BULB LOG 42 - 21st October 2009

[mark smyth]

Ian the moth on your Crocus is a silver Y. I have had them around the Crocus and Colchicums feeding on nectar. These moths have good hearing. Recently when I was trying to photograph one the beep of the camera made in jump and move to another flower. They will also get startled by other sounds.

[Johan Nilson]

Hi Ian,

Last year I cleaned a lot of different Arisen seeds with my bare hands and I did not have any reaction. Maybe we react differently? I found it fascinating that Arisen seeds looks like already formed small tubers. On my trip to Sikkim October 2007 we spotted birds picking the riped berries. As the fruit riped from top to bottom the birds picked of layer by layer. I have never seen that in Sweden, but maybe its just a matter of time before our birds figure things out

Do you have a special method of sowing the Japanese Fri tillaria species, the ones with rounded seeds(I have never seen these seeds myself, but understand that they are supposed to be sound and brownish)? Do you think that they could work like  seeds, meaning swell up by soaking if they have been stored dry for a longer period and in that way germinate better?

Thanks for a great bulb log!

Johan

[Ian Y]

Ian the moth on your Crocus is a silver Y

Thanks Mark I knew some one would tell me what it was.

Johan
yes I am sure that we all react differently to such chemicals in the seeds. I also have cleaned some Arisaema seeds with my hands without any reaction but this is the first time I have cleaned this many A. nepanthoides and felt the stinging in my eyes.
I also thought that the seeds looked just like mini-tubers .

On my trip to Sikkim October 2007 we spotted birds picking the riped berries. As the fruit riped from top to bottom the birds picked of layer by layer. I have never seen that in Sweden, but maybe its just a matter of time before our birds figure things out

Thank you for this observation Johan I am delighted to learn that birds in the native land do feed on the seeds even though nothing touches them here in Aberdeen - except me
Although I have never seen a bird even investigate them I cannot believe that they are not attracted to the bright red berries.

Do you have a special method of sowing the Japanese Fri tillaria species, the ones with rounded seeds(I have never seen these seeds myself, but understand that they are supposed to be sound and brownish)? Do you think that they could work like  seeds, meaning swell up by soaking if they have been stored dry for a longer period and in that way germinate better?

I received a few of these seeds for the first time earlier this year and I did soak them over night before I sowed them - time will tell if I get any germination or not.

[Lesley Cox]

Humans also pick the ripe bits first and leave the unripe for a time. Well why wouldn't we? If you are fortunate enough to have tried the fruit salad plant Monstera deliciosa, another aroid I think, the seeds ripen in bands around the fruit and the ripe ones can be prized off and eaten (the flesh, that is)while the green ones must wait for a while.

[Johan Nilson]

Thanks for the quick answer Ian!

Looking farward to see how the germination proceeds.

I found this picture, witch I took right after that bird flew away.
Half eaten fruit of Arisaema tortuosum.

[Lesley Cox]

Well that's pretty much what I do myself. I take the red ones and leave the others until they've changed colour. But I take the whole berry while it seems that the birds pick out the seed and leave the flesh, at least of some. Yet I would have expected it would be the flesh they were after.

[Richard Green]

I have noticed several of those "Silver Y" moths this year for the first time in Scotland.  When I lived in Norfolk (only 100 miles noth of London) about 20 years ago they were very common. I believe they migrate to the UK and move north depending on weather conditions, having new broods of young on the way.  We have also had plenty of Orange Tip and Painted Ladies this year for the first time.  Possibly it is climate change, but I feel we have had a rotten summer in Scotland on the whole, so do not know why they bother to come here !

[Anthony Darby]

You live in a lovely part of Scotland Richard. Orange tips have been spreading in Scotland now since the 1980s. Prior to that you had to go to southern Ayrshire or Kingussie to see them.

[Richard Green]

I look forward to an improving display of butterfiles in future year then.

On the earlier point of Arisaema seed flesh being eaten, I usually leave my seedheads to germinate on the soil by the plants, and notice that the red flesh does sometimes get eaten by slugs, though not by anything else.  However slugs leave that extra-slimy mess just as if they have eaten Slug Pellets.  It looks as if there is some nasty alkaloid in the juice? It cannot be very efficient as I do not see any dead bodies though.  I may spread some berries around my campanulas to see if they work as organic slug pellets!