Seedlings are looking good

16 years ago

Hi all First post to this forum. I had about 60 Hippeastrum seeds and I split them into two groups to see how well they would start if at all, first timer with them from seed.I did a cross of Lion and something unknown. Well half of the seeds, those that were put on wet paper towels failed because of rot, those that I floated in water started without any problem, first count 15/30. Well I planted them in some soilless planting mix about 2 weeks ago and 3 more have sent down roots, I put the seed that had not started in the water in the pot also. Well today when I checked one of the seeds now has a leaf started at this time it is about 1/16 inch. I also started about 50 Amaryllis (Naked Lady) seeds about 3 weeks ago and most all have sprouted with several sending up leaves at this time, first time for these also. Life is good.

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Comments (44)

mariava7
16 years ago
Hello feighner! Welcome to the forum and to the wonderful world of Hippeastrum hybridizing. Congratulations on your seedlings. May they give you many years of enjoyment as each day will be a blessing for you and your creation. Learn from them well for they will be your best teachers. :-)
jodik_gw
16 years ago
Welcome, fieghner! And another one is bitten by the bug!

I'm a novice hippeastrum grower, myself... a few months ago I had 2 bulbs... within the next few weeks, my collection will have grown to 35 bulbs, after I receive the 2 orders I have coming! I have tiny babies, mid-sized babies, freshly planted first-timers and a few older bulbs... once all my freshly planted bulbs bloom, I'll be trying my hand at pollination. I'll also be freezing some pollen for later use.

I have two little packets of seed that a dear friend just sent me, and I'm about to try my hand at germination... I'm thinking of opting for the floating method as I've heard more good things about that type of germination. Once they sprout, I'm going for the cocopeat planting medium, a bit of cinnamon, and little clay pots. Together with the right fertilizer program, I hope to have some nice babies!

Add to all that some very detailed record keeping in a breeding program, and I think I might be busy most of the coming winter! Hopefully, everything will work out good, and I'll have some seed of my own to share, and some new babies to grow to flowering stage...

Again, welcome to the forum, feighner! I think you'll find all the information you need to be successful right here... and if you don't, just ask! Everyone here is really nice, and very helpful! I've learned so much in the past few months! And I've been able to see lots of beautiful pictures of everyones' flowers! Feel free to post photos of your seeds and seedlings... and any flowers you might have! (hint, hint!) :-)
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soultan
16 years ago
Yes, fieghner,

Welcome. Feel free to litter the forum with your pictures of your babies... We don't seem to mind.
mariava7
16 years ago
Plant your seeds Soultan. They do die...
cindeea
16 years ago
Hi There feighner! WELCOME! This is a great forum. Glad to have you join us. Congrats on your seedlings. This has been my first year pollinating and making new babies. I find it incredibly rewarding and exciting and it is so much fun coming to the forum and sharing our excitement over our plants.
soultan
16 years ago
I am. The house hassle does not help. They have prolonged the permit process, so I can still not be sure when the construction will be finished. I can easily lift my mature bulbs, but if my seedlings are in the way, I will not be able to save them. So I am thinking of planting them inside somewhere... Thinking of the mini greenhouse technique right now... This is such a difficult time right now and I so want to plant my seeds asap.
mariava7
16 years ago
Amaryllis seeds and seedlings are not as fuzzy as vegetable seeds. In fact, I find them a lot stronger than the other seedlings that I have grown in my growing conditions.

