Sandersonia Tubers

Sandersonia tubers are lifted when the flower stems have dried and freely detatch from the tubers. They are then cleaned, dipped in a fungicide and sticker, dried, and graded for size and quality. Then they are cool stored at 3-4 degrees celsius for a minimum of three months, to ensure an even and high percentage of germination. Flowering sized sandersonia tubers which have an export market, range in size from 3gms to 25gms. Smaller tubers including marbles (no obvious legs) are replanted to increase in size. Each sandersonia tuber has two legs with a growing tip. The tip must be healthy and unmarked for the tuber to be exportable. Because one leg is always dominant, sandersonia tubers over 7 grams in weight are split evenly before planting, to ensure two even sized stems.

These are sandersonia tubers. They range in weight from 7 grams to 15 grams. They have unmarked healthy tips and are of export and flowering grade.

Packing graded tubers into polybins ready for coolstorage

Tubers ready for grading