Ask me again in 2-3 years!! I'm fairly new at collecting Hippis as a serious hobby and this is the first year I've made crosses. So far 26 bulbs have bloomed and I've made well over 50 crosses, but not all of them take. Since it takes 2-3 years (or more) to get blooms, there should be a glut of Hippi-lister hybrids at my house in 2011-2012!

Kristi

Take a look around this forum and you will find LOTS of posts with pictures of seedling blooms. Hans-Werner, Arif, Lora and Houstonpat are among those who have shared seedling photos.

Attached is one of Arif's threads. This is only one of many threads featuring seedling blooms...

Here is a link that might be useful: Arif's Seedlings

Well of course there are lots of threads on seedlings. I didn't mean to infer that there weren't. But asked to show my crossbreds, and I can only show trays full of seeds and some baby seedling!

SORRY, I was responding for myself (mine won't be making "Bloom debuts" for a couple of years).

Speaking of Sir Hans....where has he been??
:-)
K

I REALLY miss Lora too!!!

A few seem to be missing in action, as it were... I miss them, too! :-(

They're so busy tending to their huge seedlings and have no time for us crazy amateurs, yet they GAVE us this sickness. We all must promise to post pics of our babies when they bloom! All agree?

Not to be misunderstood, many beautiful seedling pics HAVE been posted, I totally love and appreciate those and always thirst for more. THANKYOU Arif, Hans, Lora and HoustonPat and anyone I missed!

Hiya Salpal,

It's not for lack of trying, can't seem to log onto photobucket for anything & no reply when I requested help/reset.

I'll give flicker a shot & see if I can get some eye-candy loaded : )

Lots of babies blooming this year, Royal Velvet X Red Peacock is making a very nice show, Geraldine X self is better than I hoped for & the first nose is showing in a tray of Ruby Meyer X Emerald .

Several trays of Pink Floyd crosses put themselves to sleep, just may be a lot more very young bloomers in a few weeks.
Lora

Here is a link for a new batch of photos. I'll keep loading.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Hippi photos

(((((((((((Lora))))) you made my day!! Your Lil Pinkies are getting really big. I am still hoping they will bloom this year, like Raydio's did. Unfortunately, my digital is broken or I would share a photo of the two pots.
WOW Look at that Picotee/Charisma!! And I love the split color. I got fed up with Photo bucket about a year ago and went to Picasa. I am very pleased with them. Good to see you girl! Oh SalPal, I repotted some of the seeds you send me. The lil buggers are coming along great!

Hi, Lora! Hope you're doing well... good to see you posting! I love your photos! Cindee is right... that Picotee x Charisma is a knockout! They're all lovely... way to grow!
Peeps is very intriguing... and Split Color is very cool!

I'm impressed! Very nice! Thank you for sharing those!

(((((Cindeea)))))!
Those Lil Pinkies were pollinated with Double Record, make sure you have some double pollen on hand when they bloom!

Picotee is an awesome momma, she carries other colors so well & I got the vast majority of her babies to bloom in 3 years.

The split color is from the Peeps, Geraldine X Lil Pinkie!
I had it in mind that colors were carried in layers and that the color you see depended on which layer was dominant. That is why I put orange & pink together, to see if the color would saturate. Sadly, when I crossed them back, the colors re-divided into mediocre oranges & pinks. Most of that cross isin't worth note, other than the 3 that bloomed very early & that split color. ( I did put the split on Picotee, got a big fat pod,nod nod, wink wink !)

The whole comp/cable modem/server thing is driving me nuts! (it's not a long drive)
E mail work when it pleases and that's not often. It delights in dropping 300 + spams into the inbox, yarrghhh!
Photobucket was just the last straw! I can see the page, the photos are there, I just can't access it and nobody will reply!

Hiya Jodik,
Doing tolerably well, you?
Elder pooch & I went for a delightful stroll, Spring is near! Glad you like them : )
Lora

Lora... do I detect a bit of distaste for technology? ;-) It can be a wonderful thing... when everything works properly, that is! I'm incredibly lucky to have married Mr. Technology! Living out in the boonies as we do, the only way to fly is satellite up and down! Have you checked into HughesNet?

Anyway... I'm doing tolerably well, too. One day at a time!

If you ever get a little time, I'd love to hear more about your breeding observances, if you wouldn't mind sharing some, that is... being a canine breeder, I find them incredible interesting!

I also find that carrion flower to be very different and interesting! Very cool!

Oh my goodness! Am I dreaming or awake???

Looooorrrraaaaaaaaa!!! ((((Hugs))))
and more ((((Hugs)))))

Gosh girlfriend, I miss ya so much!

Your babies are soooo beautiful! I wonder when I'm going to see some of mine bloom? Sometimes the patience wears out and I DO get depressed and frustrated. I know just seeing 1 flower from my crosses would get me up and going. It's just ...When???? I am really, really hoping and wishing and praying that I'd see a result this season.

