Fritillaria 2019/20 season

[colin e]

Having got back from the talk at the Fritillaria Group meeting last Saturday, I was surprised at how much things had moved on.
Having gone through the seed pots in the fridge by carefully taking the gravel back to reveal the seeds, another 9 pots had germinated. That is now a total of 22 pots that have germinated since they were sown in October this year; of these 8 have emerged (see picture). These 8 will have to go into Paul’s frost free greenhouse having looked at the temperatures coming this weekend.
I had been a bit worried by how few pots had live roots out of the bottom of them at this stage in the year. But thinking about it, due to night time temperatures not having been below 10c regularly till late in the year the bulbs got their first watering later than normal. I have now jumped up to 67 pots with live roots out. So I think this is just me not factoring in the differences between this year and previous years.
Fritillaria persica OP213063 is now in its third year and again has come up very early. It also germinated and emerged very early on 6 Nov 2017 having been sown on the 8 Sept 2017(see picture). I have also put 3 bulbs of this in the bulb bed and they have also come up.
Fritillaria persica green form Israel: this one also seems to be early into growth. They are just at the start of their second year’s growth (see picture). They had germinated and emerged by 2 Dec. 2018.
Fritillaria verticillata Urdzhar AB 18: I have now had two bulbs for just over a year and it has surprised me by coming through this early (see picture). The other bulb is in another pot. I have another different Fritillaria verticillata which has also come through as well. I do not have much experience with this species - time will tell how I do.
As Rannveig said on Saturday in her talk, water Fritillaria karelinii and it will be in growth in no time. It is quite incredible just how fast the shoot can come up from nothing showing. See picture - the day before I did not see any sign of it.

[colin e]

A month on from my last post and I now have 34 seed pots that have germinated and 23 of those pots have now emerged. A couple of pictures attached - one is of seed of my own production of Fritillaria alfredae subsp glaucoviridis. The other is a pot of Fritillaria striata seedlings.The seed for this I was very lucky to be given this year. 

[colin e]

Also my earlier panic of very few pots having live roots out of the bottom has been pretty much put to bed as I currently have 215 pots with live roots out the bottom. I also surprisingly have 36 pots with vegetative growth above the gravel. 6 of these came through in November, the remaining 30 have all come through in December. The two forms of Fritillaria persica that came through in November have grown quite a bit - pictures below. The Fritillaria verticillata Urdzhar has not moved on as fast as the persica’s but is still moved, if very slowly. I will just have to hope we do not get a prolonged very cold spell in January or February.
Fritillaria karelinii is not in flower yet which I would normally expect but that is most probably due to how late I watered this year; but they are in bud which should open early January (pictured below).
Of the Frits that have come through in December, Fritillaria grayana (pictured below) and other biflora types are to be expected but purdyi has also put in an appearance to my surprise. This is about a month before I would normally expect it.

[Yann]

Colin as you're using plastic pots, do you also water inside the pot or just around the sand?

[colin e]

Hi Yann
I water into my pots and use the sand plunge to take up any excess water. I have to add that I only put 10% of my mixes water holding capacity on at any one time and that my mix is VERY free draining. I also monitor the moisture level of the sand at the bottom of all the plunges with a moisture meter.

[Steve Garvie]

What type of moisture meter do you use Colin?

I have tried a few cheap water meters in the past but found them to be so variable in their readings that they were of no practical use. I need something that can measure (with some accuracy) the moisture content of soil, sand and also large grain porous material such as pumice/seramis.

[colin e]

Hi Steve
I do not think there is a good all-round moisture meter I am afraid. I have just worked out what reading I want for each plunge with the sand I have used and how well compacted the sand is. The reading I get is just an indication not a definitive figure. What I use is just a cheap moisture meters from a garden centre pictured below sorry no real help to you. 

[colin e]

A different Fritillaria karelinii has actually just made it into flower in 2019 pictures below.

[Steve Garvie]

Nice karelinii Colin!
Thanks for your comments on the moisture meter.

