PBS Forum

I agree with the above opinion. Does not look like a virus infection. Did the leaf rub against something, a spiny plant, cactus for example?
A different point: are you sure that this is albiflos? Only one leaf? My albiflos are evergreen and the leaves always come in pairs. This looks like a fresh leaf of a winter grower. 
Uli 

Hello @gastil,

Very interesting! Your white Amaryllis hybrid could be the famous hybrid Hathor or an offspring of it. I have seen the true Hathor in the greenhouses of the late Harry Hay in England but never managed to get hold of a bulb. It certainly is one of the best if not the best white hybrid. The radially symmetrical arrangement of the flowers is due to the Brunsvigia parentage of this group of hybrids.
On checking I came across this old contribution in the PBS list archives.

https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/2005-August/isomehpv7sccr9us0lp4ia1ur3.html

Why don't you organize a joint order as we did for the EU-BX?
The postage and the cost of the phytosanitary certificate was shared according to the percentages of the individual orders. The seed took a long time to get to Europe but the final outcome was very satisfying.

What kind of substrate do you use? The pictures shows pumice. They might be underfed? In the garden in la Palma they grew under an orange tree, citrus is heavily fertilized.
Uli 

Hello @Rimmer,

It is always nice to see how seeds fare which I gave away.

This form of Scilla latifolia is not smaller than Scilla madeirensis, on the contrary. Your plants look smaller because they are youngsters. The seed was given to me by the owner of a garden on the Canary Island of La Palma. He had a very large and impressive clump in fruit under an orange tree. The infructescence was branched and bending down under the sheer weight of the fruit. This is also a difference from Scilla madeirensis which only sparsely sets seed. A very nice plant!

Uli 

Hello Carlos,

Thank you for sharing your habitat photos. 

Dear Members living in the EU,
The second round of the autumn exchange is now closed for orders. Packets will go out in the next time to come. Please wait with payments until you receive the payment slip inside sour order. This autumn exchange was a very large one, there were many interesting donations, some from first time donors. We want to thank all donors for their seeds and bulbs and for the cooperation in pre packing. It is a pleasure to work with you in a very friendly atmosphere.

The next EU exchange is planned for spring next year, we will keep you informed through the same channels.
Please do not hesitate to contact Uli at johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de if you have questions.
We do wish you a not too cold winter.... and happy gardening
Martin and Uli

Dear members living in the EU,
The donation time window for the EU autumn exchange is now closed. Please do not send any items to Martin any more because he has no storage facilities. The second round of the autumn exchange will soon be announced through the same channels. And for more seed and bulbs to donate.... there will be the spring exchange in 2024. We will keep you informed.
Any questions? Please get in touch with Uli <johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de>
Martin and Uli

Hello David!
Please make this video about cleaning seed. I have to do a lot of cleaning and would very much appreciate any improvement on my technique which is far from perfect.

Dear members living in the EU,
The time window for donations will be closed tomorrow night. If you still have something to donate for the current autumn exchange, please send it NOW. And send an email to Martin <garak@code-garak.de> so that he would know what is under way and include it into the list of donations.
The second round of the EU-BX will soon go online, you will be informed through the same channels.
If you are still impatiently staring at some seed capsules which do not want to ripen.... please don't forget that there will be another EU exchange next spring. Most likely, any seed which is not ripe by now is not for autumn sowing anyway.

As usual, do not hesitate to get in touch with Uli  <johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de> if you have questions.
Uli and Martin

A very good choice are the X Amarine Hybrids of the so called Belladiva series. They come in different colors, are vigorous and free flowering in my climate. I don't know how hardy they are. Nerine bowdenii does not flower in my Mediterranean climate but is still there. I used to have magnificent increasing clumps of it in my former garden in Germany. It might need colder winters than I can offer. I can grow Nerine sarniensis and its hybrids in the open garden. They start to flower now but are much slower to increase than N. bowdenii or the Belladiva Hybrids.

