Narcissus September - December 2009

[dominique]

Gerd
Absolutely BRAVO. You have surely magic fingers to obtain such gems ! Thank you
Dom

[Anthony Darby]

I think I need to revisit Gerd's way of growing these to such wonderful success.

[Maggi Young]

Anthony, this may be of help: http://uk.weather.yahoo.com/climo/GMXX0126_c.html?woeid=695336

[Anthony Darby]

I would suspect Gerd grows these in the greenhouse as they are not frost hardy?

[Maggi Young]

Anthony, this may be of help: http://uk.weather.yahoo.com/climo/GMXX0126_c.html?woeid=695336

: Anthony Darby 

I would suspect Gerd grows these in the greenhouse as they are not frost hardy?

Yes, I would think so.... but the overall weather conditions in an area have a great bearing on the conditions even in a glass house ....

[Anthony Darby]

I suspect there is more to it? Clearly there are people in the UK who have more success than I do, so what goes into the pot and the feeding/watering/compost temperature must have a cumulative effect?

[Rafa]

3,2,1 blooming!

[BULBISSIME]

elegans, serotinus and ..... snails Rafa 

[Paul T]

Snails are a bane for me at the moment too.  I have a few late flowering varieties of hoop petticoat daffs trying to flower (N. obesus, bulbocodium serotinus and 'Golden Dragon') , but nary a flower in decent enough condition to photograph. 

[Gerdk]

Sorry for the late reply!
First of all thank you alltogether for kind remarks. I'll take them as an encouragement to continue to find out the special needs of these autumn flowering treasures.
After two seasons with an excellent flower display it seems the methods mentioned in this Forum (Narcissus miniatus & others/Oct. 21, 2008) are a good beginning but surely there is a lot to improve, among other things I'll look for an energy saving method for warming during resting stage. Also a sufficient temperature, the best date for start and the length has to be calculated - this is a lot!

@ Fred:
 Narcissus x perezlarae is sterile - so multiplication via seeds isn't possible. The others were obtained from seeds or come from friends

@ Maggi & Anthony:
Yes, because these species are not frost hardy they were cultivated in a greenhouse.
I believe from the factors feeding/watering/compost/temperature (light) a warm
and dry rest during dormancy is the most important one.
If you live in an area with a lot of sunshine and warmth during summer (in Germany Hans J.'s region) the cultivation of these daffodils is far easier.

Gerd

[Paul T]

Sounds like I could likely grow them here easily enough then.  Providing I keep them frost free of course.  Is it "frost" or cold temperatures that do them in?

[Gerdk]

Sounds like I could likely grow them here easily enough then.  Providing I keep them frost free of course.  Is it "frost" or cold temperatures that do them in?

Paul,
According their origin in Southern Spain I believe they survive some degrees (C) below zero but only for a short time. Cold temperatures in winter aren't the problem.

Gerd

[Paul T]

Ah, frost on the new growth is the problem is it?  I still might have to find out whether Marcus H down in Tas has any on offer this year..... would be wonderful to grow some of them.  I have seedlings coming along of one of the autumn species and they're a few years old now, so hoping for flowers one of these years.  They've done well for me so far, so fingers crossed.

[Hans A.]

Narcissus miniatus - with german ancestry.
I have seen this species normally with one or two flowers per stalk - so I was suprised when I recognized it produced 4! The plant produces a pod - but I do not know if it is pollinized by itself (if possible) or by pollen of N. elegans which is growing near by.

[Gerdk]

Ah, frost on the new growth is the problem is it?

Paul, frost is a problem all the time when in growth!

Gerd