[colin e]

Things are definitely moving due to the mild weather that we have had so far here in Somerset. I have also probably done better with my seeds by putting them in the fridge. So far 36 have germinated and 32 have emerged. Some have still to germinate but these are mainly the ones I would expect to take time.
In the greenhouse I do not think I have ever had plants this advanced this early in the year before. Currently I have 256 pots with live root out of the bottom and 133 with growth above gravel. Some other Fritillaria karelinii are now in flower, pictured below. I have a Fritillaria davisii that is always early but not this advanced, pictured below. I think I am going to have to pot up separately the three bulbs in one of my pots of seed raised Fritillaria sewerzowii. The pot pictured below now only has these three bulbs in it, as I put one in the bulb bed at last repotting. As you can see in the picture, they all come up at different times, one in flower, one coming through and one not showing yet. So it makes watering difficult. The final picture is of Fritillaria eduardii var inodora just coming through; it is looking promising. I just have to hope it gets a bit taller before the flowers try to open.

Colin

[colin e]

Well I think we have all here in the UK been thinking that it couldn’t stay this mild. Well for us it did not, we have just had three nights on the run with -5c and the last 36 hours were all below freezing. That has meant the germinated and emerged seedling had to go into Paul’s frost free greenhouse; I do not like leaving them in my greenhouse when it is that cold. All the other Frits do not seem to have been upset at all. I am as yet not sure how the Frits in the bulb bed outside with no protection at all will cope. Some looked awful like Fritillaria thunbergii pictured below, but now look none the worst for the experience. Three other Fritillaria (biflora var ineziana, persica OP213063 and davisii) all had a good covering of ice crystals but did not seem worried and still do not; pictured below. Time may reveal a different story. The only one of these to have been in for over a year is Fritillaria davisii which looks to have got larger from its first year in the bed.

Colin

[colin e]

As well as the above my Fritillaria stenanthera are all starting. Here are just two of them. The Fritillaria karelinii have basically gone over now but my pots of Fritillaria gibbosa are starting to flower. The pot pictured below are just starting their fourth growing season raised from my own seed.  It is looking promising that this Frit Group seed raised Fritillaria pluriflora, sown in 2014, will flower for the first time as what it says it is. Finally, a bulb that I did not expect to flower because the bulb has a diameter of less than 1cm and I have not been doing well with it. It is said to be a form of Fritillaria uva-vulpis.

Colin

[colin e]

As Bob Wallis  has said, things are moving on quickly now even after our three nights of -5c which checked things for a few days. Like Bob I also have Fritillaria straussii in flower which is not unusual for my JJA plant pictured below. What is unusual for me is to have one of my other straussii flowering at the same time. This one was grown from Frit Group seed, picture below. The Fritillaria sewerzowii I mentioned before you can really see why I will have to pot these up separately. If you look at the picture below they are all at different growth stages. The Fritillaria eduardii var inodora has moved on. I would have liked the stem to have elongated more before the flowers started to open but it does what it wants not what I want -  unlike Fritillaria verticillata Urdzhar whose stem has elongated but which seems to be hugging the sand plunge for warmth; picture below.

Colin

[Paul Cumbleton]

I'm pleased to let everyone know that a whole lot more back issues of the Fritillaria Group Journal are now available to read and download for free on the Fritillaria Group website, at http://www.fritillaria.org.uk/journal.html. Issues No. 22 (Spring 2008) to No. 44 (Spring 2019) are now available. Issues earlier than these may be added in future - but no electronic versions exist of these so they will need scanning from paper copies. That's a long job! Meanwhile, enjoy the wealth of information, articles and pictures in what's there so far.

Paul

[colin e]

I always end up sowing more pots of seed than I intended to. This year 49 were sown at the correct time; 5 have not germinated but 2 of these were sown more in hope rather than expecting something. The other 3 are high altitude sp. and these very often germinate late. So I still have time. I also have an additional 9 pots that were sown way outside the optimal time window for sowing seed and 5 have germinated in the last few days. As for what is in flower, it is predominately Fritillaria stenanthera: three different ones pictured below.

Colin