Soultan...You just have to try it! You are in CA with the right climate. You can practically plant those seeds anywhere there and they will grow. I am, right now, imagining the smile on your face, once you get to see the very first leaf that would grow from your seeds. Just like a proud daddy... :-)
soultan
16 years ago
I bought Perlite and Vermiculate, I have created the mini green house for them, but I am afraid that they will be trampled on when all those big feet workers come and start erecting the second story on our house, carrying all those equipment, dry walls, 2x4s, etc, and there is a huge hole to be dug in the middle of the lawn that will ruin the whole lawn. It will be the pool, that will have an outer wall, that will be created specifically so it becomes a retainer wall for our front yard, so it wouldn't slide down the hill. So there is so much activity will be going on soon, that I am afraid of losing my babies. That is why I am opting for the donut method. Though I have no idea where to get them without buying the donuts. :o)
jodik_gw
16 years ago
I actually saw some take-out style containers for sale at a farm store out in our area... They were in the same section as the disposable Glad fake Tupperware containers... by the Ziploc stuff, baggies and such. Check out the larger retail stores, like SuperWalmart or Miejers or Target... whatever the local large store is in your area... you might be surprised and find something to start your little seedlings in!
soultan
16 years ago
That might be it... The only thing that I go out to shop for is almost just the bulbs... Amazing how determined I am... I go to buy some food, knowing what I want, buy, go home. I go out buying bulbs, and I can spend the whole day at the garden store just checking out EACH AND EVERY amaryllis bulb... Fortunately, the bulbs are too big, so they don't check my pockets if I try to steal some away. :o)
mariava7
16 years ago
Soultan...Apparently, you don't buy take out food too! Those containers would have been free with all those "food to go!" We just bought some fried chicken the other day in the deli-department of one of the local stores. The kids liked the chicken and I liked the container that even have these handles.
soultan
16 years ago
I either go to restaurants or cook myself. I kind of hate take out or ready to eat foods. I don't even like leftovers. :o)
jodik_gw
16 years ago
I hardly ever cook now... I have 2 meal replacement shakes a day... and my handful of vitamins... but I used to save almost every container that anything came in... you never know when you'll need something in a weird shape or size!
soultan
16 years ago
I am a good cook, so I cook interesting meals. I also used to save every box and container I could, and I even saved newspaper, but I had to realize that if I move and want to keep myself mobile, I have to stop saving everything and weight myself down with material things. It is enough that I have a lot of bulbs to care for if I want to move... So in this move, I just got rid of a lot of things, and I almost considered giving up the bulbs, since most of them were just in the fridge and some of them are still in there, and the flower quality is very low now, so one advice for everyone who wants to force his or her bulbs: Don't keep the bulbs in the fridge or in cold storage for more than 6 months or so. All the bulbs (most of them at least) bloomed wonderful during the Summer, but as Fall comes, the bulbs from last fall just shrink, some rot outside, and they push out their flowers, but they are shivered and sick looking, and some of the scapes just die back and abort... Fortunately, after I plant these bulbs out, they seem to recover amazingly quick, within a few weeks. I don't expect them to flower this coming season, since they did not have time to gather energy and grow new shoots inside, but I will ge grateful for whatever they try.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
We did that, too, Soultan... got rid of a lot of things that we were hauling from place to place... things that we didn't need and probably would never use... things that we pack-ratted away in boxes, thinking that someday we might need them or would find a use for them... I would much rather have fewer things, but nicer things.

The last time we moved, I got rid of about 2 closets full of clothes that I never wear. I gave them all to a friend whom I know cannot afford to buy new clothing for herself... she was very happy, and I was happy to know that someone would get use from them.

I've been thinking of that very thing... how will it be to move all of my bulbs when we finally buy a house? I'm not that worried about moving them in nice weather, but what if it's cold? I'll have all these open bins or boxes with the leaves sticking out everywhere! The difficult part will be moving any that are blooming at the time, without breaking the flower stalks... my Minerva bulb has moved with me several times, but she's never been in bloom. I just tied her leaves together and hoped for the best... Actually, when I moved her, she sat on my lap in the car! Yes, I actually held her while we drove to the new place, just to make sure nothing happened to her!

Well... I hope all of your bulbs recover outdoors in the garden... even if they don't flower for year, at least you'll know they are happy and gathering energy to bloom again. Minerva skipped a year, but the next time she flowered, she had an extra scape! I don't mind waiting an extra year to see the lovely flowers... something that pretty is worth waiting for!
salpal
16 years ago
Jodi...I moved quite a few resting/leafless bulbs last december. I put off planting new ones and didn't leave any of them out in freezing temps but put plastic bags around them and ran them into the house. I lucked out and had a 50F day and moved all other green plants that day. You'll find a way I'm sure...
soultan
16 years ago
I put the leafed out plants in large moving boxes. I believe 4x4 plants fit in one box. The flowering ones or the ones with scapes were transported in my own car on the first passenger seat with a lot of packaging popcorn poured all around them, so they were completely covered with them Chico, for instance, bloomed for me just a few days after we moved. We were still living in a huge RV and it was on the dasboard. Poor lovely flowers.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
I'll most likely do the same... pack the pots carefully in bins or boxes, and they will all ride with me so I can keep an eye on them.

