Pkapeck, the term "soil pH" actually means the final, equilibrium, pH of a sample of water which is in contact with the soil. A soil laboratory determines soil pH by mixing a volume of soil with, typically, a double volume of pure water and stirring the mixture until a steady value for the water's pH is obtained. My comments in the post above assumed this situation. The Kelway meter, on the other hand, is used by sticking a probe directly into the soil. The pH is derived from a relationship between a voltage difference between two differents metals on the probe and the soil pH. I suspect that if you add either dry cigarette ashes or dry lime to the soil and then use the kelway, neither the ashes nor the lime will have any effect at all on the pH reading. I'm curious, why don't you stick the Kelway probe into pure powdered lime and see what reading you get?

I have finally discovered, at least for my environmental conditions, how to make them flower. H.papilio is particularly closely related with H.aulicum. My clone of H.aulicum v.robustum always flowers, reliably (that is, without needs for special treatments) several weeks AFTER the bulk of new leaves (generally 6) have emerged. For this amaryllis, it is generally May-June and the one or two (first) flower spikes appear in July-August. Now, H.papilio (and at least the ever-green clone we are certainly talking about, which is distributed worldwide (has the broadest flower segments) behaves principally in the same manner. The difference is that the bulk of leaves (I repeat: Here, in Germany, at the windowsill) emerges much later (upto 11 leaves!) - towards October. The flower spikes poke out in November-December. But, and that is what I particularly detected - the bulbs refuse flower production if tmperatures are lower. This season I applied maximum heat from below (via central heating body) reaching a substrate temperature of approx. 80°F day-and-night - and I was rewarded with a much higher number of scapes than ever obtained before. As to pot cultivation of H.papilio - beware of overwatering. I apply water but from below, and I control strictly that there never remains water in the square XXL-saucers.

An update on General Pumice Products: I ordered 15 lbs of 3/16 pumice from them and received it yesterday- well within the promised timeframe. It was completely dry, so I sifted some to get a feel for it. There was dust, but less than I expected, and I didn't even bother sifting for fines- there was no need. I elected to rinse some to get a feel for overall weight. A very small fraction floated, which is perfect for my needs. The color is a light grey, a few pieces are a bit brownish- much less jarring than perlite to be sure. The photos from below were taken after I poured the pumice into a orange bucket- the substrate doesn't have the strong reddish tinge outside that influence. The packaging was a very sturdy plastic bag inside a large flat-rate box. I didn't weigh the package, but it was completely packed and the volume was what I was expecting. It looked as though the post office was less than gentle with the shipping, but there were no holes visible in the plastic bag or dust seepage from the package. So- I've got some elephant bush cuttings that I'm going to pot in a mix of DE and pumice- I've not used pumice before, so I thought I'd try it out with something I've had a lot of experience with. Overall- even if pumice is not something I'll use in the future, I'm happy with General Pumice Products.

Bump. Also, does anyone know any good sources for H. moscheutos in bulk (probably looking for about a quarter lb of seed, preferably the native phenotype, but the hybrids will work as well.