Jim,

It seems we have TONS of aulicum blooming within the forum, mine just bloomed too and I selfed it and I'm currently waiting for seed.

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Jim, I emailed you just after you posted your offer..through GW..don't know if you got it, if not it's probably too late now..Maybe Josh will be able to spare a few seeds??

Donna

Donna, I pm'd you. I have LOTS of seed to go around to anyone who wants them. The seed is from a pair of large, robust plants. The size of these H. aulicums may be an issue for some. The leaves are 40" or more and the flower scapes were in excess of 36". This was outside in full sun for most of the spring and summer!!

Jim

Jim, just send an email to you. Would be greatly interested in a few seeds if they are available.

I would love some seeds. I sent you an email.

Angela

Sent E-mail! would like seeds please!!!

Sent E-mail but it was returned as undeliverable. My address is on my page.

Sent email.

Hi Jim,

Just an update on your awesome H. aulicum seeds..of twelve seeds ten have sprouted, of those ten about eight are really vigirous the rest are fine. One that hasn't yet rooted appears to be damaged and one came out with this really angry red root...so I removed it and threw it away. Ten out of 12 is 83 1/3 % pretty darn good!!

Thanks again,
Donna
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can you see them wiggling around in there...!

Jim,
I would have some seeds,is it to late.
jojo4619

I'm afraid mine might have been cold damaged, I have 2 weak looking ones and 5 that bloated up and were rotten. There are still a few I have hope for...
Mike

Oh, I feel absolutely wicked..mine are so fat and happy! For that reason alone, maybe I should let You tell Me when you want me to send your seeds..there is not hurry as I have 3 more pods that won't be open for a least a week or so...

Donna

Wow Donna. Those look great! I planted mine in soil in an egg carton greenhouse. So far I have 1 with a leaf, and two more that I can see are just about to send out a leaf. Others are swelled up, but can't tell yet how many will grow. I have tried the float method in the past and had really bad luck. They sprouted, but when I tried transferring them to soil, they all died. When do you transfer yours to soil? Any tricks to it that you can share?

Hi Sun worshiper
I just leave them in always clean water until the leaf gets about 1" or better..then just transplant into shallow 2" deep plastic trays where they stay for the better part of a year or until the following early summer. Then they go into 6" clay pots (usually 4 to 6 per pot) But of course, in your climate I might do things differently, but nowadays I only try to do no more of 15 seeds of any cross. (that's hard!) Everyone has their own methods for germination..just do what best works for you..

I will admit that last year I was totally over run with these plastic trays of 1yr old seedling and couldn't handle any more so.. we just pulled the entire mat of tangled roots out of the plastic trays and plopped them directly into the ground..(well labeled of course) they grew like gangbusters..I will most likely do more in the ground planting this year again..many of them just disappeared, but the ones I was left with were really big and healthy..unfortunately in the fall they had to come out of the ground, which posed another set of problems...

this was taken about 5 weeks ago and in May or sooner I'll have to make the decision as to whether to plant directly in the ground again.

Donna

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growing in the ground at the end of the summer..

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Hi Donna,
What is your seed soil mix there?
Mike

That's pretty nifty! I have to admit that the water method scares me. I used to do that with Morning Glory seeds years and years back but most of them tend to keel over once I got them into the soil.

This is why I'm holding off until spring arrives and I can just put the seeds directly in dirt without the risk of losing any seeds from transferring from water to dirt.

Mike if you're asking what our soil outside is, it's very sandy loam..it dries out very quickly..and when I plant outside, the bulbs are entirely covered with soil as opposed to those in pots where they are 2/3 out of the soil..

Dragonstone when you get your seeds try a handful in water..you should experiment at least, that way if you get seeds at the wrong time of the year like late in summer you can grow them on in the house until you can plant them out the following spring..give it a try at least..you'll have enough seeds to experiment with...

Thanks so much for all the great info Donna! Those ones that you grew outside are just awesome! I have some year old seedlings I am planning to put in the ground this spring. I hope they do as well! I am starting lots of seeds so I can fill in a large outdoor bed eventually. Last spring/summer I had excellent luck with planting seeds into trays of potting soil outside. It is a bit too cool this time of year for that so this is my first time trying the egg carton greenhouse indoors during cooler winter. I'll take a pic when a few more sprouts have come out. So far, it is much slower than planting seeds outside when the weather is hot. I may have to give the float method another chance. I didn't wait long enough to transplant last time I tried it. I transplanted mine after they had put out roots, but they didn't have leaves yet. Now I know I can leave them in the water until leaves grow. Thanks so much for sharing your method!