Before I even unpack a thing or set up the bed, or anything... I'll set up my mini greenhouses and grow lights and make sure all my bulbs are comfortable and taken care of! People will think I'm nuts! Hehe!

We're not even close to buying a house yet, so I have nothing to worry about... for now...
soultan
16 years ago
I will always have to buy a house with a garden. I couldn't do it without it... Toto needs a lawn and my bulbs need a bed. I'd give up collecting bulbs if I had to do it in an apartman.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
Before our house fire, I had 5 acres that I was beginning to garden... after the fire, we rented a Victorian farmhouse on 3 acres that had a nice sunroom attached to the kitchen, and a few small beds around the house that I planted.

We moved from there to do a few different jobs, and were rather mobile for a while... for instance, we set up a mattress factory in the Chicago suburbs, from empty building to start of production (Minerva was with me and sat in the office window!)... and right now, we're in an upstairs apartment that belongs to friends of ours... we work for them in exchange for the rent and utilities. I take care of the kennel, the husband takes care of maintenance. Pretty good deal, really... considering I get to have my dogs, garden outdoors all I want on 80 acres, and they supply the materials... not a bad deal.

In the meantime, property values are rising and soon we'll sell our 5 acres and use the money to buy another place outright... we would have rebuilt after the fire, but the insurance company made sure that wouldn't happen with a short check, and we had some permit problems, and couldn't afford the whole mess... it's ok, though... we've wanted to move further away from civilization! I do love living in the country!

Hopefully, by next year we'll be in our own home, and I'll have a whole new piece of acreage to garden!
soultan
16 years ago
Just make sure that you build your house fire safe... Have large lawn around it, so if you are "away from civilization," meaning in a foresty area, if there is a fire, it would have harder time to jump on the house... Almost all of the houses that burned here in California have been too close to the trees. The ones that had open areas around the house without wood fences mostly survived. I will put an outside sprinkler system on the top of the house if ever a fire would come close to us, we start watering the house down like crazy. This fire in California was kind of a wake up call.
I don't know what would I do if fire would approach our area... I would have to leave my bulbs for sure. Maybe I'd burry them under some dirt quickly. They might survive a few days burried completely.
cindeea
16 years ago
Have ya'all noticed, feighner has nothing to say. Wonder why. He made the first post then never came back.
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
Wants to say? The seedlings are coming along fine and I have little to no idea what the rest of this post is about. Almost all of the Amaryllis seeds have sprouted with a couple nearly 1 inch high now. I also started some daylilies at the same time and gave some to a friend today,a planter with 9 plants that are about 8 inches tall, they really want to grow. In a few weeks I might have an idea what peopla are talking about until then I will keep out of trouble and keep reading, thanks. I will be around, lots of information to be had here.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
My apologies, feighner... we sometimes tend to get off-subject and just talk about life in general... please feel free to join in, though!

One of the reasons I like this forum and the people here so much is the casual atmosphere... I like to know a little about the friends I'm making other than just the fact that they have bulbs!

