South African bulbose plants 2009

[cohan]

thanks for all the great stuff, folks! esp loving the massonias--some great leaves, and love the tiny ones--good to hear the size, as many seed lists-esp for SA bulbs!- dont seem to give plant sizes! i guess they expect everyone to have unlimited room and/or not care about size? thats one of the first things i look for when i am checking a species...

[Rogan]

Darren, now that you've spoilt us all with your fab Massonias / Polyxenas, how about some Daubenyas?  

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for taking the time and sharing all your tips, liked the idea of the pebble and also the mirrors on the wall, I just threw out mirror wardrobes a few weeks ago, what a pity, still my husband is in construction so he will keep a look out for me ( get it before it goes in the skip ).
Angie

I don't grow any of these but find this an extremely interesting topic anyway !!  Very impressive info Darren !!! 

Angie, if no mirrors are available I can recommend aluminium or tin-foil stuck on cardboard - it also does a great job to improve light levels. 

[arillady]

Is there a site anywhere that lists what and how much is in each of the John Innes mixes for those of us who cannot get it as we live out of the country?

[David Nicholson]

This should help:-

http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/john_innes/john_innes.php

[Darren]

Hi Rogan - I don't grow any Daubenya!  I would love to and I do have some small seedlings of a couple of species but the UK retail prices for mature bulbs are prohibitive.

I did once splash out on bulbs of both colour forms of D. aurea but they had just been imported from RSA by the retailer (and thus their internal clocks were wrong) and I lost both to mould before they even started to grow.

Luc is quite right about aluminium foil - I used this for a few years before the mirrors became available.

[David Nicholson]

Interesting stuff Darren. Do you keep seed of both winter and summer growers in your kitchen drawer? I have been keeping both kinds of mine in the fridge but wonder if I could save myself (or the other kitchen user!) some fridge space?

Have you any evidence that suggests your home sowed stuff is any hardier than bought in bulbs?

[Darren]

Hi David,

My view is that the summer growers in nature would get a cold, dryish dormancy so these seeds go in the fridge. The winter growers which would get a warm dry natural dormancy get placed in a jiffy bag on a high shelf in the kitchen. It isn't over-hot as the small window in there gets little direct sun and it is on the north west side of the house. I've not experimented properly but observations suggest that the winter-growing South Africans don't need cold storage.

I think that the fridge would be OK for long-term storage of these winter-growing seeds but my feeling (and it is only that) is that some need several weeks at warm temperatures to prime them for germination when the rains arrive, so if I intend sowing the autumn of the same year I collected or received the seed, then I store in the kitchen. Any I didn't sow that year might then go in the fridge until about June the following year then I'd take them out and give them a few weeks in the warm before sowing. But then I just sowed Massonia seed which has been at room temp for 18 months and it germinated better than this years crop.

All speculation for the moment!

[Carlo]

Opaque white plastic once lined the walls and ceiling of my orchid growing room and bounced light all over the place...

[cohan]

Opaque white plastic once lined the walls and ceiling of my orchid growing room and bounced light all over the place...

even glossy white paint would help for any paintable surface;
 if you want to get fancy-you can get rolls of mylar (highly reflective 'paper foil') sold by people dealing with artificial light gardening and hydroponics..

[angie]

Thanks Luc and everyone for the information on how to bring more light into the greenhouse. I was saying to Maggi today how generous the people on this forum are , sharing all there Knowledge and secrets to us novices, its great . Thanks to all

Angie

[Lesley Cox]

If we were to start lining rooms with foil we'd probably have blue-suited men around, looking for cannabis plants.

[BULBISSIME]

I'm using artificial lights all the winter for the SA bulbs in the greenhouse !
First, it was HPS lights ( 400 W ) and now ENVIROLITE low power ( 200 W ) lamps, with less heating on plants.

[angie]

Lesley

Funny you saying that, my husband said its only a matter of time before I get a visit from the drug squad. Where I say there is no houses next to me and all you see at night is this orange glow coming from my greenhouse, but  no cannabis plants here, Chocolate does it for me
Angie

[cohan]

I'm using artificial lights all the winter for the SA bulbs in the greenhouse !
First, it was HPS lights ( 400 W ) and now ENVIROLITE low power ( 200 W ) lamps, with less heating on plants.

also very good for lighting plants are high output (HO)T5 fluorescent lights, much greater light output than regular fluoros, they can be placed farther from the plants, and less heat and energy consumption than HPS etc..