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My species hippeastrum
May. 26th, 2012 09:19 amWhen my order from Telos Rare Bulbs arrived, I was doubly surprised. First, I hadn't expected to see those bulbs until the fall; and, second, I had expected to be shipped dormant bulbs. No indeedy, these bulb were ripped from their greenhouse pots, packed in damp paper towels and used plastic newspaper delivery bags, and shipped. The juvenile mandoni still had their full foliage (all eight inches or so of it). The papilio had been trimmed back to about 10".
The instructions warned that the foliage would probably die back and the plants go apparently dormant as the roots re-established themselves. That appears to be the case with the papilio. There are growing brown areas at the tip of each leaf, although it's taking some time. Right now the brown/yellow has extended between half an inch and two inches, with one leaf yellowing all the way down. The foliage itself looks a little wonky, too -- it looks dusty except the "dust" doesn't wash off.
Not so on the mandoni, though! One leaf on one of the plants yellowed and softened, but only one -- and both plants are already putting up new leaves. The instructions said that mandoni want a large pot, but I'm sure that doesn't refer to juveniles with bulbs a little smaller than marbles.
The Merry Christmas papilio looks about the way it has since it finished blooming, although one of the offsets has put out a third leaf.
The progeny (papilio x emerald) are coming along. Eleven seeds have sprouted. Of those, eight have put out leaves. The other three are presumably still forming their proto-bublets under the soil surface. I'll give them a few more days and then hit them with a weak solution of fertilizer.I've been fertilizing my other juveniles from the Class of 2011 regularly and they're all looking quite lush.
I have almost made up my mind to skip my heroics to save my infected bulbs. I've been reading up on the virus and its transmission to offspring. I would have thought that the pollen might be free of virus but the ovaries not. Turns out it's the other way around. So I have two classes -- 2009 and 2011 -- in which my infected Trader Joe was the pod parent and thus likely to NOT have passed along the virus. I can console myself that the genes of the plants I discard live on in their progeny.
As I said, I've ALMOST made up my mind. But I will probably vacillate a few more times before I decide. At present the infected plants are quarantined and growing fairly well. There's no hurry.
The next question: what to do with all those Schlumbergera seedlings from my other experiment? I still have about 15. I have no idea what I'll get but it probably won't be anything too spectacular.
The instructions warned that the foliage would probably die back and the plants go apparently dormant as the roots re-established themselves. That appears to be the case with the papilio. There are growing brown areas at the tip of each leaf, although it's taking some time. Right now the brown/yellow has extended between half an inch and two inches, with one leaf yellowing all the way down. The foliage itself looks a little wonky, too -- it looks dusty except the "dust" doesn't wash off.
Not so on the mandoni, though! One leaf on one of the plants yellowed and softened, but only one -- and both plants are already putting up new leaves. The instructions said that mandoni want a large pot, but I'm sure that doesn't refer to juveniles with bulbs a little smaller than marbles.
The Merry Christmas papilio looks about the way it has since it finished blooming, although one of the offsets has put out a third leaf.
The progeny (papilio x emerald) are coming along. Eleven seeds have sprouted. Of those, eight have put out leaves. The other three are presumably still forming their proto-bublets under the soil surface. I'll give them a few more days and then hit them with a weak solution of fertilizer.I've been fertilizing my other juveniles from the Class of 2011 regularly and they're all looking quite lush.
I have almost made up my mind to skip my heroics to save my infected bulbs. I've been reading up on the virus and its transmission to offspring. I would have thought that the pollen might be free of virus but the ovaries not. Turns out it's the other way around. So I have two classes -- 2009 and 2011 -- in which my infected Trader Joe was the pod parent and thus likely to NOT have passed along the virus. I can console myself that the genes of the plants I discard live on in their progeny.
As I said, I've ALMOST made up my mind. But I will probably vacillate a few more times before I decide. At present the infected plants are quarantined and growing fairly well. There's no hurry.
The next question: what to do with all those Schlumbergera seedlings from my other experiment? I still have about 15. I have no idea what I'll get but it probably won't be anything too spectacular.
