I attended Ernesto Sandoval’s lecture on South African bulbs Thursday evening at the Fresno Cactus and Succulent Society. They are very pleasant and knowledgeable people, and I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Having been a cactophile myself some decades ago, I may have gleaned more from the meeting than some bulbophiles. Their bragging table was particularly impressive. Ernesto Sandoval is Director of the U.C. Davis Botanical Conservatory. In his talk he pointed out some similarities between the culture of arid land succulents and dry land bulbs: both typically grow in well drained nutrient poor soils, both rot if kept too moist, both have developed adaptations to lengthy dry periods, yet both require a moist environment for seed germination. He demonstrated a technique for seed germination which I really liked, and shall be trying out in the future. He plants the seeds in a well-drained mix (like vermiculite, perlite, pumice, etc.), covers them with a thin layer of sand, waters them and lets them drain thoroughly, then encloses the pots in a zip-lock baggie. When the seed germinate, he opens the zipper to allow air circulation. As they become sturdier, he removes them from the baggies; eventually he plants them out. His modus is to not stress the plants with too much change at a time. Sounds sensible to me. David Ehrlich _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/