A Rhodophiala question

[Rogan]

Upon depotting my young Rhodophiala splendens specimens (...all two of them!), I noticed that they had thick living perennial roots still attached to the bulbs despite being dormant for several months - unlike many other Rhodophiala species which lose their roots completely. Does this indicate that they still require some moisture during their dormant period and, when they are in growth, do they prefer a "Mediterranean" cycle or do they like to be watered in summer?

Growing Rhodophiala is a great puzzle to me (especially the Chilean species) and my success is limited at present only to R. bifida which I have flowered once before from Chiltern Seeds. I have lost many other species despite good initial germination. However, this past winter I sowed several Rhodophiala spp. and one Placea sp. in plain washed river sand as an experiment and fed them regularly with a hydroponic fertilizer. Eventually the little green leaves disappeared and when I emptied the pots a few days ago, lo-and-behold each seedling had transformed into a fat little bulb! Perhaps this is the answer? I was most surprised with the Placea ornata as I have never managed to get it this far before - I'm holding fingers! 

[Alessandro.marinello]

Upon depotting my young Rhodophiala splendens specimens (...all two of them!), I noticed that they had thick living perennial roots still attached to the bulbs despite being dormant for several months - unlike many other Rhodophiala species which lose their roots completely. Does this indicate that they still require some moisture during their dormant period and, when they are in growth, do they prefer a "Mediterranean" cycle or do they like to be watered in summer?

Growing Rhodophiala is a great puzzle to me (especially the Chilean species) and my success is limited at present only to R. bifida which I have flowered once before from Chiltern Seeds. I have lost many other species despite good initial germination. However, this past winter I sowed several Rhodophiala spp. and one Placea sp. in plain washed river sand as an experiment and fed them regularly with a hydroponic fertilizer. Eventually the little green leaves disappeared and when I emptied the pots a few days ago, lo-and-behold each seedling had transformed into a fat little bulb! Perhaps this is the answer? I was most surprised with the Placea ornata as I have never managed to get it this far before - I'm holding fingers! 

Hi Rogan
I have noticed also a great loss from the seed, creed I have had to their winter increase, I have noticed also that the bulbs stretch to come down in the pot, I task that after the germination and bulbs at rest goes better to change the soil

[ashley]

Alessandro, that's a beauty!  How old is the plant?

Did those seeds reach you Rogan?

[Alessandro.marinello]

Alessandro, that's a beauty!  How old is the plant?

Did those seeds reach you Rogan?

Hi Ashley
I do not know it, this not and obtained from the seed

[Rogan]

Wow, Ashley! Perhaps the success of Alessandro awaits us somewhere down the line!

No sign of the seeds yet Ashley, they can take up to a month getting to my neck of the woods - thank you all the same...

[johnw]

"25 January - I received my SRGC seed today. A package of Rhodophiala sp. ex BCW5132 was great to get. Does anyone have any information on this plant and who the collectors were?"

Seeds planted the next day came up yesterday. They were planted halfway down a 7.5cm deep pot.

Most Rhodphialas have now broken dormancy in the greenhouse except andicola.

johnw

[Diane Clement]

I received my SRGC seed today. A package of Rhodophiala sp. ex BCW5132 was great to get. Does anyone have any information on this plant and who the collectors were?   johnw - a balmy -11c at 23.12 after last night's horrors.  

BCW are Beckett, Cheese and Watson.  Sorry, I don't have information on that particular collection number although I do have others from numbers close to this one.  If you flower it, post a picture here and doubtless someone will be able to identify it.  

[jshields]

I have good survival and occasional blooms on R. bifida in pots; I even had a few bulbs of the triploid (garden) form of this species survive outdoors in the ground for a couple of years.  Eventually the cold winters killed them off.

In growing other species from seed, I found very low survival of seedlings for R. bagnoldii and R. advena.  R. phycelloides and R. laeta seedlings survive fairly well and are growing very slowly in the greenhouse.  R. granatiflora seedlings survived at very high percentage.  None of these have ever bloomed, at least not so far.

My R. bifida pots sit outdoors in summer, exposed to natural rain and sun.  The others usually spend the summer inside the greenhouse, so very hot and very dry in summer.  All spend the winters inside the greenhouse (heated of course) when they are watered and few regularly. I don't really know how one should try to grow these various species in the Midwestern USA (hot, wet summers, very cold in winter).

[johnw]

Jim - It seems these Rhodophiala species' growth cycles are nearly impossible to figure out in this climate.  In most years they start into growth in late December and early January. Some really never seem to go completely dormant - i.e. elwesii (probably mis-labelled) has at the moment last year's healthy but droopy leaves dying down a bit whilst new leaves are slowly emerging. This lack of a long dormant period probably doesn't auger well for flowering the future.  

Here I'm afraid none get the heat or intense sunlight they require,    I doubt if we could ever flower bifida.  Certainly I can't flower Lycoris radiata.

I've not had a laeta seed sprout and am still watering an empty pot since 2009 or was it 2008?  Funny I have to keep poking the seeds back down in the medium  - 2 cm down into the grit - yet they rise to the surface periodically.

Diane  - Many thanks for those collector names.

johnw

[wooden shoe]

That sounds interesting Jim, I believe winters in Indiana can get quite cold so Rhodophiala bifida must be quite hardy. What are your temperatures during winter? I am wondering if they could live outdoors in my country (Central Netherlands, local minimum -17C in my sheltered garden).

[jshields]

Rob, Our coldest temperatures can get down to about -10°F (ca. -23C).  The daily high temperatures usually are about freezing, but most of this year -- Dec and Jan -- have stayed below freezing for a week or more at a time.  We don't usually have continuous snow cover, but have had a lot since late November this year.  We currently have 2 inches of packed snow on the ground, covered yesterday by 1 to 2 inches of sleet and finished last night with a half inch (ca. 10-15 mm) of ice.  The ground freezes every winter, from ca. 4 inches (10 cm) deep to as much as 3 ft (90 cm) deep.  The deepest I know of it freezing in the last 30 years was about 4 ft. (120 cm) deep about 20-25 years ago.

The Rhodophiala survived several years, blooming the first few years in late summer.  They have not bloomed is several years, but the bulbs may still be putting up leaves without blooming somewhere.  The problem with winter foliage here in the Midwestern USA is that temperatures of -23C turn almost any green leaves into mush.  The bulb is eventually exhausted from starvation or the stress of continually having to produce new leaves.  This is true for Rhodophiala bifida, Lycoris that are green in winter (e.g., radiata radiata and radiata pumila).  One that does survive and thrive here with winter foliage is Sternbergia lutea.

[wooden shoe]

Thank you Jim, that sounds good enough to try it. -17C is quite rare here. There might be years before it gets below -12C in my garden although in unsheltered areas that will happen more often.

[Heinie]

This Rhodophiala bifida opened the first flower today. It grows in a pot and in full sun all day. We have been experiencing temperatures between 26C and 34C during the past few weeks.

[Ezeiza]

Heinie, they have started flowering now here in their native land.

[johnw]

"25 January - I received my SRGC seed today. A package of Rhodophiala sp. ex BCW5132 was great to get. Does anyone have any information on this plant and who the collectors were?"

Seeds planted the next day came up yesterday. They were planted halfway down a 7.5 cm. diameter deep pot.

Most Rhodphialas have now broken dormancy in the greenhouse except andicola.

Lovely pink bifida Heinie!

johnw