Question about fire and bulbs

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Thu, 12 Oct 2006 06:00:58 PDT
Hi all,

It is also my experience, although I've never made a systematic comparison, 
that fire is not needed for most South African bulbs that I've tried to grow.

In getting bulbs to flower (in pots, in my case) time and size are the two 
critical factors.  Sunshine and fertilizer are the cultural factors that 
contribute most to flowering.

When it comes to germinating seeds of South African bulbs, one of the most 
important factors is the need for temperature fluctuations between day and 
night.  The diurnal temperature cycle may be all-important, in fact.  For 
this reason I tend to germinate South African seeds either outdoors in 
spring and autumn, or in the greenhouse.  They do not germinate well 
indoors in an air-conditioned/heated house under lights, where the 
temperature variation from day to night is no more than ca. 5 Fahrenheit 
degrees, or about 2 Celsius degrees.  This does not of course apply to the 
fleshy seeds of Amaryllis Family plants like Crinum, Clivia, Haemanthus, 
Hymenocallis, etc., which are "recalcitrant" (i.e., cannot go dormant).

Jim Shields
in frosty central Indiana (USA)  where the temperature  dropped to 29°F 
(ca. -2°C) this morning.


At 10:30 AM 10/12/2006 +1000, Bill wrote:
>Mary, Brian,
>.............
>I have tried both. A  few years ago I did some tests with smoke and all of
>the species of bulbs I grow germinated and flowered quite well without any
>treatment.
>.........
>Bill Richardson,

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA



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