How easy was it to start your Daylily seeds? I have some from a plant my brother gave me, and I'd like to try growing them... they're from earlier this season, so fairly fresh... they've been wrapped in a dry paper towel just sitting on my desk... do you think they'd still germinate?
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
Kobik, I started my daylily seeds in a container that had a lid with wet paper towels. Not knowing anything about how to start Amaryllis or daylilie I tried something that would show me that they did or did not start quickly. Once most of the seeds had started I moved them in to poys with potting soil that I started out dripping wet for the first couple of days and then started letting them dry out to what is now normal watering. I keep the amaryllis a little bit wetter right now and plan to do so for the next couple of weeks, I let the potting mix dry down about 1/4 inch then water. As my friends who garden say if it has a seed I will try to start it, mostly true. I have not yet tried to cut up bulbs to get more plants, each time I buy a bulb to try I bring myself to do the cutting, and I already know what the flower will look like. With seed crosses it is always something new, not always something that you keep, but new. I got started with growing seeds helping in the vegetable gardens and a friend gave my a cutting a told my to put it in the ground and water it every day, so as a 6 year old I did not believe that the cutting would work but I did as I was told and WOW it grow, I think this is where my gardening interest really started. I have started many seed over the years with the most interesting plants being orchids, talk about hurry up and wait. I can start a project such as the seeds that take many years to flower and then take great joy in the first flowerings. One of the tips for this is to start new seeds each year and once the first long term seeds start to bloom you will have new flowers year after year and it no longer seems like all you are doing is waiting for the first blooms, there are always new blooms. So as for your daylily seeds, plant them now, give them a head start on spring, I do ot know how long daylily seed will store. Orchid seed once the pod is open will only last a couple of days and water lotus,yes I have started them also, will last hunderds of years and I like to treat my seeds for everything else somewhere in between.
cindeea
16 years ago
feigner, what area, zone are you in? I love growing things from seeds. Even though I love to purchase all kinds of plants and flowers, growing from seed is so rewarding. My prize seed is an 8 foot tall Tabebuia tree I started from seed 4 years ago or so, just after we built our new home. I feel good all over when I look at this tall guy!
{{gwi:432163}}

I have a lot of Orchids, mostly Phals and Cats. I have never gotten a seed pod. That must be exciting!
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
Cideea, I am in the San Francisco Bay Area USDA zone 9, Sunset zone 14. Orchids for me are a very interesting plant family as they every where, California has 34 native orchids. Many times the hybrids that are on the market now are selfsterile and sometimes they have been hybridized to the piont of being completely sterile. Keep tring and remember to cross both ways if you have two or more plants. My family started into orchids about 1935 with my mother's father, my mother was the only child of 3 with any interest in the plants and today myself and a cousin are the only ones in the family doing any work with orchids, and as I am getting ready to move I have sold and/or given away all my plants for now. Once I find a new place I will put up a new greenhouse and restart my collection.
As for the cattleya find a florist who will teach you how to make corsages and have fun with them. I would say that one of the most interesting orchids I have had was a vanilla orchid, to get a seed pod you have only one day to fertilize the flower and they open one at a time along the vine like stem with my longest being about 25 feet. Now keep in mind that I am getting ready to move so what do I do today? I picked up some hosta seeds from a friend. I have never tried hosta from seed before so we will see and any that I get started will be given away, and I will know that it can be done. May of my friends in the area stop be in the fall as well as the spring with seeds and to see what is growing so they can "place an order" for what they want. As long as they keep coming up with the seeds I will help them with started plants, we all have fun.
cindeea
16 years ago
Thanks for the info, feighner. How does one pollinate orchids?...oh dear I see another new habit growing! I have a large vanilla orchid and it has bloomed only once when it was very small. I am going to a plant swap this weekend and one of my friends pollinates vanillas. Hopefully she will come and pass on her knowledge.
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
Cindeea, Looking at the flower of an orchid, you will see 2 pollen "packets" these will break off as a small "pill" of pollen. Looking at the center of the flower you will see a "nose", this nose is a cap over the stigma.Pick the cover off the nose and push one of the pollen packs into the sticky stagma. I use a wooden tooth pick to do this. The pollen pack will stick in place. The pollen needs to be 2 or 3 days old and the stigma is best on day one, this is not to say not to try on a 2 or 3 day flower. Okay the easy part is done, it can take up to a year for the seed to develope, after a few weeks you will have a good idea if the fertilization took. The seed pod when ripe will start to look like it has lighter colored stripes running along it, you do not what it open on its own. Find a lab that will plant the seeds for you as they have very thing needed, cost for this service is not much. Sadly my books are packed away or I wold scan some photos that would make this clearer. Now that you have an idea of what to do it may help when you see your friend and are shown how it works. It is quicker and easier to do/show than try to explain. Orchid seeds are so small that a puff of wind will send seed ALL over the place. The seed also has NO food stores like other seeds so in nature they must land in a place that has a bacteria that will help them or in a lab where the proper nutrients can be supplied. A sterile work place is very importent when starting orchid seeds.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
I, also, love growing things from seed... every year, I grow several annuals and perennials from seed. Daylilies are just one I've never tried before, so I thought I'd ask about it.