They are notorious for that kind of behavior. But not only Tropaeolum. I have a healthy and firm bulb of Albuca clanwilliamigloria which has not sprouting in two seasons either. 
Many desert bulbs behave like this as well.
 
Uli 

Hello Jane,

That is a very nice plant !

To get the dimensions right, what is the diameter of the pot like, roughly?

Thank you for sharing 

Uli 

Here is my reply to another question I received

Fertilizing: I use a mineral fertilizer in powder form which must be dissolved and diluted in water. The NPK formula is 8-12-24 (+4) Are you familiar with the NPK formula? N stands for nitrogen which induces lush leaf growth, P for phosphorus, needed for flowers and K for potassium. Potassium will produce strong tough tissue and large bulbs. The (+4) stands for 4% of extra trace elements. This is an expensive fertilizer but as it comes as a powder a packet will last for a long time. The high potassium content and the low nitrogen make this fertilizer ideal for bulbs, succulents and cacti and even orchids but for orchids I only use less than half of the recommended strength. I fertilize all my potted bulbs by hand with a small watering can with the diluted fertilizer. Concentration as recommended by the manufacturer. As this is quite time consuming I generally only do it three time during the growth cycle: once the bulbs start into growth, second round before flowering and then again after flowering but before dormancy. This applies to adult bulbs. With seedlings I use a slightly weaker solution (maybe 30% more water or so, cannot say it more precisely)  and more often. I always leave some of the diluted fertilizer in a sealed container to have it at hand if I feel a plant is hungry. I have never ever lost seedlings or bulbs with this regime. For seedlings especially I do an overhead watering with a fine rose with clear water after fertilizing to wash off remains of the fertilizer from the leaves. Especially hairy leaves might get damaged if droplets of the fertilizer remain and dry on the leaves. I also have other fertilizers for other plants, for example a nitrogen rich one for lush foliage plants like Philodendron, Alocasia/Colocasia, palms and the like. It would not be a good idea to use the two fertilizers the opposite way.

Uli

Dear All,

There is a thread on South African gladiolus on the email list to which I replied. I agree what was written but
as the membership is living in many different countries and climates and some may be beginners, I would still like to go into some details nevertheless.
In general, it does not hurt gladiolus seed if the winter growers are sown too early. They will germinate once the conditions are right, however, a seed pot should not be allowed to dry out completely after sowing. Even if germination may be delayed. The trigger for germination is the combination of cool weather and moisture (rain) and also a marked difference between night and day temperature. So the best timing is when this is going to happen in your climate. It will be much later the warmer your local weather is.
On the other hand, sowing too late may kill the seedlings during their first dormancy. Simply because they did not have the time to form a corm (or a bulb in other genera) which is big enough to survive the first dormancy. As a rule of thumb I stop sowing winter growers around Christmas for the very latest in the northern hemisphere.
Summer growing gladiolus should be sown in spring. They are less prone to loss during their first dormancy because a cool and dry winter dormancy is less demanding on the seedling corms than a hot and dry summer dormancy.
If you miss the best time to sow, it is no problem at all to wait for the next season, gladiolus seed can be stored (best in a fridge, not the freezer) for quite some time.

Once germination gets going, the small seedlings do benefit from repeated low dose fertilizer. And it is important to keep them green as long as possible in spring when the weather warms up. The longer they remain green the bigger the young corms will be. Rising temperatures trigger dormancy. So depending on where you live it might be a good idea to move the seedlings out of a greenhouse to a shady place in the garden  or to move them from a place with full winter sun to a shady and cool place as well. That is what I do, my bulb seed is sown outdoors in a sunny place exposed to all weather in southern Portugal. During periods of heavy rain I protect from too much rain but without impairing ventilation.
In general I do not repot my gladiolus seedlings but leave them in the same seed pot for another season. I am always afraid that I might lose some of the often tiny one year old corms in the process.

Hope that helps, happy sowing!

Uli