Sprekelia howardii

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Sun, 17 Feb 2008 08:58:09 PST
Hi,

This message from Doug Westfall contained attachments so did not get posted 
to the list since we don't allow attachments on our list. I am sending it 
on without the attachments.

Mary Sue
PBS List Administrator

Luc, Jim, et. al. (?),

I am afraid that I have been given FAR too much credit for a knowledge
about Sprekelia howardii.

For years, I had a couple of bulbs collected by the esteemed gentleman
who had the honor of naming them. Suddenly, I had only one bulb which
bloomed for me faithfully for years. About three years ago, I became
"desperate" to acquire more of them. No one in either IBS or PBS would
indicate that they possessed any of these. Finally, it was suggested
to me that I try taking pollen from a S. formossima and "microwaving"
it for 20 seconds and then applying it to the S. howardii.  I did
that, and to my surprise, I got about 2 dozen seeds.

Well, I "floated" them and divided the seeds between two pots. Two & a
half years later, I have one pot of 12 seedling bulbs and 1 from the
other pot. I just removed the one bulb to determine the size and took
pictured of it and the pot of twelve.

Does anyone want to suggest when I should "repot" the twelve, what
soil mixture and what further treatment to bring them to "maturity.

Sincerely,

Doug Westfall


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