My brother is/was a landscaper... he had his own business, but closed it several years ago. Anyway... he gave me some plants from a job, one of them being a lovely reddish/mauve daylily. The plant, itself, is quite large and this year there were several seed pods. I'm assuming the bees pollinated it, since I did not! I collected some of the seed, wrapped them in a dry paper towel and they're just sitting here waiting for me to do something with them... I'm thinking I'll give them a shot... what's the worst that can happen? They refuse to germinate? Oh well... I'll try again next year if these won't grow.

This year, I grew Digitalis, Gaillardia, Columbine, Alcea, Heuchera, Lupines, Sweet William, Monarda, Baptisia, Verbena and a few other perennials that I can't remember at the moment... I also grew annual lobelia, coleus, snapdragons, asters, catmint, parsley, basil, malva, coriander and a slew of veggies, including okra, cantaloupe, watermelon, a dozen types of tomatoes, beans, pea pods... and the list goes on. And my favorite annual that I started from seed was the cup and saucer vine! That was a big "WOW" in the garden this year! The morning glories and mina lobata turned out good, too.

Next spring I'll be one more step ahead of the game... I've finally got a heat mat and a couple of mini-greenhouses for seed starting. I bought them for my Hippis, but I think I can squeeze a few flats of seedlings in there, too!
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
jodik, I have tried to get seed from my heucheras for a couple of years and have had no luck, Sterile? Did you collect your own seed or buy it? As for your daylily seeds plant them they most likely will start, that is what seeds want to do.
cindeea
16 years ago
Oh WOW feighner, that's some intense info, thanks so much! I will have to see if I can be as successful pollinating orchids as I am with amaryllis. Hmm Only have one orchid in bloom right now, I must go buy some others to play with! Thank you!

Jodi, last month I went to visit a friend and her gardens in Cape Coral, we also went to some garden centers. At Lowes, they had Profusions of Day Lilies in bloom and I showed my friend how to pollinate them much like pollinating amaryllis. There were some really lucky shoppers who took home some plants I hand pollinated for them lol
mariava7
16 years ago
OMG...Now feighner is talking..Yaaayyy!!! Thank you so much for sharing all those pollination info. I wish all of our "lurkers" would talk too. It doesn't have to be about amaryllis. We can talk about anything here in this forum. We are real people with real lives who just happen to love amaryllis.

feighner...Do you have any info on how to pollinate ths flowers of the Strongylodon Macrobotrys commonly called as the Jade Vine? My mother and I have been looking for information about this for years and could not find any.
cindeea
16 years ago
Maria, Strongylodon Macrobotrys is a must have for me. I thought I had one secured in a trade, but that went bad. What a georgous plant and flower.
mariava7
16 years ago
Cindeea...You can easily grow this in your garden. Remember the picture I posted of Em-em beside the meter long flower of Jade Vine? That particular plant has grown up a tree in the nursery and would give out up to a dozen blooms. Can you imagine all those flowers not being able to bear seeds?
cindeea
16 years ago
Oh Maria, I love that photo of Em and the jade flower. I really need to add it to my garden!
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
Mariava, WOW an interesting plant, lets give this a try. You will need a couple of tools 1) Scalpel, 2) sharp pointed forceps. You may need to cut open a couple of flowers to be able to find the parts, so lets start there.
Find the pollen and the stigma. Take a look at the tip of the stigma and you will find that there is a covering on it, this is a cuticle layer and must be opened/removed. Once this cuticle layer is opened/removed place the pollen on the stigma. some times the flower petels may need to be cut away to get to the propagating parts which is okay as they have completed their job once the flower has ben fertilized. Let me know how this one goes as I would be interested in some seed.
mariava7
16 years ago
Well, that sounded easy... I think I can do that BUT first go home to the Philippines...LOL! You see feighner, that vine is currently grown in our nursery in the Philippines. It is now managed by my mother. I will call her and tell her your instructions. If it succeeds, I will send you all Jade Vine seeds. If I remember right, my mother said that the Jade Vine seeds were more or less as big as a golfball.

Here's that picture again...Em-em and the Jade Vine Flower

{{gwi:381518}}
soultan
16 years ago
One seed is as big as a golf ball?

