Germination & Bulbs, Stenomesson from seed

Lee Poulsen wpoulsen@pacbell.net
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 23:39:05 PST
> On Feb 12, 2017, at 9:19 PM, Bruce Schroder <bruceandjill.schroder@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have not grown Stenomesson sp from seed before but have grown a number of
> other South American west coast species, particularly Chilean Rhodophiala.
> I assume some Rhodophiala sp extend their domain into Peru.  

The climate of Peru is not the same as for most of Chile, and I’m pretty sure there are no Chilean type summer-dormant Rhodophiala in Peru (and possibly no Rhodophiala species at all). There are Hippeastrum species in Peru, however. And I believe they’re all, or mostly all, summer growers.

If you check the climate charts for Cuzco, up in the Andes (see <https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Ra…> or <https://en.climate-data.org/location/1016/>), you’ll see that it’s a pretty typical, non-mediterranean, summer-rain, winter-dry climate. I think most Stenomessons grow in various parts of the Andes, some drier than others, but a quick check of different Andean locations shows they have annual rainfall/temperature patterns similar to Cuzco’s even if they get less total annual rain.

Lima, down at the coast, is different, and kind of weird. Lima gets almost no rain on average. But the small amount of rain it does get seems to fall into 2 separate periods: A larger amount during the winter months, and a smaller amount during the summer months. we’re talking only mm of rain (see for example, <http://limaeasy.com/lima-info/…> or <https://en.climate-data.org/location/1014/>).
Maybe this is why bulbs native to the coastal regions of Peru (such as Ismene amancaes and the winter-growing variant of Paramongaia weberbaueri) can so easily be grown in mediterranean climates like California’s—because the annual rainfall/temperature pattern kind of mimics the mediterranean pattern to some extent.

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a
Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m

_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/


More information about the pbs mailing list