Podophyllum 2011

[johnw]

The Podophyllum pleianthum seedlings, sown in October of 2009, are already growing fast and furiously under lights.  Shown are communal pots they did not get separated last year.  The sheen on the leaves is extraordinary.  The colour is off as they are under sodium lights making them difficult to photograph, apologies.

johnw

[Kristl Walek]

john....wonderful!!!
i am wondering where the seedlings were between germination and now?
my own (from 2009 as well) are still out in the cold (in the unheated barn).
can't wait to see them looking like yours.

[Hoy]

John, Congratulations! Hope you are luckier than I have been! When planting out in the garden all Podophyllums save two have been eaten by slugs

[johnw]

John, Congratulations! Hope you are luckier than I have been! When planting out in the garden all Podophyllums save two have been eaten by slugs

Hoy - This is very strange as we have all manner of slugs here, from banana-size to the dreadful tiny beige ones and I have never seen a Podophylllum attacked outdoors, not even a tiny bite.

Kristl - The seedlings were kept at about +5c all winter. Some have never shut down though they grew extremely slowly until the past few weeks - P. pleianthum and hybrids thereof and delavay and hybrids therof are extremely vigorous.  P. mariei, aurantiocaule and ssp. are growing more sensibly, just merging now with one leaf.  They are all circa 12-13 months old.  P. difforme is still dormant or in purgatory.

johnw

[Tony Willis]

John

they look very good. My plants are bursting through now and more of the seedlings are appearing every day as spring moves on.I was worried as to whether they would come through the winter but so far they seem fine

[Lesley Cox]

Love those beautiful golden - not to say gilded - forms John.

[johnw]

John

they look very good. My plants are bursting through now and more of the seedlings are appearing every day as spring moves on.I was worried as to whether they wolud come through the winter but so far they seem fine

Tony - Some of last year's non-sprouters are coming up here as well.  It will be interesting to see how pleianthum and delavayi have fared after being frozen stiif in the ground since January.  They came through fine last year with much the same scenario so here' hoping.  They do tend to come up perilously early even here.  I wonder how tolerant they are of late frosts -mercifully not common here since the last great one of 1981.  We are lucky right here in this part of Halifax as very cool nights tend to hold things like Magnolias back.

Spitting snow at -1c.

johnw

johnw

[mickeymuc]

Wow, John, I can't believe these big plants are that young!
Still I was amazed about the size of the buds when I repotted my pleianthums (in their 3rd yr.) recently. The ones that sprouted early are in a little greenhouse outside now and develop nicely, though some are still less colorful than I had expected - I wonder if patterns will develope later?
These are the first three seedlings of "Spotty Dotty" in their 2nd yr, a pot full of delavayi x ? (also very green, although some patterned ones start to develop now) and a beautiful form of pleianthum (?). This one was inside for the winter and grew all the time without dormancy....a delight!

[Tony Willis]

Michael

what did you cross with Spotty Dotty to get seed as I understand it will not self pollinate? I do not grow this particular plant so have no experience of its seedlings.

We have had a warm spell and more of my seedlings are now coming up daily. I have only occasional problems with slugs eating holes in the leaves mostly late in the season.

[Stephen Vella]

Mickey and John its interesting to hear that Podophyllums are happy to tick on slowly without a really cold dormancy and manage to keep leaves on inside through winter.. . Maybe some Podo's sp dont need the dormancy??

I too have seedlings and with autumn settling in here and with cold nights of 9c, I think I will give them a try inside before they completly shut down but if one can keep them growing inside over winter imagine how fast these plants will progress to adults.

I also have a couple of mature difforme in pots and moving them into more direct afternoon sun and with the added warmth they seem to have put on some more leaves later in the growing season, rather than keeping them in cool shade where they didnt really do much.

cheers
Stephen

[johnw]

Mickey   - We do tend to put alot of different fertilizers in our Podo mixes - things like slow release, bloodmeal, potash, superphosphate, a bit of bonemeal, gypsum, seaweed flakes and magnesium sulphate so we may be pushing them hard.  The mix is quite woodsy. Still yours look perfectly fine, markings may take awhile to show themselves. Good pleianthums are hard to beat.

In very late 2009 we propagated a good & very tall P. pleianthum by root cuttings and noticed today they are going to flower. We were shocked.

Stephen -  Good to see you posting again.  We have tried difforme but they come up and collapse. Do you have any secrets or obseervations on that one?  Hopefully Robin will have seed to sell one year soon.

johnw

 

[mickeymuc]

Hi Tony,

I used pollen of P. versipelle (at least a plant I bought with that name) and of delavayi to pollinate Spotty Dotty, maybe even hexandrum roseum but I'm not sure any more. I marked the flowers with the names of the pollen parents, but as Spotty Dotty is not very fertile with me (maybe two or three seeds per fruit) I planted them all into one pot to see what comes out.

John,

Thank you for the advice concerning fertilizer - I should be more agressive here! Could you teach me a little bit more about Podophyllum propagation via root cuttings? Would be great!
I've seen Podophyllums sprout from roots that were left in the ground while the mother plant was transplanted, but I've not yet tried root cuttings - and I'd love to!

Thank you!

Michael

[Stephen Vella]

Hi John,

ive been busy establishing a new garden/house...

Why does difforme collapse for you?....I find tihis one easy to grow.Original plants came from China.

I grow them in pots in a barky/sandy/coco fibre/clinkker mix and I fed with soluable general fertilizer under eucalyptus trees in broken light/shade with some afternoon sun. Plenty of moisture in summer.

[Tony Willis]

First of all on the subject of winter dormancy I find in the garden  they all go dormant at the first frost but I have a pleianthum in a pot in a frame which got to -7c this winter and it has kept its leaves.

When I first bought my plants from China they came with old pieces of rhizome attached. Fearing this might rot I cut of  the growing area with its new roots but seeing the remaining rhizome was still firm I potted it up. A further plant developed and was again cut off and this was repeated several times. This also worked for Helleborus thibetanus.

On one of the  old pieces a plantlet then grew on a root as the attached picture shows.  I only discovered this on its repotting as described above. Although not easily visible a second plant is developing on another root. I have commented before that several plants in the garden are producing offsets a foot or more from the parent plant another easy method of propagation.

[johnw]

Hi John,
Why does difforme collapse for you?....I find tihis one easy to grow.Original plants came from China.

Stephen  - If you look back at old threads you will see others have the same problem with difforme. Philip in Vancouver has the same problem, they come up in the Spring quickly die and sometimes try again in early autumn but the same thing happens.

Coincidentally Tony mentioned Helleborus thibetanus and we experience the same thing with it.  In the early days we can safely blame viral infection from original Chinese plants received.  However seedlings are doing much the same and we have not a single survivor to date.

Good luck with the new house & garden, we are just halfway through renos including re-wiring which was an absolute horror.  Four evenings to clean the living-room alone and 4 more rooms to go - then the electricians return to decimate the basement.

johnw