Jim,

I got your seeds, and planted them straight away. Instead of soaking in water for a day, I planted in a pot and put it in the sun. We were having great weather but then we had a few days of really cold weather. Unfortunately nothing grew.

If something pops up, I will let you know but so far nothing.

FROM NOW ON soak in water first, or grow under some lights.

Sorry.

- KB

Time to put about half of these in soil..the rest I'll give another week or two...

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I sent seed to the 1st, 12 individuals that responded to my post. Sorry, I do not have any more H. aulicum available. I kept 24 seeds for myself and sent everyone else a packet of 12 seeds. All of you who got seed were notified as to the date shipped and everyone should have received them by now.

I germinated 23 of the 24 seeds in my 'batch'. I started them using the "floatation" method that Donna has shared with you.

Here is a close-up of my germinating seedlings.
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The seedlings on the right are some 5 month old Worsleya procera.
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Jim

Just want to let you know I put 6 seed in water and all 6 germinated. They now have the little leaves. I will be putting in soil the next couple of days. I kept 6 to plant directly in soil but have not done so yet. Will be planting those in the next couple of days. I really appreciate you sharing with me.
Nancy
retsec

Ok, here are mine in a green house made of an egg carton.
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I soaked them for 24 hours in water + liquid seaweed solution. Then I put each seed stood on its side & half buried in the soil. I put the egg carton on a warm window sill. Out of 12 seeds, I got 5 that grew, and 2 that tried, but turned red & failed. There are 2 that look like they may still grow, and 3 that rotted. Not a very good success rate, but the ones that grew are nice and strong. Here's a close up:

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This is the first time I've tried growing directly in soil indoors during the cool time of year. It is not nearly as successful. Using direct in soil method, but in summer when I can put the seeds right outside, I get around 90% success rate. Next time I try seeds indoors, I'm going to give the float method another go. Donna and Jim have shown how wonderfully successful it is!

Questions for Donna & Jim:
After floating and waiting for leaves, then draining on a paper towel like Donna shows, how do you transfer them to the soil? Do you just lay each one on the surface of the soil and let its roots find their own way? Or do you attempt to bury the root and set the plant upright?

Jim, what kind of potting medium are you using? What makes it look so tan?

Thanks again for sharing Jim! Looks like I will get several successful plants.

Angela

Angela,
I dig a hole with a plastic knife and bury the root in the soil leaving the leaf exposed. The tiny bulblet is usually just beneath the soil line. Always pick up the newly germinated seedling by the leaf, you can use your hands, just don't touch the root.
Your surviving seedling look just great so you should end up with just the right amount..Looks like I ended up with 9 successful seedlings.. so you did great! At this time I water with a very weak solution of Miracle Grow (that's just what I use) each time I water and am very careful not to let them dry out (after all they have been totally submerged in water for the first few weeks of their lives)!
Donna

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I can see that these have grown a tiny bit already! I think the ones that do live will be very vigirous indeed and I am so happy to have them..Thanks Again Jim!!

Thanks for the specific instructions on how to plant the seedlings into the soil Donna. Yours are looking great! I am definitely going to give that a try next time, now that I have a much better idea how to do it.

Angela

My seed pods just burst, woohoo! They ripen longer than others I've had.

Is yours a different strain? If it is and you have 5 extra seeds I would love a few...

Josh,
Are you offering seeds? I missed out on the offer from Jim.
Email me to advise!
Thanks,
Kristi

Jim, thanks again for these.
A quick pic of eight H. aulicum seedlings, doing well I'd say.
I plan to keep them going indoors under grow-lights through the winter.

I missed out on the seed offer; however, generous local hippi pal Houston Pat gave me a healthy potful earlier this year. They are thriving. This list is so full of generous people. I know the first year I made over fifty crosses and sent seeds to list members from all over the world.

At this point bulb exchanges would make me nervous, but seed swaps are always fun!! BTW... If you lost that you have a pod bursting with seeds, be prepared for people to ask for seeds! If you want to keep them for yourself...it might be worth mentioning so you don't get an avalanche of seed requests! I know I made some cool crosses and wanted to grow out all the seedlings I could (Limona x Alfresco, Rosado x Pap, and Red Lion and Lady Diana both x Jewel). When I cross some of these again I'll share, but for the first time I wanted to see how vigorous they are. Seems like anything with Limona or Exotica as the seed mother is a very strong grower.
K

chickens on mars...your aulicum seedlings look great! I ended up with 5. Somehow I lost the rest but the 5 I have look good and I'm sure they'll bulk up over the winter. Actually, mine didn't get all that much sun this summer due to the shade of a huge osage orange tree but when the leaves fall the window is quite sunny in the winter.
Thanks again to Jim for his generosity!

