Hybridizing Crinums
J.E. Shields (Sat, 09 Aug 2003 09:03:03 PDT)

Hi all,

I just planted some tiny crinum seeds, not as big as baby spring
peas: [bulbispermum X graminicola]. This is a repeat of one done a year
ago, which also gave somewhat small seeds. Those seedlings are growing
very slowly compared to, for instance, [bulbispermum X lugardiae] or
[bulbispermum X macowanii]. I wonder if they will ever reach bloom size?

Crinum graminicola is reblooming in containers, and so far I have not
gotten any of the three bulbs to set a seed. I'll try cross-pollinating
between the graminicola plants this time.

I have a very few seedlings, maybe 3, of [lugardiae X macowanii]. I got a
few more seeds of this cross again this summer. Most do not germinate. I
hope the lugardiae will reduce the size of the resulting hybrids somewhat,
and increase the floriferousness. The C. lugardiae I have at blooming size
produce three scapes each, and one just produced its fourth of the season.

Crinum variabile is listed as one species that sometimes produces offsets,
and a couple of my bulbs of variabile are indeed offsetting. I hope to be
able to propagate these by offsets, rather than having to go through
seed. I think the pollinations I did of bulbispermum pollen on variabile
are going to produce a few seed pods (actually "berries" I think).

If we have another decent winter, perhaps my seedling bulbs
of [bulbispermum X lugardiae] growing out in the field will start to
flower next summer. Those in pots are much smaller than their siblings in
the field.

Pictures are at http://shieldsgardens.com/amaryllids/Crinum.html/ and
links therefrom, as well as at pages linked from
http://shieldsgardens.com/Bulbs/…

Regards,
Jim

*************************************************
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
Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP