Rain lily stories

Kelly Irvin bulbmeister@bulbmeister.com
Sun, 27 Jul 2003 07:38:26 PDT
Mary Sue:

I don't have my potted rain lilies in a climate controlled greenhouse like I reported about in IBS a few years ago, but I had excellent success inducing bloom under those controlled conditions, unrelated to barometric pressure changes.

I'm basing this on my faulty memory, but I think it is correct. First, conditions still got into the 90's during the day in the greenhouse and a whitewash was covering the greenhouse providing some reduction in light intensity. Also, every watering involved a mild feeding using Peter's 20-20-20 through siphon injection.

Rain lilies would be kept watered well for 3-4 weeks at a time, then water was completely withheld for 2 full weeks. A couple days after the return to watering, bloom would be induced on the rain lilies I was growing; Zephyranthes drummondii, Z. grandiflora, and Habranthus tubispathus v. texanus. Now, these particular species are fairly easy to induce bloom, but not all the rain lilies will respond so readily, since their bloom window seems to also correspond to a specific part of the season. My Z. candida might put up a bloom or two during the summer, but they are saving up for one grand display at the end of summer. I think other species might only have a one to two month window of opportunity for bloom during the growing season.


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