'Twinscaling' of a Haemanthus pubescens

[Hans J]

Hi all ,

Here is the result of a experiment of 'twinscaling' with a Haemanthus :

In year 2006 I have bought a Haemanthus pubescens ssp. pubescens from a nursery from South Africa , the parcel reached me in November ,and friends suggest me to wait with potting ( because change of the hemispheres ) ....so I take this plant ( without any roots ) in a plastic bag with Vermiculite in my cellar - after some month I would take it in a pot ...now rise up my idea that I could cut from each side of the plant a scale and I plant it in a seperate pot ....after some month the big plants shows live and start with a leaf .....on the both scales no sign of life - but they looks still OK ......
Before some month ( in our summer ) I could see small bulbils on the base of this scales ...so I know new life has start !
In September has start now with growing all my wintergrowing Haemanthus .....and before some days I could see small leaves now !

....and I so will will share some photos ....

Pic MP 1+2 = this is the big plant
Pic Nz 1+2 = the scales with the young plants

Has anybody here made similar expierences with multiplicate Haemanthus on this way ?

I think it is the same method like by other bulbs of Amaryllidaceae ( Galanthus,Hippeastrum,Narcissus ) and the only importent is here  also to have a part of the basal plate .....

I will continue my report with this bulbs later !
Hans

[Heinie]

Hans,

That experiment has worked very well for you. Are all the leaves in the 3rd photo little bulbs developing or am I wrong. I would like to see further development from these bulbs please.

[Tony Willis]

Hans really interesting and what super leaves with those hairs on them

[ChrisB]

Wow, very nice.  Just been to inspect mine, it has no hairs on the foliage, except on the very edge.  It is in flower right now, so I know I have the real thing so to speak.  Is the hairiness variable in this species, does anyone know?

[Hans J]

Thank you Heinie ,Tony and Chris 

Chris - are you shure you have H. pubescens ? - it is one of the rarer species .

pubescens means with fine or fluffy hairs

[David Nicholson]

Very skillful Hans.

[Hans J]

Thank you David !

Here are some pics of a other plant of Haemanthus pubescens :

[johnw]

Hans - Funny this topic should come up.  A few weeks ago I was moving a pot of Haemanthus albiflos from a shady spot in the garden into more sun and noticed that a leaf had snapped close to the base. All along the crack were perfectly formed tiny plants that had formed since I put the plant out in early June. These had tiny hairs on the leaves. As mentioned before the leaves on the large plant have translucent markings, almost like Frithia or Fenestraria windows. Is this common or is it a deficiency of some sort?

Flowers on it just opened last week here as it's now in the greenhouse to avoid all the recent rains.

johnw

[Hans J]

Hi John ,

I'm glad for your mail and comment that you have made similar expierience with Haemanthus - could you please send us a pic from this little bulbs ?

It exist from H. albiflos different types -some with more hairs - some with few .
Before some weeks I have received seedlings grown from w.c. seeds from plants also with yellow speckles on foliage ....

My other forms of H. albiflos shows not buds in this time -they always late - only the plant which i have postet under "Haemanthus 2008" flowers in this time

Hans

[Paul T]

Hans,

Absolutely fascinating!!  Given how slow some of these things are to produce offsets (and their inability to set seed on a single clone) this method of reproduction is a real gem.  It will be interesting to trace how long they take to get to flowering size.  I'd imagine it will take roughly the same time as seed to flowering, but you don't need a second clone for this sort of propagation.  Great stuff!!

[Hans J]

Hi Paul ,

Yes I think it is a good possibilty of propagation - but the plant must be big with many scales .
In one or two year I will seperate the young plants and look how many they are ...

[ChrisB]

Oops, its albiflos.  Was dark when I went down to look  .  So, no, I don't have the rarer pubescens.... sorry.

[Hans J]

  Chris

sorry ....but maybe you have  Haem. albiflos forma pubescens ( it is not a joke ) 

I will later post a pic !

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Hans, this looks like pure magic to me ! 
Thanks for showing !

[Hans J]

Luc ,

it is really easy .....look at the story of Adam + Eva 

this must be the first twin scaling