So there is no sign of foliage left on any of the corms? Generally there will be some remnant remaining, specially in our area where the bloom cycle for crocosmia has just finished up. If you can see any foliage attached, the corm it is attached to is the newest. These should just split apart, kind of like taking an Oreo cookie apart.

OTOH, you have seen firsthand how tough these plants are and how well they spread. I'd have to say that I seldom spend too much time figuring out which way is up and just dump them into a planting hole. Even if some are depleted and others are buried upside down, you will still have more than you need to re-establish several clumps. Space out as necessary - if holes appear in the planting next year from bad/poorly planted corms, they will quickly be filled in as the plants spread.

Tiny little tip: carefully examine a good sized single corm. You will see that on one side there is a slight concave surface and on the other, a slightly convex surface. The differences are subtle, so look closely. The concave side is the root plate - plant this side down :-) And plant them now. I have never had good luck trying to save the corms overwinter - they just seem to dry out even with some protection.

I'd dig a shallow trench, throw them in, and cover with soil. You can certainly spot which side is up as an academic exercise but there is no need to carefully position each one in the ground.

Plant them sideways, they'll flower just fine the first season and the next generation will be oriented heads-up.

Have fun,

C.

Ok ladies.......another question which was probably answered but I keep missing it.........some of these clumps have 3 or 4 smaller corms, then as many as 5 much bigger corms, then another little row of 3 or 4 small ones. What the heck do I do with these? And are only the ones at the "stem" end any good? Do they really get depleted and should be tossed? Some don't have stem end that I can discern and some are just tough as nails to seperate. What happens if I just throw the whole banana in the hole? I watch my squirrels burying their peanuts........they aren't spending any time worrying about which way is up, why should I?????? Oh, and the little itsy bitsy ones about the size of a pea.......should I plant them as well or are they just sort of a corm "afterthought?" Will someone please come over to my house and walk me thru this? I'll have wine and Oreos! Snickerdoodles? Some sort of Keebler Elf cookie?
Thanks girls!
Greenlydia

If I could be of any real help, I'd be there in a sec, Greenlydia! Wine & Oreos! I just dug mine also, but mine hadn't quite multiplied as much as yours, plus, mine still has foliage. If they don't have the foliage, I can't really tell the dif either. Same with calla lilies. They always seem to survive though. I separate as many of the corms, no matter how tiny, as I can easily pull apart. I figure that will save me a brief amount of division later on. If they are too hard to separate, I toss the whole shebang in the hole. As stated already, if you lose a few, you won't miss them in a year. I doubt if you lose any.
Good luck,& happy planting of every one of those 388756485996070 corms. By the way, I plant each & every one of mine, but I don't have quite so many :) They will grow & mature, just take another year before blooming.

Dear Ngraham..........thanks for the advice. Sure you can't make it over for some wine and Oreos? Once we drank enough wine, we could play "toss the corm!" Maybe plant a few Oreos while we're at it........see what pops up next year. I'm heading out now to tackle my wheelbarrow full of corms. It's HEAPED I tell you.........HEAPED! I know I will start out nice and organized, but by 4 this afternoon, I will be so sick of corms and their evil little cormettes I will be stomping them into the ground with my boots! Grow or not my little beauties................
Greenlydia

Ok, you already know I think you're hysterical so I'll save the ego-stroking session for another time. Believe it or not, this is the one "brand" of corm that I actually have!!! I planted mine sideways the first time I got them and they did fantastic. No worries!

hi greenlydia...

you ARE hilarious....you are a "Blessing" to everyone you come in contact with....

don't have crocosmia....but i find "windflowers" to be the same "hard to figure out" little ?%?%?%?%?%....i just dig a hole or trench...throw a hundred or so in and cover it all up....Voile'....

now....on to that glass of wine.....or "margarita" in my case....jill

OK ladies............you have all solved my crocosmia "problem," for which I am grateful. I never did get around to planting any yesterday as I decided to just drink the wine and contemplate life without corms. I wonder if any podiatrists stumble on this site and think we're all talking about CORNS. They probably wonder why we don't just buy some Dr.Scholl crap and stop all the whining. Today the corms go in the trench.....sideways, upside down, in the missionary position, I don't care! My wheelbarrow is looking more and more like the elephant in the living room so action is called for. You are all invited over to watch the "dumping of the corms ceremony!" Wine and Oreos all around, Barkeep!
Greenlydia P.S.
Ademink........where can I find you if you don't mind?

Find me? I'm in Indianapolis...is that what you mean? I'm in my office right now and there is a cat on the back of the chair. Is that too specific? ha! Click on my profile and you can email me!

Then you are invited over to my house for the planting of the iris. Dug up a clump of iris that had been in place for about 10 years. Didn't really look like THAT big a clump, but there are TONS! I planted a few right away, but didn't make a dent. I hate to compost, but I think some of them may make their way there. No space for them, so I'm digging new territory for them. I'll have to add hot tub to the wine & oreos.