You need to join us more often here girlfriend and INSPIRE us! Nice to see you posting.

Love ya!

Maria

Jody, I have the stinky carrion flower cacti. It is awesome pretty in shape and growth but PEW WHEE in fragrance. I will add some to your Spring package this year. Just remember to BACK OFF when in bloom. LOL

Maria, I agree our gal-pal Lora has been too far gone and needs to check on us more often!

Lora! Lora! Lora!

So glad (and relieved) to see you and your glorious babies here.

I was getting really worried about you after your long silence.

Welcome back!!!

I send you my best regards and big virtual hugs,

Blanca

Lora, Thank You so much for all the effort you put into showing us your babies! I love PicoteexCharisma and Split Color! Would you care to explain further your ideas on color layers and saturation and breeding? (or write a book?)

Cindee, you're so cool to update me on the seedlings, especially since I didn't plant those varieties since I have no space! My first happy pollinating year I planted a whole bunch of 2 crosses. The next year just 6 plants total. Last year I planted a few more, but not so many. I haven't figured out what I'll do this year- but it's time I do that. I wish I could plant zillions!

Cindee, my dear... no offense, but I'll take a pass on the carrion flower, if you don't mind! It's very pretty and unusual, but since I grow indoors... well, it's bad enough to have stinky dogs and stinky husband! (not really) LOL!

Oh my goodness, it's a party!
Big ol' hugs all around for everybody!

Jodi, really, I'm not a Luddite! Tech is great when it works but so often here it's not compatible with the early 19th century infrastructure.(Honest to goodness, we have a -telegraph- line sitting on the top of our poles! ) The cable went out with the June floods & didn't come back till September. Then it went back down with the wind storm from hurricane Ike & didn't come back till late October. It still isn't working right, David has spent half the day trying to get the neighbors email open & it just laughs at them.
Enough of that, on to flowers!

Oh Maria, what crosses are giving you grief? It seems like a lot of the "odd" crosses are taking at least 3 years,more likely 4 to reach blooming. The cybisters seem to need some sort of extra trigger & I'm not exactly sure what it is. I did try giving a sip of 11-35-15 to the Ruby Meyer X Emerald tray & so far 1 bulb has popped up a nose. There are much larger bulbs that have held more leaves that are still just sitting there, maybe waiting for more heat & longer days? The really far out crosses like Pink Floyd X Appleblossom, Ruby Meyer X White Christmas & the fragrant white trumpet X striatum are looking like 4-5 years, if they ever get there at all.

Time for a break, old Nick has brought me his leash!
Blancawings, Salpal, I'll be back in a bit. Lora

Larry would have a fit if we weren't completely up to date, technologically speaking! I get a new computer built every couple of years, he does constant updating to everything, and if there's a way to upload and download faster, he's on it!

He'd probably go into withdrawal if we were without a connection for more than a 24 hour period! Hence, all the wireless equipment and laptops laying around! You'd swear I lived in the middle of a computer parts store, what with all the tech stuff everywhere!

The one aspect of breeding Hippeastrums that never even crossed my mind is... is there any possible way a bulb will never flower? Gosh... it just dawned on me that there could be a bulb that produces mainly foliage, and doesn't flower.

I can see that some take longer than others to bloom for the first time... and I'm sure this is normal depending on parentage and all... but is there any possible way that a bloom can never happen?

(That must sound like a dumb question!)

This thing about blooming--I've run across something that intrigued me. In amaryllis belladonna you sometimes see advice to make sure that the bulbs have a large amount of growing space because the bulbs and roots are very large.
I have also run across advice to keep them compacted or they will tend to grow large bulbs and roots and put all of their energy into that instead of flowering.

I saw a while back on an older thread (several years back) that someone was trying larger pots to see if that increased bulb size and growth rate. I never noted if they reported back how that affected blooming.

I know on fruit trees, it is the small root stock that makes dwarf trees bloom profusely at an early age. Does this carry over into amys? And wouldn't a lot of nitrogen produce large leaves at the expense of blooms? In some summer veggies, we give nitrogen early to get a large plant, and then restrict it to get fruit bearing going. I think nurseries selling summer annuals do a similar trick, nitrogen early to get the plant up and then phosphate to bloom early at the expense of later plant growth.

How does all of this apply to these plants? I know the pot size and fertilizer are only two parts of the equation. But what about these two items?

Thanks for the link Lora! WOW!!! Love the two picotee x charisma crosses, can't wait till mine start blooming! So how big are your seedling bulbs that are blooming?

Hiya Doc, it is an interesting question! I have some bulbs that are just crammed into pots and have little soil/planting medium ratio to root ratio and they are spiffy-happy-as-ducks-on-a-pond and bloom for me every year. I find that the more air/soil/planting material in a pot adds to more watering more chance of mold, rot and less bloom. I say Poo-Poo to when I am told "Don't you think that needs a bigger pot...?" method and find in my case, in Southwest Florida, the smaller the pot the bigger, brighter and more profuse the blooming. I am rather simplistic. I don't over-do anything anymore, from Amaryllis to Orchids. If being a bit stuffed makes my potted plants perform, then OK!! This is just my personal observation and Hey-works for me!

