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Ixia seem to like moisture as long as they are growing. I have experimented to attach the pot of Ixia paniculata to automatic irrigation, it was never better. Next season I will do the same with Ixia viridiflora. Ixia paniculata is VERY floriferous and the flowers are so numerous that the whole effect is very long lasting. The inflorescence is oriented towards the sun. 
Once summer dormancy starts, the pots are kept totally dry.

Hi all,

I have the faintest memory of a previous thread about Albuca clanwilliamae-gloria being self infertile. So imagine my surprise when I looked up in the greenhouse today saw my lone flowering individual had set fruit! We?ll see if the seed are good later this year, but I just had to share. Very exciting!

Best,
Cody Coyotee
Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA


Hello Cody,

This is very interesting! In general the seed set in Albuca is good if there is seed at all.
The only thing I wonder about is: are you sure that your plant is the real clanwilliamigloria? I am asking because there is a different species circulating under the wrong name of Albuca clanwilliamigloria. I have sown seed of the false one and even at the seedling stage they look different but they have not flowered yet.
The other question would be if there were other Albuca in flower at the same time so your seed could be of hybrid origin.

I hope that you don't mind that I put this thread on the forum where you can post pictures.

Bye for now 

Uli 

Dear Members living in the EU,
In a few hours' time the spring EU Seed and bulb exchange will be closing (at 24:00 Central European Time) So you still have a few hours to place an order.
The next exchange will take place in September and will be announced through the same channels. Please do not send any more items to Martin until further notice.
Once you will have received your order from this spring exchange, you will find a payment slip included.



Happy growing and have a great summer!


Uli and Martin

Dear All,

Here are some comments on my donation for the current bulb and seed exchange.

Uli 

Amorphophallus atroviridis:
Rare in cultivation. Beautiful deep green divided foliage with a pink picotee edge. Mottled leaf stalks. The flowers are relatively small and pale yellow, no evil smell, not really interesting. I had no seed set. Flowering tubers do not produce a leaf in the same season, the tubers on offer are not of flowering size. A striking foliage plant. Easy to grow in a warm spot with good light out of direct sunlight. Summer growing with dry winter dormancy, increases fairly well. 

Dioscorea discolor: plant the tuber as soon as possible on arrival and give gentle bottom heat. It will still be slow to sprout but without bottom heat it will take ages. Once started it will grow fast into a vigorous vine with beautiful foliage. Give good light to get good leaf coloration. Fertilize and water well, increases in number and size of the tubers. From Bolivia. Makes a robust house plant on a suitable trellis. Will go dormant fairly late in the year, keep completely dry then, otherwise it will rot. 
Pictures in the WIKI 


Oxalis elegans:
From Ecuador, summer growing and winter dormant. Beautiful colour combination of deep pink flowers, a green centre which is surrounded by a deep purple ring. Attractive foliage as well. Some bulbs were given to me more than 20 years ago by a friendly gardener of Göttingen Botanical Garden. I have given it to as many people as possible. So I could get it back after I lost it. With others of my summer growing Oxalis it succumbed to a fungal rust infection towards the end of summer when the weather turned damp. That was before I moved to Portugal. O. elegans is slow to increase and does not like hot conditions, so I am not sure if I can maintain it in Portugal. Give it full sun but make sure that the pot does not get hot. It seems to be very rare in cultivation.

Oxalis stipularis or decaphylla.
Received very many years ago from a friend who collected it in Mexico but without a name. Summer growing and winter dormant. This one is easy to grow and makes a very attractive pot plant. The foliage is the interesting part, very finely cut into many branching segments. Small pale lilac flowers. Increases easily. Rare in cultivation as well. 
Pictures of both of these oxalis are in the WIKI 

Hello Diane,

Yes, that is my book, too.

Uli 

Hello Åke,

You made me smile when you mention the "damned fly"......
As I had no solution to your question I looked it up in my Arisaema book and came across this interesting section: they state that most species are self sterile and even different clones do not always set seed due to the lack of suitable pollinators, the method in the attachment is working well. They write about Arisaema in the open garden, but I think you grow your flowering plants under glass, do you? I hope that the authors of the book do not mind me posting this and I hope it is readable.

All the best 

Uli 

Hello Piotr,

Yes, I do see some red spotting on adult Hippeastrum bulbs but it does not seem to harm them. All of my Hippeastrum are growing outdoors, most of them in pots but if I have a lot (from seed) I try at least part of them in the open ground. Only the seedlings are kept under glass. My winters in Portugal are frost free and Hippeastrum grow in many gardens. 
Yes, most of my Hippeastrum but not all is raised from seed. 
Narcissus fly and rodents are the biggest enemy.

Your seedlings look very good! I start gently fertilizing at this stage.

Dear members living in the EU,

Please give Martin a shout( garak@code-garak.de ) if you have a donation for the second round of the EU spring Exchange. There have been some but not very many donations so far so that the final round for this spring could be started if nothing else is to be expected. If you have something to donate we will wait for it but it would be very kind to let Martin know. We will close the donation time window in a few days, this will be announced through the same channels.
Please do not hesitate to contact Uli (johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de) if you have any questions.

