Lycoris & Drought Part 2
James Waddick (Tue, 19 Aug 2003 11:00:20 PDT)

Dear All;
A quick count tallied almost 200 bloom stalks on various
Lycoris, but a disappointment. Many plants that had multiple stalks
last year had only 1 or 2 this year. Others (as reported earlier )
were very dwarf (4 inches tall instead of 30 inches). Thee comprise
only a few of the early species and hybrids.
A batch of 25 L squamigera sported 3 stalks where last year
there were 10 x this many. L. longituba is about 1/5 of its last
years' stalks. Only a few spots are looking good. 2 dozen stalks of
L. sprengeria are a showy clump and a dozen L. incarnata have impact,
but both of these are in well watered places, the majority have had
far less than 1/2 inch of rain over the last 2 months.
I just started to water a bed with about 75 bulbs of various
species and stalks have quickly begun to show compared to other beds
of the same species with NO stalks up yet.
With essentially no rain and definitely no deep rain and
temps still skirting above 100 F (104 F today) the season will be
considerably worse than last year.
There are many more species and hybrids to come. Should we
ever get rain (and cooler temps) I'd hope to see considerably more
bloom stalks in my future.

This is perhaps an extreme test, but I am very curious to see
the results of a good heavy rain on stalk production. First it must
rain, won't it?

Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
E-fax 419-781-8594

Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +