dormant during the hot dry summer. The problem with trying to grow them in the ground in cold climates is that the rhizome is not cold hardy so you can't plant it in the fall and let it get established in preparation for spring blooming. If you have very cool summers you can probably plant it in early spring and have a summer blooming season but then you will have to dig it up and store it in a frost free location over the winter. If you have hot summers (like me) it doesn't work to plant it in the spring because the plant doesn't have enough time to get established before the weather gets hot and triggers the blooming process. Without being properly established it will put only small weak blooms or none at all. I've tried several times and had only limited success growing it in the ground. I do have a nice one that is about to bloom in a pot and that may be an option for you if you have a cool sunny location for the plant to grow along during the winter.

- Steve

One pot is okay.The other pot looked wet. I checked today, 3 large bulbs have rotted. How unfortunate. I did not intentionally water them, but the cold frame created condensation.

Jujujojo, how are your ranunculus doing?

I've seen them for sale here, both as dried claws and as potted blooming plants. I've never tried to grow them.

â¢Posted by edie_h 5aNY (Finger Lakes) (My Page) on Sat, Apr 19, 14 at 13:44

The have grown leaves now. Some leaves are nice, a few others are frost damaged. But I think the weather would be okay from now on.

The situation is grim in our area. A few days ago, the temperature reached 30 C or 86 F. Some half grown plants are yellowing.

I bought some last fall and stored them over winter in a cabinet. I just planted them a few days ago in pots. I am looking forward to the flowers. Will post pics. How long does it take for them to come up and flower?

Out of all that many bulbs, with the help of the digging squirrels and temperature reaching 30 C or 86 F, only about one third survived today.

Repeat, I hate squirrels, our neighbours give them bread, peanuts and everything.

Here is an update:

{{gwi:6017}}

they are looking good and green at least!
i bought a couple sprouted ones mid-april. and they lasted exactly 1 mo - when the temp shot to 80F they just wilted and yellowed. then it got back to 50F-55F at night, but i guess it's too late. seems like the hot temps affect them tremendously.
have to say i loved wayne schmidt's site - great info on growing them.
i love them, but our climate here is really hard on them with all the yo-yoing of temps...
it looks like yours will be blooming soon!

This post was edited by petrushka on Thu, May 29, 14 at 19:30

My ranunculus didn't do much in the pots this summer. I had a few flowers. One pot grew leaves but no flowers and then started to die back. I have dug them up and will save them to plant this fall/winter in FL (zone 9).