Uli and Martin 

So difficult to capture the colors of this plant. The flowers only open in direct sun but for the pictures I had to bring the pot to a shady position. Then the slender shoots sway in the slightest of breeze. I tried different backgrounds to bring the colors as naturally as possible. It's fairly okay but the original still looks better. The plant is about 85cm tall, measured from the rim of the pot.
Here it is, one of the glorious South African spring bulbs. Surprisingly easy and fast from seed.

Hello Piotr,

This is a most interesting thread! 
Stagonospora is not really my problem with Amaryllids. The most annoying pest I have here in Portugal is Narcissus fly. I have never seen them but I find the empty, rotting bulbs. Some genera seem to be less affected, like Amaryllids belladonna and Nerine but Hippeastrum, Zephyranthes and Habranthus, Sternbergia and the larger Narcissus themselves are affected to the point of disappearing entirely. Growing in shade does not help. 
The second pest are voles. I have to grow valuable bulbs in pots. Hippeastrum and Iridaceae like species gladiolus, Ixia, Babiana are particularly vulnerable. And Lilium, of course.

Chileflora is notorious for their bad or non existing communication with customers, there were rumors that they had closed down but it is good to know that they are still there. I have grown some very good plants like Alstroemerias from their seed. The quality of their seed has always been very good.

If you are just starting to grow bulbs from seed: are you familiar with the WIKI? Here is a link to a very good article https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/00_others/McGary_bulbs_from_seed.pdf
I have also written one for the Bulb Garden which I can let you have. (Need your email address) I can only recommend to raise bulbs from seed, it is so rewarding. Nothing more exciting than the first flower from a batch of your own seedlings.
If you read several articles on this subject you will see that many ways lead to success which means that you will eventually find your own best way, this applies to the seed substrate as well. And then it is worthwhile sharing your experience because there is always something new to discover for others.

Bye for now 

Uli 

Hello again, Piotr,

I could maybe try planting some, but from what I read, most people observed that when they planted seeds with roots which did not have any leaves yet, they all died.

Have you tried that Uli?

Yes, I normally do not wait until I get a leaflet on floating seed. I keep thinking that the seed would use up all its stored energy germinating in water which does not contain any nutrients whereas in suitable substrate there would be nutrients available. I have lost some seedlings in the process of transplanting but this may have other causes like sciaridae flies for example. They are much more aggressive here in Portugal than they used to be in my former greenhouse in Germany. 
Another thing: I now think that there is a myth about papery Amaryllid seed being short lived. It is the fleshy green round type of Amaryllid which cannot be stored. The papery black seed can certainly be stored in appropriate conditions for several months without losing viability. If you consider the natural habitat and climate where most of papery seed bearing Amaryllid species come from, their seed must be able to survive the dry season following seed set. Fleshy seed bearers flower before the autumn rain starts and their fast ripening seed falls to the ground with the onset of winter rain, at least more or less. 
I am writing this because water flotation is not mandatory for papery seed. I only use it for seed which was stored for longer than might be good. If your seed puts out roots within days of floating this means two things: firstly the quality is very good (may I ask if it is from Chileflora?) and secondly it is from a desert plant which has to hurry to get a plantlet big enough before the moisture from the rain is gone for a possibly long time. Seed of desert bulbs must be able to survive for longer by the nature of its habitat.
If I have fresh seed from my own plants I sow directly in substrate and cover with a thin layer of white sand to deter my sciaridae. Excellent results.
I took the attached picture this morning. It shows seedlings of different ages, all planted after root formation but not leafing with the water flotation method. All of this seed was stored for more than 8 months at least prior to floating. The longest time from floating to root forming was in Cyrtanthus montanus with up to two weeks. 
The next candidate for flotation is seed of Pamianthe peruviana which was given to me but I do not know how old it is.
Uli 

Hello Piotr,

Welcome to the forum, you have posted at the right spot.
Your pictures are very good and explain the problem very well. However, I have no idea what happens to your seed. The roots look healthy, even the detached ones. The only cause for this I can think of it mechanical. Can you exclude that a pet, a bird or a child is attracted to the floating seed and manipulating it in some way?
Another thing springs to mind. You write that the seed is from Chile, so you have to consider a hemisphere swap. Did you sow/float all the seed? A spring sowing might work in the UK with a long spring and relatively cool summer but you might have better results with an autumn sowing as Rhodophiala is winter growing. The seed should maintain viability if stored in a fridge.
I also think that you can plant all those seeds which have a root. No need to wait for the first leaf. That may navigate round the dropping root problem. 
Hope that helps,

Uli 

Hello Wun-Ho,

If it is Chlorophytum it will show typical growth if allowed to grow older and bigger, like plantlets forming on the inflorescences. If you want to wait before disturbing it this will not take long but you could also dig it up and the roots will help identification as well.
Chlorophytum is a fairly weedy plant in my Portuguese garden and I am weeding it in most places because it spreads into smaller plants and overwhelms them after a short period. It might still be something else than Chlorophytum but I would carefully watch it.

Uli 

Chlorophytum?

Very delicate color! I like the blue anthers. Is it a photographic effect or do the petals have a slight blue sheen?