Volcanic soils

[PhilG]

I'm just wondering.
Does anyone make up special composts for the snowdrops which naturally grow in vulcanic origin soils, such as G. koenenianus.
If so how ? and do you think it makes any difference ?

I know vulcanic rock dust is used as a garden soil conditioner / feed. So I'm thinking it might be worth a try?

[Alan_b]

I have been lucky enough to see Galanthus koenenianus in situ and the impression it gave me was of being pretty miserable, not that it was relishing the soil conditions it found itself growing in.

[Gail]

Thank you for posting that image Alan (I am of course very envious that you've seen G. koenenianus in the flesh!). Interesting comment that it looked pretty miserable! I think we tend to automatically assume that we have to try and replicate the natural growing conditions that a species grows in, without considering that a species may be surviving rather than thriving. I know you shouldn't anthropomorphise but it is tempting to wonder if a plant would prefer its freedom in what may be starvation conditions or to be pampered in a pot...

[Alan_b]

My understanding is that all known koenenianus are confined to one particular valley, which I was able to visit in 2017.  A road had been built up the valley requiring a lot of blasting of rock.  I was told that numbers of koenenianus had diminished considerably over the years.  The road building cannot have done any good and I suspect that rogue collectors may have been taking specimens away also.  What remained were very sparsely distributed and did not give the impression of a thriving population enjoying their habitat.     

[Anders]

Gail, that is very true. Plants in nature often are not found in places of optimum growth conditions, but rather where they grow better than other plants, that is, places where they are good competitors because they can tolerate drought, lack of nutrients, late frost etc. In ecology, this is called the competitive exclusion principle.

Anders

[ArnoldT]

As Darwin stated. Survival of the 'fittest'.  Not necessarily the strongest but the one that 'fits' better into the niche. Competitive exclusion is also why our gut is full of bacteria.  Keeps the bad ones from getting a foothold.

[PhilG]

Alan, thanks for that pic, always nice to see plants 'in situ'. How wondeful to have been able to see them in the wild. A shame it was only the miserable ones left by the road builders, and not a thriving population. But at least you've seen them. That pic is clearly not 'typical habitat', as the CITESBULBS web site says "According to field observations we also know that G. koenenianus grows in mixed woodland, mainly amongst deciduous trees, ....." From the recent soil fall in that photo, I'g guess the plants arrived on that ledge by falling from above as well (seeds or bulbs).
Lets hope the reports of other populations elsewhere are ture.
It's amazing how often Governments that are supposed to be protecting rare plants are the ones destroying them, whilst 'poachers' end up being the ones who have saved them (however unwittingly), in cultivation.

Anders, whilst it's true plants tend to grow where they have a 'competetive edge'. They have often undergone changes that mean what we may think of as "places of optimum growth conditions" are no longer so for that species. Even different species of the same genus, can't always thrive in the same conditions. This is why we don't plant species of woodland floors, where they will get full sun all day - they just don't like it.

Whilst we 'may' be able to improve the growth of plants in cultivation, over how they are in nature. The natural growing environments are never a bad starting point, from which to experiment - especially when a plant is rare. How often do we see plants in gardens and pots, that are a pitiful shadow of their wild counterparts.

So I'm guessing no one uses 'special' composts for these species. Or do you not grow them.

[Tristan_He]

Unfortunately it's not uncommon for the last remaining populations of invasive species to be ekeing out an existence in suboptimal habitats, because the better habitats have been destroyed or because they are more vulnerable to collecting.

Apparently Turkey is due to host the 16th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in 2022. Maybe it would be worth the SRGC and AGS jointly writing to the Turkish Government highlighting the incredible importance of their biodiversity (especially bulbs), their value in gardens and suggesting some joint working to improve conservation measures?

[ashley]

The G. koenenianus clone I have endures rather than thrives in an open woodsy substrate, so I'd like to understand how to make it happier.   G. cilicicus doesn't much like me either.