Good Morning Hans-Werner! Ahhhh, more beautiful babies! Those 2 seedlings appear to be the start of a new and very promising line :) I can comiserate with you on the low production/viability of seeds from this type of cross. Pink Floyd X Appleblossom gave me 3 good seedlings, Ruby Meyer X White Christmas gave 2 and Minerva X Emerald, well 2 germinated weakly but died within a few weeks. I will try it again this season with more mature bulbs. Lora

"pretty much gave up on my search for push since we have to dethatch, rake, reseed, then roll the lawn due to winter animal damage (damn voles) Now im trying to find a tractor that will fit my needs and my sheds door. John deere seems to be the only one that lists h/w specs for their low end models, but i still couldnt find any pull." Have you checked the other makers websites? Have you asked a dealer? I'm not sure what a pull spec is or how it could possible be measured given the variables. I'm thinking that a single magic number may not be available to answer your question. "I dont need anything massive. For heavy loads, I have an atv. But I would like to be able to aerate and dethatch/rake agressively. So theres that + 250lbs. If I cant find a pull spec, I would like to at least get some opinions on minimum hp reqd. " Minimum HP is pretty much irrelevant to answering your question. Indeed the minimum HP would not be a good idea because it would provide zero power reserve. You need a tractor that will pull certain pieces of equipment. Present you question to either a local dealer or the 800 customer phone line for a given manufacturer and ask for suggestions. "And yes, Height/Weight matters. This house has a shed under our 4 season porch. The owner wanted to be hip and made a mini entrance to it. Pretty frustrating since my toys wont fit in it, so its an official fertilizer and pest killer storage shed + mowers ;)" I'm probably not the only one who has no idea what a mini entrance is or what it measures. And a mower selesman would be similarly puzzled. I would suggest that you write down as precisely as possible what you require in physical dimensions and what kind of equipment you intend to pull. Then simply ask a few different manufacturers and salesmen for recommendations.

Hi Anja, Yes!! I have 2 or 3 decent sized seedlings growing from this cross!! They aren't about to bloom any time soon but they are growing well so maybe in a year or so? As for my Ferrari x papilio, the first flower has totally wilted so I was so encouraged that I did another and I also did a Jungle Star. This Ferrari that snuck in through the back door so to speak, is totally well rooted and has 6 strong leaves so as she was uninvited, she couldn't be more well behaved!!! I dare not get too excited about possible seeds as I know the tricks that these bulbs can play on us!! I have yet another scape just up about an inch that will come later. Three scapes, the first two with 4 flowers each and I can't even take a decent picture!!! Oh well, now I know and will always have a Ferrari in my collection!! The funny thing is that about 6 or 7 years ago I bought a Ferrari to give as a gift to a family member who had the same last name and I remember how gorgeous the flower was but she killed the bulb by cutting off the green leaves!! I asked her why in the world she cut the leaves and I guess I wasn't very nice about it and she was very annoyed so I just forgot about this bulb!! Last year was nearly a total disaster in the seed department but this year appears that it is going to be better. Jungle Star as well as La Paz also Midori no Juni have set several pods as well as a tantalizing tease of Sonatini # 1810 (striped leaves) on Exotic Star of all things that wilted the day after I put on the pollen, dare I hope!?!? I may be looking for some homes if all these pods do well, but of course I remember saying the same thing last year and nothing took but the anticipation is fun during this cold but nice (so far) winter!! Donna

Relarion, from what I've read in the forum recently, regular feeding is an excellent idea. I intend to be more generous with the fertilizer this year. As for the pups, they're supposed to grow faster if they remain attached to their "mother". Since papilio only produces two flowers per stalk, I plan to keep all pups in the same pot and hope to enjoy as many stalks as possible. By the way, I also was frustrated by the lack of precise information on the care of this species, before I discovered this forum. You'll also find interesting threads in the Bulbs forum. Enjoy, and good growing!