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Author Topic: Bulb Log 40 3/10/07  (Read 5601 times)

claykoplin

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Re: Bulb Log 40 3/10/07
« Reply #15 on: October 11, 2007, 04:05:44 PM »
Ian, your picture of the Narcissus bulblets reminded me to share an interesting discovery I made just this week re: Fritillaria Camschatcensis bulb division.  I have always wondered why local populations of F. Camschatcensis don't bulk up.  With their rice-grain bulblets, one would expect that a failed parent bulb would trigger the bulblets into growth, and that at least a few of them would grow the flowering size leaving a clump of bulbs rather than the individual.  The bulbs are most successful in the very fine silt (which I think holds nutrients very well in our rainy climate) with a topping of root mass, moss, or leaf mould to hold moisture and additional nutrients.  Unfortunately, these are the areas where voles proliferate and eat every parent bulb they find, and one only sees individual flower bulbs and trails of bulblets scattered all along the vole tunnels (they do a good job of propagating).  In mountain elevations where there are few voles, I occasionally see a clump of two or perhaps even three bulbs, always very small and with only one or two flowers per stem.  There is no fine silt in these areas, and I think poor nutrition may be a factor for clumping.  Then, this week, in a very silty area that has much colder winters, I happened across what appeared to be very large clumps.  I lifted a couple of clumps and discovered not only the largest bulbs I've encountered (a full 5cm diameter), but upwards of 10 bulbs packed very tightly against each other, and even stacked vertically, all of flowering size, all in excess of 2.5-3 cm in diameter with dozens of smaller (.5-1 cm) bulbs at the periphery.  I didn't note a single vole hole or trail anywhere, but did note the ideal growth conditions:  super file silt with just a bit of very fine soil (decomposed fern and leaves) blended in, topped with 4-5" of moss or 1-2" of composted fern and leaves.  The bulbs seem to do best very close to the surface as long as they have some moisture storage mechanism covering them.  The answer is that F. Camschatcensis will clump up if they have ideal nutrition and no predation.  I also noted that there were earthworms in and around the clump, probably accounting for the fine soil mixed in with the silt.
in Cordova, Alaska

Maggi Young

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Re: Bulb Log 40 3/10/07
« Reply #16 on: October 11, 2007, 04:28:23 PM »
Max, greetings to you in California and a warm welcome to the Forum, thanks for your comments. We will investigate the RSS feed option, others have mentioned this too. Most weeks, the Log is online by Thursday, at the latest, if that is any help, meantime?!!

Clay, this is super observation from the wild... valuable to all growers to learn this stuff !


Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

Paul T

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Re: Bulb Log 40 3/10/07
« Reply #17 on: October 11, 2007, 11:20:26 PM »
Clay,

Fascinating observation!!
Cheers.

Paul T.
Canberra, Australia.
Min winter temp -8 or -9°C. Max summer temp 40°C. Thankfully, maybe once or twice a year only.

Maggi Young

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Re: Bulb Log 40 3/10/07
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2007, 08:05:52 PM »
Hi, Max, sorry to be so long in replying... just noticed you were online and remembered this!  :-\

Fast Fred , our esteemed Administrator, has two things to say: firstly, RSS feeds are not easy to achieve with our setup and  secondly, he thinks everyone should be encouraged to check regularly!

Enjoying your Two Gardens blog, by the way!
 Maggi
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

 


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