PBS Forum

HI Peter and Rick,

Thanks for the response this is exactly the discussion I was hoping to have since it makes me think deeper about the way I'm doing things and incorporating others knowledge into the equation always leads to better results.

In response to Rick's question about pH, absolutely I do believe the pH effects the availability of the listed micro nutrients, the chart most gardeners are familiar with illustrates that:


 I do fertilize with a liquid feed regularly during the growing season, so I'm supplying the necessary micronutrients regardless of the pH. Lately I've been using a Peters Dark weather 15-0-15 Ca/Mg with micros. This has been the best fertilizer I have found for winter growing bulbs. Later in the season when things warm I switch to a bloom based fertilizer, honestly I mostly use whatever is on sale at the time, but do often use peters 15-5-15 Ca/Mg as well, usually starting in April and going up until the bulbs are starting to senesce.

Peter, I do agree the Salt level is high and I probably should be more concerned about it, but I haven't seen any issues with it and my guess is that it's related to the use of mychorrizae in the soil which I add as a granular to bulb batches and have also been experimenting with a Water soluble VAM product. Check out this interesting article:
VAM and Salt Tolerance in Plants

Honestly the reason I use the cow manure is out of pure necessity. I don't trust our local yard debris compost, I have had so many issues with it containing herbicide residues that I don't risk using it in soil mixes anymore. I've tried several different suppliers over the years here and only one can regularly pass the cucumber assay test but it's far to coarse to use for bulbs and would require so much screening (something I just don't have time for). The Sandy Loam topsoil is an always changing product, but the composted cow manure has a pretty good consistency to it so that I can count on some level of standard drainage/soil moisture holding capacity.

When I first started into bulb growing under the tutelage of Jane McGary as a mentor, I watched her screen Alder leaf mould from her woodland in Estacada as an addition to her soil mix. I'm sure she has written about that over the years and you could find it in the archives here. I used to go and screen oak leaf mould, as that is what I had access to,  by using a garbage can with a 1/4 hardware cloth frame over it and shred it until it was a pretty fine product. That gave me some of the best bulbs I ever grew. Unfortunately as my time is so limited and the nursery expanded It's simply not economical to go and shred oak leaf mould.

The soil mix I'm currently using works for a wide range of species, is fairly cheap and available. As a grower I'm totally open to suggestions and would love to hear more about what works for others as well!

Thanks,

Mark

Hi All,

I've been enjoying the discussion on the forum on Fertilization of bulbs in cool soils on the thread and forum. I thought I might put this little ditty up up on Soil Fertility as it might augment the discussion.

For years for my commercial bulb production mix I have used a mix of:
1 part Pumice
1 part composted cow manure (a local product sold in bulk called Moo Doo, from local dairy use)

I usually get these in separate parts and mix them together blending a bit more pumice for very dry loving species and a bit more composted cow manure for anything that wants to hold a bit more moisture. Nothing scientific about the additions, just based on some years of growing different species and seeing the response.

With some increasingly hot and dry summer weather, as well as a longer dry spell between rainfall here in the Northwest, a few years ago I started to add in a sandy loam topsoil to hold a bit more moisture (mostly for the dry season) so the mix is now generally:

1 part Pumice
1 part Composted Cow Manure (CCM)
1 part sandy loam topsoil

I have liked the results of this mix and I apply the same logic above with blending a bit more pumice for some things and a bit more CCM and sandy loam topsoil for a bit better moisture retention when necessary.

A few years ago I was working a day job at our County level Soil and Water Conservation District and was advising farmers on the importance of soil testing to better manage fertilizer applications to avoid excess nitrogen runoff into local streams. It occurred to me that I hadn't had my revised mix tested and had been following my general fertilizer regime of using a bloom based Cal/Mag water soluble fertilizer. So I actually bucked the old adage "Do as I say not as I do" and had my bulb mix tested.

Here are the results:

[url="https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3096;type=preview;file"]bulb mix soil test.pdf[/url]

I have been having good results with this mix and the test results were a bit eye opening when I actually had it looked at by a lab. I had always assumed I had a pretty high nitrogen source with the composted cow manure and that wasn't actually the case. The pH is maybe a bit high, but honestly the Calcium level was great and most of the macro and minors are in good numbers for most bulbs. I've always thought the sodium level was going to be a problem, but I had already been using this mix for several growing seasons by the time I decided to have it tested and have never seen any issues with salt toxicity.

I talked a bit about the fertilizer regime I now use on the email thread, but I think this is a good follow up to that discussion that it can be really beneficial to have your soil tested so you know what base levels you are starting with. The last few years the ag community has seen fertilizer prices double and even triple, so it can be quite beneficial to have your soil mix tested and tweak the fertilizer usage from there to save some money. I had my garden bed soils tested at the same time as the bulb mix and I think I paid less than $100 for both samples. You can often shop around and find cheaper options if you have multiple soil labs in your area. Collecting and sending a sample in is easy and they will give you instructions on exactly what to do.

Hopefully this may be helpful to someone,

All the best,

Mark Akimoff

Hi Paul, 

One nursery in Oregon has offered L. washingtonianum before  but it before but it looks to be unavailable on the current list, https://www.sevenoaksnativenursery.com/native-plants/perennials-and-bulbs/lilium-washingtonianum/

My guess they are selling seedlings, it does germinate readily here but the bulbs never seem to gain any size at my low elevation, 620'. 

