Rhodophyela bifida & Lycoris radiata planting depth

Robt R Pries rpries@sbcglobal.net
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:21:25 PDT
Lauw; I am glad you made this observation because I
had noticed some of the same behavior. On some Lycoris
I noticed "stalks" with a bulb at the base and another
formed above the lower bulb. I was having some trouble
deciding whether the newest bulb was the upper or the
lower and whether the plant was trying to get
shallower or go deeper. i have been trying to
hybridize Lycoris and dug everything from 1 year
seedlings, 2year etc. to my six year seedlings this
spring becaase I am moving the garden. In looking at
the age progression in the seedlings it seemed to me
that they were going deeper and deeper the older they
were. I have been reading about Lycoris this spring
and all me references were saying they bloom better
when they are planted shallowly. I was a bit confused
becuase the plants seemd to be telling me that they
like depth. The books I was using were zone 7-10
garden writers and my present garden is zone 5/6.
Could it be that in colder zones the plant pull
themselves lower than in warmer climates. Since I am
moving to a zone 7 I shall plant less deep in the new
garden but I am still confused by the action of the
plants. I hope next year to see the first blooms on my
oldest crosses.

--- Bulbargence <dejager@bulbargence.com> wrote:

> Bonjour,
>  Rhodophiala bifida and Lycoris radiata (and
> chinense) are both in flower
> here in the ground When lifiçtng bulbs to sellI have
> some interesting
> observations about the planting depth. When planted
> Rhodophiala shallow
> 50-100mm (2-4")  it always pulls itself down to
> 150-200mm (6-8") to reach
> cool and humid layers. Lycoris radiata, I just find
> out, does exactly the
> contrary:  they were planted at 75-100mm (3-4") and
> now whenpulling them up
> all have formed a secondary bulb at the level of
> 30-50mm (1-2")
> One never stops learning!
> 
> Lauw de Jager
> http://www.bulbargence.com/
> South of France (zone 8 Olivier)
> Coord. Geogr.(GPS): 43°42' 43" N     4° 32' 12" E
> 
> 
>   
> Jim Shields:
> > Rhodophiala bifida must need fairly extreme
> conditions to bloom.   They
> > probably need hot summers and cold winters,
> neither of which Mary Sue has
> > at her current home.
> > 
> > We have some Lycoris radiata radiata here too,
> that survive and sometimes
> > bloom, but definitely do not thrive outdoors in
> the ground.  The diploid
> > form of L. radiata does not survive here.
> 
> 
> 
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