Did I mention to you guys, that I live right across from an orchid lady who has won several awards, has been to exotic places to bring back new species and has three green houses up on the hill side full of orchids? Too bad that she is older now, so she is not really using the two placed higher on the hill side. She is an orchid expert.
She offered me to use her green houses for the amarylli, but that would be such a hassle, since there is no acces to them from our property, so I would have to walk through her yard and house most of the time. Nice thought though.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
Maria - As always, a wonderful shot of your beautiful daughter! The flower is nice, too! And so huge! Golf ball seeds?! Wow! How big of a pot is the mother plant in?! Or is it planted another way?

Orchids are one plant type that I've never tried, although I'm very tempted to get one when I see them at the home center stores! From what I've read, there are a few varieties that are relatively easy to grow, and don't require too much in the way of special treatment! As delicate as they look, I've always been a little scared of getting one, and then killing it! You all have such nice ones... I might have to get one now that I have the mini-greenhouses!

Feighner - I usually just buy the seed packets for all my perennials, including the Heuchera. This last season, I had such good luck starting perennials from seed that next spring, I'm going to try even more varieties! I have a much better seed-starting environment now, with the heat mat and the mini-greenhouses and grow lights... would you believe that all my seeds for this season were started in 72 cell-pack flats sitting outside on a concrete slab in front of an east-facing garage?! I had really good germination rates, too! Go figure!

Well... since I have seen pictures of everyone's lovely orchids, and I know that there are varieties that I could successfully grow... I've added "orchids" to my plant wish list! You guys are going to get me in trouble, making me want all these awesome plants! :-)
cindeea
16 years ago
Oh Jodi, I will get you started on some orchids, m'dear. Keep in mind they are more addictive than amaryllis!! I feel a package coming your way. Epidendrums are so very easy to start with, so I will send you Epidendrum radicans (orange flower) Epi Ballerina Fireball (orange/red with yellow beard) and Epi Ciliare(White and stunning). These are all ground orchids and do well in potting soil with perlite. Dang it girl, we are gonna turn you into an all around gardener!! You have a grow house or green house right?
feighner
Original Author
16 years ago
Jodi, I may have to check better for the Heuchera seeds. As cindea states about the orchids, they really are easy and the one she has listed are some of the easiest to grow, remember NOT to OVERWATER them, that is how most people kill off their orchid collections. If you have the room I would get a Cymbidium as there is almost no way to fail with them. Protect from frost and outdoors the rest of the time with morning and/or late afternoon sun, when it starts to bloom (Yes it will want to bloom) bring it inside for the next 4-6 weeks.
EARTHQUACK FELLS LIKE A BIG ONE, lasted about 20-30 seconds!!!!!!!!!!! What a RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!
Jodi when you send the orchids to cindeea include watering fertilizing instructions.
mariava7
16 years ago
Jodi...Thanks honey. I think both Em-em and the flower look so EXOTIC in that pic. That vine is planted in the ground and was 1 1/2 years old when the pic was taken.
jodik_gw
16 years ago
Cindee - You are just too much! I can't thank you enough for helping me on my way to having the largest indoor plant collection in the northern hemisphere! I better get my butt in gear and start those ID plant stakes I want to make! I want to include them in my return package to you! I would love an orchid or two... thank you so much! And yes, I have 4 mini-greenhouses that I'm setting up indoors. One is for my Hippis, and the others will be for seed starting and other plants that can benefit from that environment. The only thing I need to get is the right grow lights with the proper light spectrum.

Maria - I can't get over how huge that bract of flowers is in comparison to Em-em standing next to it! And the plant is so young! Exotic describes both the orchid and Em-em perfectly... That would make a nice framed photo!

Feighner - If you can't find Heuchera seeds locally in the spring when stores put up their racks of seeds, try Thompson & Morgan Seed. They have an awesome seed selection! The link is below... check out their website! I haven't tried to collect seeds from my Heucheras... I have several Palace Purples, a Creme Brulee and a Chocolate something or other! The new varieties are just gorgeous, and I want to get a few more next year. The ones I grew from seed were just plain old fashioned Coral Bells, which are also nice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thompson & Morgan Seeds

Seedlings are looking good

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