2 Amaryllidaceae
4 comments
After several months of neglect, I have 2 members of the Amaryllidaceae family coming up. The first is pretty straight forward, Rhodophiala bifida. It is from South America and is planted very, very deep. I have it in a large pot, and the bulbs are 12" down; but I want to move it into one that is even deeper. It has been moved into the Hippeastrum genus, and you can see that it does look like a small Hippeastrum:
In the last photo, you can see the Amaryllis belladonnas starting to fade in pink and white. I mention this because of the next bulb. It is a huge bulb, 5" across. I have had it for 3 years and it is finally blooming for the first time. It is xAmarygia ‘Yaezakura’.
This is a cross between an Amaryllis belladonna and Brunsvigia. When the Amaryllis is the seed parent, the result looks like an Amaryllis, and goes more towards Brunsvigia when it is the seed parent. Both are native to South Africa.
While this looks a lot like the white Amaryllis I have, there are differences that can be seen when side-by-side. The xAmarygia has a more pronounced orange throat, the flowers are slightly larger, and there are more of them. Cultivation is the same for both.
12 Sep, 2019
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When I got the Rhodophiala bifida bulbs, they had necks that were almost 12" long. It is tricky to plant them because they fall over, and you try to keep them straight while putting soil around them and maintaining the depth. Once in, the roots help pull the bulbs down. There are several types of bulbs that have this habit, and with everything I have found about these, they will go down to 3 feet! So when I go to transplant them, I'll put them in at their current length and let them go down naturally.
On the Pacific Bulb Society forum, I have been reading that growers have some tricks for various bulbs like Zantedeschia. They use Gibberellic acid and cytokinin benzyl adenine treatments every two weeks when dormant. Without it, the bulbs have leaves, but few flowers.
13 Sep, 2019
WOW! WOW! WOW! 3 feet is just incredible!!!
I have had a Zantedeschia (with dark purple spathes) for 3 years now. My son gave it to me for my birthday then. Of course it flowered well the first year but last year was a real disappointment as it only produced 2 spathes & the plant overall was quite sickly as well as being constantly covered in a tiny white aphid that came back almost as soon as I cleared them away! Eventually I cut all the leaves off & let it dry off. This year in the spring I repotted it in fresh compost & it has performed wonderfully!
16 Sep, 2019
On the bulbs that pull themselves down, I have been busy this afternoon repotting the bulbs I started from seed in years past; and Gladiolus species is one that pulls itself down. I have been finding the bulbs at 3-4" below the surface and I know I didn't put them that deep. Another is the Ferraria. I broke it up and repotted 30 bulbs (and gave away another 5 to a friend). They had pulled themselves 1-2" deeper since last year.
18 Sep, 2019
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WOW! They ARE beautiful, Wylie! Well worth the waiting! A 5" bulb is amazing! I have often wondered how the growers manage to get such big Hippeastrum bulbs as mine never get to more than 3, perhaps 4", at the very most!
The Rhodophiala bifida are lovely as well. I've never know a bulb to be planted 12" deep before! And you say you want to plant them even DEEPER!!! I don't think I've ever planted a bulb more than 6" deep!
12 Sep, 2019