Just put a post on the Plant Exchange that you will send them for free is someone will pay postage. They'll be gone in a flash!

Hello ladies! Been raking leaves like a crazed person as I live below at least a million maple trees and alders and wild cherry and they would bury my house if I didn't keep up on a daily basis. That wheelbarrow with the remaining corms is STILL sitting on my porch, taunting me every day when I stagger home from work. I wish they would just GO AWAY! And now, like the nitwit I am, Brecks sent me a catalog with a coupon for $25.00 worth of free bulbs! Guess who immediately sat down and figured out how to get those free bulbs without paying a single penny? Yup, yours truly. So now I've got the wheelbarrow full of the damn corms and another bag full of way too many iris bulbs! I think I need to go to "bulb rehab" or something, I can't stop myself and now I'm in even more trouble than before. I didn't know where to put the remaining 2 million corms and now where do I possibly think I'm gonna find a spot for the bloody iris? I'm sick I tell you....sick! It is nearly mid-Octobre and these things gotta get in the ground, so I think I'm going with the "dig a trench and dump" philosophy of corm and bulb planting! I know you real bulb people are all having cows regarding my sloppy methods but why didn't you all write to me and tell me to not plant things that were going to multiply like angry rabbits? I blame you. Totally! IT'S NOT MY FAULT. Nothing is. I am blame free and sleep like a baby. Only on occassion do I wake up with the fear that a huge bag of corms is lying under the covers. Ademink.......I'm gonna try to find you, just a warning!
And if I can find this "plant exchange" you talked about, I will send you, free of charge, a massive amount of crocosmia corms and then maybe you won't find me so "amusing!"
Greenlydia

LMAO...You need to write "The REAL Gardener's Book".

This might make you feel better:

One year I did just as you described above only w/ free daffodil and tulip bulbs I couldn't resist...HUNDREDS. I overwintered them by drilling a hole in the bottom of the wheelbarrow here and there for water drainage...dumped in the bulbs...covered w/ dirt.

That was my version of planting.

They lived.

Another sunny, cool Autumn day here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Perfect for planting crocosmia corms and iris bulbs. By tonight I will have planted exactly NONE. See what my stay in rehab did for me! I no longer expect ANYTHING of myself. What freedom! No guilt gardening at it's finest. I have learned to not look at the wheelbarrow overflowing with evil corms, who, by the way, are now talking to me. I'm sure it's them. They are saying not very nice things to me. But an idea came to me last night after I'd had a fine bottle of red wine with a fruity, rather smokey finish. This idea is so good I'm going to share it with all of you. As I savored each sip of my excellent wine, I was watching the 20 squirrels I spend gobs of money on for peanuts and this idea hit me like a bolt of lightening. Why not substitue the peanuts with the evil crocosmia bulbs and let the squirrels run amok digging their little holes all over my lawn and gardens and let THEM plant the damn things! What do you think? Is this not genius thinking? Have I not come up with the perfect solution? Lordy but I'm brilliant. I'm going out right now to load up their feeder with corms and sit back and watch. If they can plant the corms as fast as they go thru 5 pounds of peanuts, we'll have them all in the ground by noon today. I'll keep you posted.
Greenlydia

My suggestion would be to hide the corms & the squirrels will definitely plant them for you. But if you put them in their feeder they will know something is up & chuck them out of the feeder on the bare ground underneath. The best place to hide the corms so the squirrels will get them, is to dig a nice wide hole, put the corms in, cover them with soil ......

:)

This is the best thread I've ever read!

(even though it hasn't helped me decide what to do with my crocosmia corms, hmm....)

Hello Julie..........Welcome to the cult of corm challenged alcoholics! My DH (dear husband) finally got so cheesed off that "his" wheelbarrow was full of the evil little dirt balls that he uncerimoniously dumped them on the porch! How rude. I think one of the cats peed on them. With my luck, cat pee will cause them to reproduce even faster! I don't know how many you have, but I took a friends advice from here and put them up for adoption on the "plants for trade" site and dang if some other goobers ask for some! YIPEE! I am off to the post office for the biggest box I can find. Boy, will they ever be surprised! I got some great stuff in exchange, and can highly recommend this site. Wish I could put DH on there.......he's quite handy around the house but too cheap to buy his own damn wheelbarrow! Anyway, I am at the point where it is "do or die" with the corms and the free iris bulbs, so today, even tho the sky looks like rain is a-commin' I'm gonna dig me a trench that stretches the entire length of the property and dump! I may be very sorry come Spring, but the thought of Christmas has me by the throat now and I've gotta get this little "problem" taken care of. Hey, wait.....Christmas Corms! Yet another brilliant idea. Let me check my list of fellow gardeners and see who I can dump, I mean, give, some lovely corms to. There's ways around this girls, I just know it! I'll keep you posted.
Greenlydia