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Donna

I'm embarrassed to post mine but here they are:

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They stayed outside, received full sun, and received rain water regularly. I planned to fertilize these guys regularly but I was stunned that we kept getting a lot of rain while the rest of the states were in a terrible drought. I probably fertilized them two or three times during the entire summer.

I also had to deal with surprise visits from caterpillars that came by and mowed them down several times, along with other seedlings, which was terribly frustrating.

Very soon (today or tomorrow, while I'm thinking about it) I plan to move this batch into a flower box of their own where they can keep growing.

Well, you've got one more than me and I think yours look just fine...We'll see what we can do for them over the winter...

Hi Jim,

If you have any Aulicum in the future, please keep me in mind. I'm thinking of doing some hydridizing (and sharing of course) of the mini and dwarf growing hippies (God help me, I think I'm out of control...lol). I have some Vitatum seedlings coming along if you would like to trade.

Warm Regards and Thanks,
Fred

Hi Fred,

I'd be interested to see a picture of your vitattum flower. I bought a bulb on EBay last season that I thought might be vitattum and the consensus on this forum was that it was a vitattum hybrid. When I Google vitattum I find there are several pictures that appear, some quite different than others, some like mine, some with a red/raspberry throat, some not...I'm curious as to what yours looks like and where you got it.
Here is a picture of mine.

Thanks,

Donna

Hi Donna,

I have seedlings (bulblets) growing from a member of the PBS who donated the seeds. They were planted about a year ago and they're still rather small but doing nicely. When I get home from work, I'll take a picture and post them on the forum.

Fred

Hi Fred,

I was curious as to the picture of the mother bulb's flower. I selfed mine and have a handful of seedlings somewhere around here. I was curious to see if they would be exactly like their mother..very long wait, I know.

Donna

Hi Donna,

Here's a picture of the Vitatum seedlings. I don't know what the Mom looks like.

Fred

Here's the supposed H. Vitattum that I have all my selfed seedlings from.
Kristi
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Fred,

Your seedlings look great and so does everything else in the background! I found mine and there are only three and they are very puny..not vigirous at all, I don't hold out much hope for them.

Kristi, Your flower is very similar to mine sans the red throat. Your flower looks to be larger than mine too.

Donna

Emaryllis.com has a lovely H. Vitattum that appears to match mine mostly, more than Donna's. I trust Bill...as he is the Head....um.....knows what he is doing at the National Botanical Garden in Washington, DC (sorry Bill...don't know your title, but I do believe you have one of the best sites for Hippeastrum ID on the internet!!)
K

Here is a link that might be useful: Emaryllis H. Vitattum

Hi,

Just an update on my aulicum seeds from Jim. They are doing great! I ended up with 5 healthy bulbs of which 3 are now a bit larger than a golf ball and the other 2 a bit smaller. A couple of them are growing offsets as well.

I can't wait to see them bloom and maybe they will all be a bit different? Can't wait to see; how are the rest of you doing with yours??

Donna

Hi Donna,

Your Aulicum look beautiful and healthy, so do all the other goodies in the back ground. After being pounded with snow, I think I'll stay indoors and pry apart some H. x Johnsonii yearlings and put them into larger pots. I seem to have quite a few (+25), so when the weather warms a bit, I'd be happy to share with the group. Send me a private e-mail if you'd like some.

Warm Regards (from brutally cold Cambridge)
Fred

My update:

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Finally warmed up enough to drag this out of the greenhouse and weed it out some. (Really hate that I can not keep up with the weeds to save my life!)

There's six seeds that established themselves. The biggest one (third in row) formed at least 3 new bulbs around it. The last one at the right seems to somehow formed a new bulb at the very edge of the flowerbox? Bizarre.

I hope to blast them with a lot of fertilizer over the summer and see if I can't get the biggest one to send up a bloom for Spring 2015....

So they are 2 years old now....? They look like they are doing great!!!

K

I'll have to post a pic of mine when I get a chance. I have two really healthy seedlings growing in ground. Mine also about golf ball sized. Can't wait for the first bloom!