Bulb Log 05 2012

[johnw]

Ian - In this issue you say "snowdrop cultivars, many of which do not grow very well in the far north so it is good to have some Scottish raised forms of proven hardiness, having seeded in Scottish gardens over hundreds of years."

I would be interested to know which species or inter-specific hybrids do not do well by you.  No question about home-grown ones being better performers but wonder which are unsuited to your climate - be it the cold, the damp or both.

Keep up the superlative work.

johnw

[Ian Y]

John there are quite a few that we have not been able to establish. Forms/hybrids of G. elwesii seems to be the most unhappy in our garden and it seems to be the wet summer more than the cold winters that does for them - the bulbs rot. As so many of these forms seem to be discovered in the south of the UK they are more suited to their warmer drier summers.


We have tried 'Sophie North' three times and lost it each time but many similar looking plants from the Scottish castle are well established now. However I know others in Scotland can grow Sophie North without any difficulty so it is very much down to very local conditions as well as more regional ones.

If all plants were easy to get and grow we would loose out on the fun of the chase and the challenge of establishing them.

[daveyp1970]

Can i ask Ian,when we chip bulbs and little bulbs form on every part of the chippings even the neck with no basal plate then why can't we get bulbs from leave cuttings like eucomis.
I didn't know where to put this question Maggie.

[Maggi Young]

Davey...  it is possible to take leaf cuttings from Eucomis... it  has been mentioned elsewhere in the forum. We keep meaning to do it an forget  ... but it does work.

[daveyp1970]

Davey...  it is possible to take leaf cuttings from Eucomis... it  has been mentioned elsewhere in the forum. We keep meaning to do it an forget  ... but it does work.

Yes Maggie is true but why cant we do the same to galanthus or narcissus,if when we chip these they produce bulbs from the neck why not the base of the leaf.

[Maggi Young]

Crikey, that question is too clever for me to answer!
 I suppose it must be that the plants which do grow from leaf cuttings must have a different chemical make-up in their fully grown leaves.

I think we might need a scientist for this one Davey!

[daveyp1970]

Crikey, that question is too clever for me to answer!
 I suppose it must be that the plants which do grow from leaf cuttings must have a different chemical make-up in their fully grown leaves.

I think we might need a scientist for this one Davey!

Maggie when Ian was explaining to me about chippings it's one of the question i never got to ask him.

[Maggi Young]

I'll go chase him up now... and see what he has to say........

[daveyp1970]

I'll go chase him up now... and see what he has to say........

You are a star thank you

[Maggi Young]

I'll go chase him up now... and see what he has to say........

You are a star thank you

Well, you say that.... but he's watching the rugby and nowt'll shift him meantime!

[daveyp1970]

I'll go chase him up now... and see what he has to say........

You are a star thank you

Well, you say that.... but he's watching the rugby and nowt'll shift him meantime!

,I best not shout go England then.

[Ian Y]

I best not shout go England then.

Davie that would depend what words you might add between go and England

Well done to France on beating Italy and now I have a short break before we take on the might of England - here is hoping we can replicate the hammering Scotland B gave to their English counterparts yesterday.

Now to the question about possible leaf cuttings from bulbs.

Just like in any plant buds or the potential to produce buds is concentrated in leaf axils and at nodes. Slicing up a true bulb with a bit of basel plate ( compressed stem) and some leaf scales is just like taking a stem cutting at a leaf axil. It is proven that you do not need a bit of basal plate as the top sliced off a bulb will also produce buds. This suggests that there must be veins running up the modified leaf bases that from the scales and where these veins are sliced there is the potential for buds to develop.

Where there are veins running the length of the actual leaf then there is also the possibility for buds to form if it is sliced into sections providing you can provide the correct conditions to keep the leaf section alive and avoid any rot setting in.

This is recorded in Eucomis and maybe other species are just waiting for someone to try to prove that they can also be increased this way.
Perhaps one day I will find the time to try this out - over to you now Davie

[daveyp1970]

I best not shout go England then.

Davie that would depend what words you might add between go and England

That fair made me chuckle.

Where there are veins running the length of the actual leaf then there is also the possibility for buds to form if it is sliced into sections providing you can provide the correct conditions to keep the leaf section alive and avoid any rot setting in.

This is recorded in Eucomis and maybe other species are just waiting for someone to try to prove that they can also be increased this way.
Perhaps one day I will find the time to try this out - over to you now Davie

This is what i was thinking as well Ian.I think i will experiment with various materials,water,vermiculite,perlite,compost ect to see if it possible.
I was thinking that whatever trigger is in the cells to form bulbs because of the neck slices grow bulbs  it is in all the plant so what i did was to plant a snowdrop seven inches deep,while its in leaf still when this frost has gone i will sacrife this plant using the part of leaf that was underground to chop up first and then green leaves,to see if this makes a difference.Does this make sense?I hope so.
Thank you for answering my question.