Bulbs from South America 2011

[Ezeiza]

Santiago, this is what tulips in the wild means. I assume growers in this forum are familiar with the growth cycle of tulips.

[Alessandro.marinello]

Very Beautiful Alessandro!
Hope you get lots of seeds to share!
Good luck.

Thanks Santo
I hope also

[santo2010]

Santiago, this is what tulips in the wild means. I assume growers in this forum are familiar with the growth cycle of tulips.

Ok, I assume all must be familiar.
As I told you before I just study each genre as I grow them. I am truly ignorant about genres that are out of my wish list, even one as common as Tulips. I had avoided them in the past because they don't feel confortable in here. I'm just about to receive Tulipa Sprengerii seeds, the easiest as far as I know. And they be my first ones.
So, thanks. Now I know more about the Tulip growing.
I want to take advantage of this and ask you another question. Since they behave similarly in the wild. Would alpine Rhodophialas benefit from cold storage at a refrigerator? Have you tryed to approach to their temperature needs? Is there something that you think that could be done to grow them here?

[Ezeiza]

As you so clearly described, they need autumn rainfall to activate the roots that remain awaken in winter, under snow. In spring, foliage emerges and they receive abundant water from snow melt and rainfall. As  with wild tulips, the leaf and flower production is very fast and by summer they are dormant again.

The problem in mild climates is that the overall temperatures are too high. In their native habitat these alpine Rhodophialas have cool nights even in the hottest of summer and the air is dry. One can trick them into giving constant low temperatures for an artificial autumn and spring but spring and summers with high temperatures day and night is too much for them.

[PeterT]

That is why my pots of alpine bulbs have a lot of gravel on top to insulate them

[Ezeiza]

And a Peter Taggart to care for them!!!

Peter, we can grow bananas outdoors and the plants produce small fruits (not the huge ones from the tropics alas). One can not grow bananas and alpine Rhodophialas in the same climate. But, the list of bulbs we can grow well in this mild climate is huge.

[PeterT]

I grew some bananas from seeds for someone, the plant he gave back to me died after a couple of years. (interesting but unloved  )

[Ezeiza]

I am not surprised. What you CAN NOT grow?

The banana I mention is Musa paradisiaca, not ensete or the other semihardy ones.

[santo2010]

Would help to put them in a room colder than the outside temps in Summer? They wont have the natural oscilation of temp., But as they are dormant they wont miss the sun.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I know this is an ID question, but since this is the thread where South american bulb specialists are around, I thought I'd post it here.

I grew this as Alstroemeria hookeriana from seed sown in January 2010.
Left undisturbed in their seedpot, one plant produced a flower spike already.
I have serious doubts as to if it's the right plant though..    The flowering stem is about 25 cm ?

Thanks for any opinion or help !

[PeterT]

Would help to put them in a room colder than the outside temps in Summer? They wont have the natural oscilation of temp., But as they are dormant they wont miss the sun.

I pot bulbs with these growing requirements in deep pots which are plunged in sand and I fill the top half of the pot with gravel. In hot summers I also cover the pots of dormant bulbs with a white sheet.
I do not grow Rhodophialas but I do grow tulip species quite successfully.

[santo2010]

My pots are 60 cm. high. From the beginning I thought that I was going to move then for approaching to their natural conditions. I had mixed some expanded polystyrene foam pieces(with the rocks, sand, vermiculite, perlite, etc.) to make them movable.
I like your method. It is good and Easier.
I was afraid to put then at a fixed location because we can have rains all around the year.

[Ezeiza]

Peter, please tell Santiago where you are located.

[santo2010]

Sorry, I was not clear, I wasn't saying that Peter and me got that rains. Neither I was thinking that we got the same temps.

[PeterT]

I am located in the UK. Normal temperatures for me range from - 10 C on cold nights in winter to + 25 C on hot days in summer. Cold winters approach -20C mild winters can be almost frost free.
 Hot summers can excede 30C day time, for several weeks.  Summer temperatures and dryness may occur at any time from March untill September though I have never known fluctuating cooler night temperatures to arrive later than mid August. A sunny greenhouse bench in March with a pot of damp tulip bulbs or an Onco Iris needs precautions here as much as anywhere else in the world.

 
Alberto, I merely sought to supplement your doubtless excellent advice, on growing Rhodophialias, with the knowlege I have (in the UK climate) of preventing bulbs overheating, by contriving to keep them deeper in their pots (or the ground) by providing several inches of gravel on top of the compost.
I have never gardend in tropical or subtropical conditions and do not pretend to know anything about doing so.