Cyrtanthus (montanus x elatus)?

Ken K ellipsis@concentric.net
Fri, 22 Nov 2002 20:05:36 PST
Mary Sue, Jim, and all,

I have a bulb labeled Cyrtanthus (montanus x elatus) which I bought
from Jim Duggan in the spring of 2001. That year it bloomed midsummer,
on a very short stalk - so short, in fact, that if the plant had not
been in a pot, the flowers would have been lying on the ground. This
year it bloomed once during the early summer on a short scape, and is
blooming again right now on a 14" scape. Here is a link to a photo of
the current scape. 

http//http://concentric.net/~ellipsis/Plants/…

Jim, does this appear to be the same plant you have? Do you know the
hybridizer? It is slightly less saturated in color (more orange, less
red) than the picture shows. I have never set a seed on it, although
my only attempts were using its own pollen.

The bulb is almost evergreen here if I remember correctly, and I leave
it out in the elements year-round, where it receives full sun and a
wet winter. In the summer, I feed it regularly with an organic liquid
fertilizer (12-6-6) at half-strength.

It was in a 1-gallon nursery container, then I moved it up to a
2-gallon early this spring, separately potting a few offsets. A few
weeks ago I noticed that the largest of the offsets had lost its
leaves, and when I investigated, I found a B-B sized hole in the basal
plate. I sliced the bulb in half vertically, and discovered that the
heart had been consumed by a large white grub. I put the rooted basal
plate and the bulb scales that were still attached to it (all dusted
with Captan) in a pot, where I hope to generate a few more offsets. I
put the other half of the bulb's scales against the glass of a quart
Mason jar of potting mix with a screen top, adding the grub, creating
my very own Narcissus Bulb Fly Farm. This is not the first time a Bulb
Fly larvae has attacked an Amaryllid here. I lost a Cyrtanthus elatus
and a Stenomesson variegatum within the last three years.

Ken Kehl
East S.F. Bay Area, Ca.
USDA Zone 9
-2°C to 38°C



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