Here is a pic of it in the Oregon Cascades, only an hours drive from my house, and a 20 minute hike to see wonderful populations of it. The fragrance is powerful on warm sunny days in the mountains, it's such a great plant but so hard to grow! I'll plan to make a trip up to this spot to get some seeds for an exchange this season. Maybe someone will unlock the secret. 

Mark

Thanks Uli!

I'm going to give the microwave idea a try and also have some gibberellic acid coming to give that a shot as well. I'll report back any findings.

Mark

Along these lines, has anyone on here played with Gibberellic Acid to overcome self incompatibility? I've been meaning to try some for dormant seeds, just wondered if anyone has experience with it in the pollinating game?

Thanks,

Mark

Thanks Carlos, DM sent. This plant has quite a few flowers on it so I have a little time, even if I could get some and potentially freeze it for next year it's worth a try! I need to get seed on this. 

Uli, I'll look up massonia!

Thanks,

Mark

Hello, 

Does anyone grow Asphodelus acaulis that sets seed? I have a division that is flowering nicely originally from Jane McGary. It doesn't set seed, despite a few attempts at hand pollination, even resorting to a cut stump treatment of the style. The clone I have seems to dehisce very little pollen, as if it never matures. 

If anyone has a flowering specimen and is willing to send some pollen I have bulbs to trade!

Mark Akimoff
illahe rare plants
Salem, Oregon

HI Robin, 

For what it's worth, I sometimes use a vitamin b plant shock reducer in a bucket of water when dividing matted roots of plants. I'll soak them in the solution for a few minutes and then try teasing them apart in the solution. I think it helps a bit with transplant shock. 

If you slice it you might consider applying a fungicide to the cut area, I used to use a product called actinovate to treat bulbs that I was slicing for propagation. It's not cheap as none of the new generation of biofungicide products are, but a little does go a long ways. 

I hope you get those going in quantity! You never see them for sale! I bought a gallon size plant for $20 this past year at California Flora nursery and am so happy to see it just emerging now. 

All the best, 

Mark

Hi All, 

I have been on a multiple year mission to grow saffron here in Western Oregon. I ran across this article some research I was doing:  Mychorrizae effects on saffron production   it shows a lot of benefits to adding arbuscular mychorrizae fungi to saffron. One of the most interesting takeaways was how it increased bulb offsetting. 

I have been a longtime fan of mychorrizae in soil mixes and even did quite a bit of experimenting with substituting it for rooting hormone in some difficult alpine plants with good success. 

I'm wondering if any of the growers on here have results from using mychorrizae they would like to share, I'm particularly interested in water soluble applications, as I have mostly done soil granular incorporations at this point.

Any genera it worked on, or didn't work on as well? 

Brands of choice? 

Other scholarly articles related to mychorrhizae and bulb production worth sharing?

All the best, 

Mark Akimoff

Thanks Carlos! Sounds like we need to get Dimitri on the forum with his knowlege of Colchicum. I'll make some notes to correct this species name. 

all the best, 

Mark

Thanks All, 

This is interesting and helpful. The botanical nomenclature world can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially for a nursery professional trying to keep up with names and get product out to customers without causing confusion. 

It makes sense to go with the latest revisions for sure, but as a grower, I sure wish they would keep it simple, like a Colchicum from the Zangezur Mountains is named Colchicum zangezurum. 

Hello All, 

I have a dainty little bloom opening now in the bulb house for the first time, It was from Vlastimil Pilous seed sown in 2019. This is the description that the seed came as: Colchicum zangezurum (Zangezur Mts., Armenia), spring. fls., very rare, dwarf.

Internet doesn't turn up much on this species, but does have this to say under Colchcicum freynii:

Homotypic Synonyms

• Colchicum stevenii var. vernale Bornm. in Bull. Herb. Boissier, sér. 2, 8: 728 (1908)
• Colchicum szovitsii var. freynii (Bornm.) Stef. in Sborn. B'lghar. Akad. Nauk 22: 26 (1926), nom. superfl.

Heterotypic Synonyms

• Colchicum zangezurum Grossh. in Fl. Kavkaza 1: 191 (1928)

Can anyone explain the difference between a Heterotypic synonym and a Homotypic synonym? The recently published Colchicum guide lists C. zangezurum as a synonym of C. freynii and what I'm really wondering is when you get wild collected seed from a reputable source do you use the name you got it under or revert to the newest names. I keep thinking that the floras of the local area which I assume the local collector used, may do a better job of guiding folks in the future versus constant revisioning. 

Best, 

Mark

Hi folks, 

I was cleaning out the bulb bins after the sales season and I thought I would share this picture of Fritillaria striata. These have been stored in a paper bag in well pump house since the end of July. I've found the pump house to be an ideal storage area for summer lifted bulbs. The pressure tank in the well house is 180 gallons, and filled with water pumped out of the ground at 270' deep so the large tank of cool water keeps the building relatively cool. The humidity can be controlled by keeping a flat of moist potting soil in the shed and these bulbs were stored without barely moist vermiculite which I often do for bulbs that are more prone to drying out. 

Mark

Hi All,

Just a note to let folks know the summer bulb availability list is online now, we ship dormant bulbs all over the world. Some great new Erythronium introductions are available this year.  I have also expanded into alpine and rock garden plants for folks interested in those.

You can see the catalog at www.illaherareplants.com


Thanks,

Mark Akimoff
PBS member
Illahe Rare Plants
Salem, Oregon

The new catalog of bulbs and alpine rock garden plants is online now, I have a few species of Triteleia available. You can see the catalog at www.illaherareplants.com

All the best, 

Mark Akimoff
PBS member
Salem, Oregon