South African bulbose plants 2009

[angie]

Okay lets all pray for a really hot summer  ::)and maybe our Ken Aslet will flower. Good idea putting it in another frame. Good luck everyone.

Paul would love to see your large plant of M. depressa when it is opens.

Angie

[Lvandelft]

Reading about the non-flowering of Oxalis Ken Aslet made me think about the way how we grew them en masse (see pictures below) and they did flower every year.
Most Oxalis from S. Africa are difficult to treat in the same way as other bulbs, but flowering has to do with the temperatures and available light.
I’ll try to describe the process of a growing year:

We planted the bulbs in August and early September.
   (When planted after mid September they will start too late when there is less light!)
We sorted the bulbs in about three different sizes and the biggest bulbs flowered best.
Out of the smaller sizes we selected in the next year again the biggest ones etc.
When planting the bulbs, the flowers were mostly visible already.
When they start growing it is impossible to retain them.

The growing season was here in a high (airy) glasshouse which was kept frost free from September till ca. early April. Watering had to been done carefully and the leaves had to dry off soon.
When starting to wilt we stopped watering and after some weeks we piled the crates (in which they were planted) on transport pallets for a month or so.
When they were very dry we sieved the bulbs out of the soil and when cleaned we kept the bulbs in wired boxes on the warmest places in a shaded dry place in the glasshouse.
The average temperature night and day was mostly about 25 ˚C. But in a wet summer with less sun this was not sure, so later we stored them together with Hyacinth bulbs for 8 or 10 weeks at 25 ˚C. at a specialized factory for preparation services.
After 10 weeks they had to be planted again because they started to grow already.

For the S.H. this timetable may differ some, but the most important things are the right temperatures for at least 8 weeks in the right time and sufficient light.
Since the time we grew them inside I still have some plants outside in the open garden and this year in September I saw some flowers (no picture made..) after a nice warm summer.

I show some pictures of that time too and one of the still easier flowering O. versicolor.

Oxalis Ken Aslet (3x)
Oxalis versicolor

[Lvandelft]

I wrote this first in Word and copied it here, because it is very difficult to write when you don't see wat you are writing. (On a Laptop!!)
David N. started somewhere else a query about this.
I hope Mr. Admin can do something about this.

I could not afterwards underline some impertant sentences either.
It is really sort of a problem!!

[Maggi Young]

Wonderful pictures of the oxalis en masse, Luit.


 I'm sorry you are having problems.... you should be able to go back via the "edit" button to add any underlining that you miss the first time.... formatting from word does not copy directly to the forum, I think ....

[Lvandelft]

Wonderful pictures of the oxalis en masse, Luit.


 I'm sorry you are having problems.... you should be able to go back via the "edit" button to add any underlining that you miss the first time.... formatting from word does not copy directly to the forum, I think ....

Thanks Maggi, I did not try editing afterwards, will try some later...

[Lesley Cox]

Very many thanks both Paul and Luit, for the above advice. It is quite likely that my climate is just not hot enough and without a glasshouse I may be flogging a dead horse even if the Oxalis thrive mightily (but without flowers). I'll try Luit's regime and keep the pots on a hot windowsill for a few weeks and see what happens. Other SA Oxalis species flower very well though luteola flowers less well than when I lived in the hotter, drier South Canterbury area, even though it's only 125 miles up the road.

[Lvandelft]

Thanks Maggi, I did not try editing afterwards, will try some later...

Did not work either!!
I know that formatting from Word does not copy directly to the Forum.
But it is almost impossible to type right on dancing lines

[Maggi Young]

Sorry, Luit, I did not fully realise you meant the dancing line problem.  We will see if Fred has anything to say on the matter.

[Hristo]

Luit, Paul, thanks also for the info. Oxalis speciosa 'Ken Aslet' flowered here for the first time and it is great to match this cultural information to the happy chances that bought our stock into flower. Next year a more deliberate effort!

[Lesley Cox]

Is it now Oxalis speciosa? It used to be O. purpurea but then I thought it was changed to O. melanosticta, or something similar.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks Maggi, I did not try editing afterwards, will try some later...

Did not work either!!
I know that formatting from Word does not copy directly to the Forum.
But it is almost impossible to type right on dancing lines

 Reply from Fred : RE: jumping text ......"It's an Internet Explorer problem, lots of people have had it on various forms. Sometimes happens, sometime not. There are lots of bugs in IE8
 
Tell them to use Firefox - I moved to it exactly for that reason. It's vastly better."

[Gerdk]

Wow, Luit - what a sight!
Thank you for pics and for the advice concerning growing conditions.

Gerd

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Very impressive Luit !


"Reply from Fred : RE: jumping text ......"It's an Internet Explorer problem, lots of people have had it on various forms. Sometimes happens, sometime not. There are lots of bugs in IE8"

That's exacty what I've experienced.  Sometimes this problem occurs and sometimes it doesn't for no obvious reason... 

[angie]

Hi Luit

What a sight, all those happy plants, thanks for the cultural information, will try my best to give it more warmth next year .

Angie

[Hristo]

Lesley,
I think you are right that purpurea is more current than speciosa, I always forget. Can't think why I find it hard to call a yellow flowered oxails, 'purpurea'!!??? melanosticta would be a new one on me though, still it is South African and taxonomists do so love to mess about with the naming of the flora of that continent!
In 2006 Monocot Nursery had it listed as speciosa, so I guess you pays your money etc etc.