PLEIONE 2011

[Graham Catlow]

All mine originated from Koolplants, albeit in two or three different purchases, (Some given away or swapped with friends at first) and now I have quite a colony, but this one is still at least a week ahead of the rest.  Second to flower caused me a stir this morning.  I thought it had a hole in the middle.  Closer inspection revealed it's a double header; two flowers for the price of one!

I have to say I'm a bit fussy with mine and I hate double headers and always nip out one of the buds.

[Maren]

I have to say I'm a bit fussy with mine and I hate double headers and always nip out one of the buds.

So do I, but only if the flowers face each other. If they face in the same direction as in this example, I tend to leave them on.

[Slug Killer]

Nice picture Steve, even with the label

I always cut the underneath flower off a double header as most of the time they don't look that good but also because the bulb puts a lot of energy in to flowering and I would have thought a double will take even more energy up. I'd rather it was used up at the opposite end making new root.

[Pascal B]

I always think that if it wasn't able to support 2 flowers it wouldn't produce them (unless stress has caused such occurrence)..... Flowering does not take nearly as much energy as fruiting or the formation of the buds in the prior year so the double flower I have coming up in my forrestii I leave intact. I grow them for the flowers so the more the better.

[Darren]

I have a lovely clone of Eiger which often produces two flowers on a stem. Unfortunately it inherits weak stems from humilis so sags rather pathetically if burdened with two flowers. Plus, unlike the second flower on many pleione, it opens upside-down and does not look especially nice. I always remove the second bud.

As I hope to sell my spares of this at tonights group meeting I hope nobody from our group is reading this

[SteveC2]

I guess I'll wait to see what the double flower looks like before deciding if I should cut one off.  Last year I had two forrestii bulbs with double headers, one looked fine, but on the second the smaller flower simply got in the way.  I can't say if this year's double header is the offspring of last year's, but this year I shall monitor the situation, I've placed a cocktail stick marker beside the double flowering bulb so that I can track its offspring and will be able to see if double flowering is genetic or stress induced.  Of course with a sample of one the results will not be statistically significant!

[Slug Killer]

Best show of P. humilis I've had for a while as only one flowered for me last year. The one at the back seems to have much more yellow in the lip and is a little larger.

[Maren]

Nice show of P. humilis, David. the yellow is quite unusual. - Mine haven't budged yet.

[Alex]

Love the humilis - here's my much more modest version.

Alex

[Maren]

Lovely colouring, Alex, and I see there's more to come.

I keep talking to mine nicely.

[Slug Killer]

Nice show of P. humilis, David. the yellow is quite unusual. - Mine haven't budged yet.

I've not seen yellow in humilis before. The one on the bottom left also has a little yellow. I'll try and get a better picture in the next few days of the yellow one on it's own as it's not quite fully open yet.

Pleione Kohala is also open today but think the flower is a bit misshaped which is a shame.

[Graham Catlow]

A nice group David,
Mine are a little behind yours. Interestingly the basis of my group comes from you and this will be the first time they have flowered for me. Several aborted last year.
Looking forward to the next few weeks.

[Slug Killer]

A nice group David,
Mine are a little behind yours. Interestingly the basis of my group comes from you and this will be the first time they have flowered for me. Several aborted last year.
Looking forward to the next few weeks.

Hi Graham

I also had quite a few abort this time last year and can only put it down to the weather then. It was still very cold this time last year and freezing at night. I then moved them to a warmer area and they all aborted. Lesson learnt and this year they are sitting in a frost free conservatory and all seem very happy.

The first one that flowered which I pictured before in this thread did take a very long time to open and although it's tempting to move somewhere warmer I resisted this time

David

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Lovely humilis !!
Fascinating yellow in that lip David !
Will be interesting to see how stable it is !

[Graham Catlow]

Hi David,
I bought a small poly greenhouse last week, like the one in the photo, to get my pleiones out of the fridge and somewhere I could keep them a little more stable for a few weeks until I can get them outside. It JUST fits in a small gravel area in the garden. It has a small heater in it to keep it frost free. I'll have to pack it away for the summer and get it out again for the winter. I hope that this is doing the trick with the humilis and hope they don't abort again.