Pleione Spring 2010..... to July!

[sjusovare]

Personnally, I've always had issues with Forrestii, they always abort their buds after a few weeks, except when they flower in my fridge (but they're not really watchable there ).
I've never known whether it was because of humidity or temp change, but well...

[Eric Locke]

Personally, I've always had issues with Forrestii, they always abort their buds after a few weeks, except when they flower in my fridge (but they're not really watchable there ).
I've never known whether it was because of humidity or temp change, but well...

Julien
I think that storing Forrestii in the fridge  is adding to the problems of temperature change.
Trouble is that at some stage they have to be removed, causing the flower bud to abort.
Left in the fridge I guess they are happy which is why yours are flowering.
Once a newly acquired bulb has been grown for a season it should prove no problem getting it to flower. Mine are left in the greenhouse all year with no problem flowering them .

Eric

[Slug Killer]

Eric is right and forrestii need a long stable rest while dormant. I no longer keep any Pleione in the fridge after it froze one year and I lost everything in it (too full and it was working overtime). The sudden temperature change moving from the fridge will most certainly abort the flowers, same as moving them from a cold greenhouse or garage and putting them on the windowsill when it's still freezing outside.

Rob, never seen sudden death syndrome in newly imported forrestii or maculata which grow fine for me as well but need careful watering. All newly acquired bulbs, import or not may need to settle in for the first season, as do many plants. As long as they are healthy when you receive them, there should be no problem. Of course there are plenty of people that blame the bulbs rather than poor cultivation including watering too soon.

To be honest I find forrestii quite easy but they do like being crowded together and not left all alone in a pot. Not had a single one die on me yet and nearly all flower, fingers crossed.

Few pictures from last year.

[sjusovare]

thing is : my greenhouse is not frost free, and on the chapter of temperature changes, it goes from -10 (last night) to +25 by a sunny day.. so not a really good place either

[Slug Killer]

Fingers crossed my paraffin heater is still going or my greenhouse will not be frost free either! Not -10 though. Would have liked another couple of weeks before potting all the Pleione up but they would not wait.

I think your only solution is a fridge with a glass window With those temperature extrems I'm not surprised you have trouble with forrestii or any other Pleione.

One forrestii has had a very short cold spell in the garage until Christmas and was then taken to a bedroom windowsill. I'm trying to see if it will still flower by giving it a short cold spell but warmth before the bud was even showing as not to give it any shock treatment when in growth. I'll update when I know more.

[Hristo]

I've found storage in shotgun boxes filled with sawdust which are then kept in an east facing room, with temperature variations from +2c to +8c works quite well. Given limited storage room where temperatures can be maintaned above ambient temps as low as -25c, it's my only option for maintaining a collection.

A warm spell in January seemd to trigger forrestii early, it has been out of it's box since January 20th. By the looks of things the most advanced flower bud will abort whilst the remaining two are developing steadily.

I wonder with the discussion about suddden death syndrome hints at issues with provenance and phenotype. I am guessing that forrestii material is less likely to be clonal, so maybe some growers simply have plants that are better suited to cultivation and all that entails?

[johanneshoeller]

One of my first Pleiones, an interesting forrestii. Sometimes I have problems with forrestii, too. I think they need cooler conditions and a not too long growing season.

[Pieter]

Very nice form of forrestii. Smashing lip colour. Can these alba and semi-alba forms of forrestii be cultivated in the same way a the yellow forms?

Greetings

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wow Hans !
I remember you showed a semi-alba forrestii a couple of years ago and I'm still as much in love with it as back then !  It's a great Pleione !!!

Interesting discussion about growing forrestii.
I for one do have problems with them, but probably this is due to the way I (have to) grow them.

All my Pleione spend their Winter and early spirng (until early or mid may) in my frostfree Veranda, where it will be +2°C during the coldest nights, but where temperature rises quickly to 20-25 °C on a sunny winter- or early spring day.  I guess these huge temperature changes are the cause for it that I have more aborting buds than average (not only with forrestii), but I've learned to live with that situations.
The whole collection spends the summer outside in the shade.
However, in my opinion, I've lost forrestii after Summers where we had some really hot spells with temperatures of 30-35 °C - they simply seem to hate that.

[karel_t]

Hans - very nice semi-alba form of forrestii .

Last year I discused the problem about height difference between daily and night temperature with Ian Butterfield. We've agreed the difference between day and night temperature during flowering and but developing time should be max. 8 or 10°C. If it's higher = there is a big risk of the bud abort. Ian keep the optimum temperature difference by automatic heating and thermostatic windows.

Rob - I thing there is nothing as the "sudden death syndrome". I've found all problems are from temperature instability of small greenhouses.
Karel

[Hristo]

2nd to flower here, Pleione 'Orinoco' with a rapidly developing root system, hoping for some good increase!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Looking good Chris !!
Your windowsil is doing a good job ! 

[Hristo]

Cheers Luc, I had been hoping their dormancy might last a bit longer as there is at least another month to go before I risk putting them outside, and there is only so much windowsil space!

[Slug Killer]

Hi

What temperature and where are you storing your Pleione over winter? I have a greenhouse full and none are near flowering yet and most are not even showing buds. I would not expect my Orinoco to flower for at least another month.

David

[Hristo]

Hi David,
When I lived in Lincolnshire I followed pretty much the storage model I suspect you will be following.
I moved to Bulgaria 3 years ago, once Bulgaria joined the EU the pleiones joined me after a brief stay with my folks in Telford.
The first year here they flowered well and I grew them in a standard bark mix I used in the UK, by the end of that year I had a large nuber of deaths and nearly all my plants shrank to FS1 or FS2 size. My problem was summer here can be 43c and the pleiones just dried out between their am and pm waterings, resolved by growing all of them in an 80% moss, 10% bark,10% perlite mix in full shade. Come the winter they could not stay away from an artificial heat souce given winter temps down to -25c.
We built an east facing upstairs plant room which is unheated,but open to the main house and in winter is maintaned at 7c to 10c 1m above ground level, at ground level 3c to 5c. From dormancy in mid October to early November the Pleiones are cleaned and stored in the sawdust I make from cutting the winter wood supply. Essentially a collection of 1000 bulbs must be stored in boxes and sit on the floor.
Because of some unusually warm weather this January ( 12 to 16c for 2 weeks) I checked 'Britannia Doreen' ( my first to flower last year ) to find she was in full growth. I checked more and discovered that most hybrids with any humilis in them had gone into growth, plus 'Doreen' and forrestii. This was 2 or 3 weeks ago, to date I have had to remove 40 cultivars from their boxes. Flowering in the nest two to three weeks will be 'San Salvidor', 'Santorini', 'Tolima' and Shantung 'Silver Anniversary'. Some cultivars are new to me this year, some are old friends!
They have gone into growth earlier than last year, maybe only by two weeks. The growing season for pleiones here is in effect 7 to 8 months.
Sorry for the length of this post, but to an extent you may see that I had to 're-learn' Pleione culture to fit the seasons here as there was no way I could replicate the cultural conditions I had been used to from 10 years of Pleione growing in the UK!
All good fun!!
Chris