Galanthus August 2015

[Matt T]

I'm super pleased with my first venture into chipping and twinscaling. On 31 May I sliced up my fattest G. peshmenii bulb (*gulp* - there were two nice big offsets left in the pot). Despite meticulous hygiene a few appear to have rotted/fungused during incubation, but following Anne W's excellent tutorial at the Early Bulb Day last year I ensured none were touching so it didn't spread. Here are the results, with some very nice bulbils showing. I'll pot these up today and put them out in the bulb frame.

[Jupiter]

Beautiful pictures Matt, thanks for showing these.. I can't imagine having the courage to try that with my precious peshmenii! You're a brave man. Do you use bleach at all in the procedure? From experience plant tissues can tolerate weak bleach solutions without ill effects.
How long would you expect until the bulbils are flowering size?

[Matt T]

Hi Jamus. I had a couple of decent offsets in reserve, as well as some seed off this plant this year, so I thought "what the heck".

I maintained a sterile working environment by cleaning all surfaces (including the bulb itself) with a strong alcohol. The bulb was peeled, washed, cut up on a clean ceramic tile with a sharp blade which was regularly cleaned. The chips/twinscales were then soaked in a fungicide prior to going into the vermiculite - I'm limited to what I can find off the shelf at the local garden centre and use a 'cocktail' of two different systemic fungicides (containing triticonazol and myclobutanil). I didn't incubate them at as warm a temperature as usually advocated as I don't have a propagator, but they were in the high teens on the hot water tank in our under stair cupboard. I've just given them a second fungicide soak before potting up now.

I'm not sure how long I'll have to wait for flowering - I'll post here when they do. I think folk usually say 2 years from chips? Some of the bulbils are tiny at this stage, but others are a decent size. It is noticeable that the larger (and in some cases more than one) bulbils are on the chips rather than the smaller twinscales. If I end up with a potful of a dozen flowering size bulbs within within 3 years I'd be overjoyed.

Go on, give it a go!

[johnstephen29]

Well done Matt.

[Brian Ellis]

Very satisfying isn't it Matt, and great to see them growing to maturity.  Well worth a go.

[Hillview croconut]

Well done Mat! It's very satisfying when it all comes together.

I follow pretty much the same routine with a few minor variations.

I use perlite instead of vermiculite. I personally think it provides more aeration and prevents "sticking".

I use bleach. I used to use formalin but discovered it might damage my health.

I sometimes use Flowers of Sulphur as a second line  antiseptic especially where I cannot eliminate all "tackiness" from the chips.

I don't know if others have come across this problem?  I find G. plicatus and it's various selections,  etc,  exude a lot of sticky gum when cut.  I find this especially so with the yellows. I have to keep on soaking in cold water and then slaking to rid the segments of this glue. If one doesn't it's cactus for the chips.

Anyone found a better solution to this problem?

Cheers,  Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

PS I also find that the closer I chip to the Xmas-New Year Period, in the Southern Hemisphere, the better the results.  M

[Lesley Cox]

I maintained a sterile working environment by cleaning all surfaces (including the bulb itself) with a strong alcohol.

And the chipper?

[Hillview croconut]

Yes, I was going to ask whether whisky was the preferred weapon of choice.  M

[Matt T]

Yes, I was going to ask whether whisky was the preferred weapon of choice.  M

And the chipper?

If the suggested antiseptic had been applied to myself, I'd very much doubt that I'd have had any success at all! 

I'm all out of ethanol so I actually used cheap supermarket vodka. I believe you can also use methylated spirits, but I'd be worried about too strong a solution damaging the plant tissues.

[Brian Ellis]

I use surgical spirit which is no problem.

[Lesley Cox]

I use surgical spirit which is no problem.

Internally? Another one on the hard stuff?

[fermi de Sousa]

More Galanthus elwesii in a different part of the garden which gets some water during the summer,
cheers
fermi

[annew]

Congratulations, Matt - you were paying attention!
Regarding the wallpaper paste-like goo exudation problem - I try not to leave the chips in the fungicide solution any longer than 5 minutes, and this minimises the yukky problem. Gives me the creeps.

[t00lie]

A study of water tension on Galanthus today at lunch time .......