I know that many plants are happy when rootbound, and will bloom quite profusely. Many types of plants will begin to offset once the roots become potbound.

Since gardening in the ground differs so much from container gardening, I don't really know what the correct answers are... I just know that, like Cindee says, many plants are very happy to remain rootbound for several years, and they will continue to bloom gloriously!

I have not had the opportunity to test out different fertilizer mixtures to see what happens... but I can say that the bulbs I haven't disturbed and re-potted are all sending up scapes!

There's a lot of experimenting I'd like to do... but I'd like to build my collection first, and make sure I'm well-versed in the culture of Amaryllids before I begin any testing. I'd be interested to know what others think.

Oh my, the party has grown !

Jodi, I will try to put up a seperate post tomorrow with breeding observations. I think it could get kinda long : )
There are no dumb questions and yes, some will not come to flower. Some are just weak & won't throw more than 2-3 leaves per year & never reach critical mass. Others become "splitters" and reproduce vegetativly instead of sexually. That is the bottom 1/3 of most crosses & I pitch them when they go from baby trays to the window boxes,

Blancawings, (((hugs)))!
I have goodies set aside for you : )
I will resend an email or 2, I bet they went off into the wild blue yonder & never made it to you.

Salpal, Glad you like them, it's an easy cross to make & grow on.

Hiya Hatidoc,
You pose good questions but there is no one answer. I depends on which hippi you grow under what conditions and what your goal for that plant is. You can certainly maintain a 34cm bulb in a 8 inch pot and get regular flowering on probably 2 scapes, maybe 3. But, if you bump that bulb up to a 10 inch pot your results will be better.
I certainly would not plop a 22cm bulb into a 5 gallon tree can & expect good results, it seems to be a matter of balance.
I do regularly pot up with very good results, and some of the large flowered hybrids can reach really massive size with a show of 4 or more scapes. Exotica is a very good example of a bulb that responds well to this treatment. I have 2 bulbs that were quite undersized last year when I received them, maybe 22-24 cm and barely gave 1 decent scape. They went into 4 inch pots & this year they gave 2 good scapes each & are tearing the pots apart. They will get potted on to gallon cans this weekend & I expect they will have 3-4 scapes and need a new pot again next year.

As for fertilizer, again, it depends. In the summer I use Osmocote 14-14-14 and foiler feed with whatever is left of the orchid fertilizer which has a higher P . I also use Ironite every 2 months or so due to the very high ph of our well water. If I can catch enough rain to use for watering I don't need as much Ironite.

That is what works under my growing conditions, it won't be ideal for everyone though.

I'm of to bed everyone, sweet dreams and Happy Valentine's Day! Lora

Happy Valentine's Day to you, and to everyone!

I have to agree, and say that different things will work for different growers because we each have slightly different climates and conditions to contend with.

Lora, no rush... I'm just really curious and interested in some of the observations you've made while going through the breeding process... for instance, it's good to know that there will be some bulbs more interested in pushing leaves and throwing babies than in blooming, or that some are just too weak to ever become bloomers...

I can see where doing any serious breeding of Hippeastrums could require quite a bit of space and time spent! I'd like to hobby breed, mainly because I find it so fascinating, but I'm not sure I'll ever get to grow on a large scale. But, who knows what the future holds? If conditions are ever right, it'd be something I'd dive into without looking back!

Haitidoc, you might find it interesting that I'm growing a trio of Amaryllis Belladonna bulbs in a large pot indoors... I know they'll never survive in my gardens. Right now, they're happily growing foliage... they're planted a lot more shallow in the pot than they would be outdoors. I've also got a pot of about 5 Lycoris Squamigera growing indoors... these will survive outdoors here, but I want to experiment with them. I hope to get them to flower indoors, and I'd like to cross them with Hippeastrums or the Belladonna.

The world of tender bulbs contains so many beauties... and the pollination process is so easy... I think crossing different ones will be extremely interesting, with sometimes very unique results.

I'm trying a trio of methods to see how Amaryllis belladonna will grow for me. I was tempted to wait till warm weather so they could get more sun, but went ahead with planting. They are just starting to come up. This plant sounds interesting.

Can i please just see some pictures???!!!!!!!!

These are my Amaryllis Belladonna bulbs... this was taken a while ago, so the leaves are more numerous and quite a bit taller.

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These are my Lycoris Squamigera bulbs... 5 in the pot. They, too, are quite a bit more leafy and tall at present.

{{gwi:384728}}

I don't have any photos of crossbred bulbs or flowers at this early juncture in my breeding program. I hope to post photos of my bulbs from seed, in bloom, within the the next 2 years.