Nerine 2019

[grenadier]

Just purchased my first ever Nerine bulbs and would appreciate some advice. I intend growing in 12 inch terracotta pots and would like to know how many Nerine bulbs to plant per 12 inch pot. I am also confused by conflicting advice regards to planting these bulbs, some say they should be planted below soil levels others say the top half of the bulb should be above soil level, is there a right or wrong way?. I would appreciate advice. 

[François Lambert]

I have 2 pots with Nerine Bowdenii growing undisturbed since probably more than 20 years.  The only thing I did some years ago was to put the clumps in larger pots.

The bulbs are even less than half in the soil.  The pots are very crowded, but the larger bulbs flower reliably every year, I guess spacing is not important for Nerines.  They don't make many offsets, although this process has been speeded up a couple of years ago when my Nerines were in the greenhouse and received just a gentle kiss of frost (probably only -1°C).  The leaves were burned by the frost, but the bulbs resprouted and since then make more efforts to propagate themselves through offsets.

These Nerines don't need a lot of direct sun, they actually do better with some protection from the strongest sun.  I grow them in the shade of my tomato or bell pepper plants.

The only pest that really is a problem on my Nerines are snails that will graze off all the leaves (as they also eat the leaves of my crinum, sprekelia & hippeastrum) - if you grow these outside try to find a spot where there are only few snails (for me that is the part of the garden where my cats don't come too often so that birds dare to land and eat snails).

In winter I keep them cool & completely dry on the windowsill of an unheated room.  My Nerines seem to be exceptions, but with this winter treatment the seeds stay on the stalks until spring without starting to germinate (yet, the stalks dry out completely over winter), so I can always have a spring sowing of Nerines :-)

[François Lambert]

Forgot that I also have anther Nerine at home : Nerine krigei.  This one has it's bulb completely under the ground, the nose is about 1 cm below the surface.  Some years ago the bulb has divided in two, but doesn't seem to produce offsets.  But it's a heavy seeder.

This one loves more sun & heat than my Bowdenii's, flowers in early summer and the seeds mature shortly after and must be sown immediately.  Germination was excellent for me.  I kept the seedlings in their first winter in the same room as my Bowdenii's with some light, but if I remember well they also went dormant later and let their leaves dry out.  Due to some 'neglect' the seedlings are however still very small now.  Something to put on my to-do list that I need to have look at them this spring.

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4426.msg311618#msg311618

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=6490.msg313924#msg313924

This Nerine goes dormant quite early and I keep it in the basement during winter (depending on how cold the winter is the temps must be somewhere between 5 & 10 °C there)

[grenadier]

Thank you Francois for your very helpful reply, It was interesting to know that you grow your Nerines in pots very successfully. As this is my first attempt at growing Nerines I will stick with N.Bowdenii to start with and if I am successful with them I will try some of the more difficult ones. Do you know if the depth of the pot is important for growing N,Bowdenii in, I have several clay pots with 30cm diameters some deeper than others so wondered which would be best. I purchased mine advertised as flowering bulbs I don’t know if I will be lucky enough to get flowers this coming season or not. Once again thank you for your help.

[François Lambert]

Hello Grenadier,


I never thought of the depth of the pot, as with larger diameter also come deeper pots and I started in rather large pots immediately.  And I can't remember where the roots were when I repotted them.  The pots they are growing in are something like 23 - 25 cm deep.

Nerine Bowdenii plants have lots of similarity with crinum & hippeastrum (there is even a hybrid between Nerine & Crinum I think), so i think Nerine Bowdenii bulbs will send their roots deep in the soil, so that deep pots are better suited.

Unfortunately, deep pots with a not too big diameter are more & more difficult to find nowadays

[grenadier]

Thanks Francois I have pots of the sort of depth you mentioned so will pot them into those. I thought I had heard somewhere they like a fairly deep pot but you have confirmed that to be right. Many thanks for your help much appreciated.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Grenadier, take a look here http://www.nerineandamaryllidsociety.co.uk/

[grenadier]

  Thanks for that info John I did’nt realise that a society exsisted for Nerine, I will apply for membership.

[fermi de Sousa]

This is the first flowering of a seedling from the old hybrid 'Ariel'.
It seems to have developed a bit of purple in the petal colour!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Years ago I made a cross between Nerine rosea and Nerine fothergilla "Major" (now lumped into N. sarniensis).
This is the second seedling to flower and combines the attributes of both parents
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

A couple of nerine hybrids we got from Peter Genat a number of years ago.
The first is unnamed red with a white centre.
The second is 'Afterglow', I'm not sure if it is his own raising
cheers
fermi

[ashley]

Lovely nerines Fermi

[jshields]

This is Nerine laticoma in bloom. I got this bulb from Welland Cowley of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 19 years ago. In summer, I have these bulbs outdoors in a lath house -- you can see the shadows from the overhead lath in the photos. In winter, the pots sit inside a greenhouse, under the benches, and mostly quite dry, from October until May. Welland's collection of laticoma had rather wide leaves, but laticoma from other growers often had narrower leaves than this one does. This one has leaves 20 mm (0.8 inch) wide, peduncle (scape) about 55 cm (about 22 inches) long, and flowers with petals spread 53 mm (about 2 inches) across.

     

     

Jim

[jshields]

Now comes the hybrid Nerine (bowdenii wellsii x krigei), my #1528.  After 17 years of growing, I have one mother bulb with a single offset, and finally one very tall scape.  The original cross was made in September of 2002.  The flower looks sort like a large size of krigei flower.  The leaves are not twisted, like krigei leaves, but they are significantly narrower than those of bowdenii, and even narrower that those of krigei.  I don't have any Nerine pollen fresh to test its fertility with.



     


Jim

[jshields]

I have two more hybrids of Nerine here, N. (filifolia x bowdenii wellsii) my #1529; and not yet in bloom, N. (filifolia x krigei), my #1352.

All of these bowdenii and filifolia hybrids seem to have channeled (U-shaped x-sections) foliage.  The flowers seem very similar, one cross just have slightly larger or smaller flowers.

This is Nerine (filifolia x bowdenii wellsii)



Jim