Dear All, I promised you I would tell you a little of what I learned from Gordon Summerfield, an expert grower of South African bulbs from his talk (Creating the Right Environment and Conditions for Growing Bulbous Plants) and my several conversations with him. So here is my attempt. Gordon took up growing bulbs seriously after he retired, but he told us he had been growing for 15 years. Many of the things he had read in books didn't turn out to work well for him. He now grows with what he calls a common sense approach. And he spends a lot of time looking at his plants, pollinating them, collecting seed, cleaning seed, putting information on his data base, etc. He says he has never been so busy in his life! He also plays golf, but most of his energy goes into managing his collection. I seem to recall the figure of 3000 pots. He grows a lot of different species, but they are mostly from the winter rainfall area. He seems to have a fondness for Gladiolus, Romulea, and Lachenalia although we saw many others in bloom as well. Along with three other IBSA friends (Berger van Eeden, Rossouw Malherbe, and Henry Pauw) Gordon drives his four wheel drive out into the Veld to search for plants. They make friends with farmers, get permission to go exploring on their property, and then when the flowers are closed stop for tea and conversation. They have found many an unusual plant or form this way and Gordon has the reputation for being a good spotter and for remembering where they saw plants when they come back to collect seed. So some of the things he grows were collected from their travels. Gordon also sells his bulbs and seed that he has saved from his plants. Here is a picture my husband took of Gordon and Bob Werra the night of the IBSA dinner. Gordon is the one pointing his finger. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/… First he suggests (and this we have talked about a lot on this list) that you try to duplicate the natural growing conditions of the bulb. To do this you need to know about where they grow. Mix and Watering: Gordon uses a mix of about 1/2 good potting mix and 1/2 grainy sand. He used to try other things but found that his plants benefited from the added nutrients in the potting mix. The grainy sand, and we are talking coarse sand, helps with drainage (translated air filled porosity). Many of the winter rainfall bulbs like acidic soil, but not all so again it is helpful to know where they grow. Freesia leichtlinii grows in limestone for instance. Summer rainfall bulbs often need a higher PH so adding lime to your mix may be helpful. He feels that there is a myth about plants rotting from too much water. If your soil mix is correct, you cannot over water he says. It is much worse to let your plants dry out too much. In spite of saying you can't overwater, he does believe that leaves may need protection, especially from the early morning dews. He found this to be especially true for Lachenalias, Romuleas, and Gladiolus. So he grows many of these under cover of a high roof with open sides. Here is a picture that shows his pots and the structure: http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/… Both he and Alan Horstmann told me a lot of Romuleas grow in very wet spots and you couldn't give them too much water. Species he mentioned were komsbergensis, tortulosa, atrandra, diversiformis, stellata. Plants like Daubenya and Massonia need good light however. Good light, but protection from the dew will reduce crown rot and fungal diseases. Watering from the bottom will help as well. (Just a note--The thought of watering all those pots Gordon has from the bottom was mind boggling. He didn't seem to be doing it for very many, so perhaps he had learned which ones were crucial to water this way.) He advised me that some of the Lachenalias from very dry habitats that I have successfully killed should be watered from below. As for summer water during dormancy he thought corms did not need it, but bulbs with perennial roots would. If his plants have not started growing by April 15th he gives them a good soaking. Gordon advises a southeast facing aspect (that must translate to northwest in the Northern hemisphere?). The late sun is harsher and harder on your plants. Some plants open facing south and never turn around so you need to site them accordingly. One very interesting point that I don't think I'd heard stressed before was how deep to plant. He advised to observe in nature how deep the bulb grows. Most of us can't do that, but we can see when we repot where the bulbs are. If you plant at the wrong depth, the plant won't flower until it is at the correct depth. So if every year you repot and change where they want to be you may never get them to bloom. If they are planted too deep you may lose them because they won't grow well enough to survive over time. It is best therefore to err on planting too shallowly. You won't lose the plants; they may just wait to bloom until they have pulled themselves down to a more comfortable level. When you have as many pots as Gordon does there is no way you can repot every year. He has discovered which plants need repotting and which do not. Otherwise I think he observes during the growing season to decide which to repot the following season. I had asked him over dinner about why the Cape Encyclopedia advises not disturbing Lapeirousias. I have not had good luck with them and have been repotting them most years so wondered if that was why. He said they liked to be planted deeply (which was news to me since most are not very big). Bulbs with a flat bottom like Lapeirousias are best planted at a 40 degree angle as it is easier for their roots to go down in that position. Words on Moraea--a lot prefer not to be repotted. Exception is gigandra which produces a lot of corms from stolons. Fertilizing--He believes that it is a myth that South African bulbs should not be fed. He advised avoiding super phosphates which he says many of the bulbs hate and feels bone meal has no value at all. Also he doesn't think foliar feeding is helpful. Here is his formula for feeding: Magnesium sulfate--If leaves are yellow or the tips brown need this Ammonium sulfate--Provides nitrogen. He says contrary to opinion bulbs need nitrogen Potassium sulfate--Helps the new leaves, if they are purplish they need this Kelp--This helps with formation of the bulb for the next season. He adds 1 Tablespoon to a gallon of water in the middle of the growing season. Both he and Henry Pauw add small amounts of these and dissolve them in water instead of mixing them in the soil. My notes mention problems with mealy bugs, aphids, red spider mites so these beasties seem world wide. He told us to cut down the incidence of rust by treating the soil, but I didn't note how. As for plants that look sickly, he would not toss them out without first trying to help them by adjusting the watering schedule or feeding them. They may just be stressed and not have the nutrients or trace elements they need. The first day we saw Gordon he told us he had been out pollinating. That was surprising since it was pouring rain. But he said it was a good day to pollinate (obviously a lot of flowers would be closed, but things like Lachenalia which he has a lot of and which are under cover would be open.) The pollinators would not be out and he could accumulate pollen before they got it. Gordon is very careful to avoid hybridizing his seed so he wants to be the one to pollinate his flowers. He takes barbecue sticks and wraps them himself with cotton and dabs them with glycerine. Others might use cotton bobs but he likes the different widths he can get by making his own and that these sticks are longer and easier to place in the pots. He collects the pollen on the stick and then places that stick in the pot with those plants he has gathered pollen from. Then on the next warm day he can go back and pollinate the flowers. If he ends up with hybrids (something perhaps that comes up in a pot), he doesn't throw them out, but puts them in his garden to enjoy. He just doesn't want to sell bulbs or seed unless he can be sure they are what they are supposed to be. The picture below was taken that day in the rain when Lauw de Jager, Patty Colville, and I are looking at his flowering bulbs under the cover. He has on the blue coat. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/… Gordon has found that bulbs that are rescued and therefore dug and without soil and out of water or bulbs that may get inadvertently knocked over by animals that you later find lying on the ground can be transplanted without any shock if you treat them by soaking them in ordinary water for 24-36 hours before you replant them. It is the roots you need to hydrate. You keep the leaves dry and the bulbs and corms out of water although this is not so crucial with corms which can tolerate being wet. Once they are replanted water them well and leave them. Do not cut off the foliage. If the plant has already lost its leaves, it can be stored dry. Seed Advice--I have not always been able to get good germination from Spiloxene so I asked about it. It had seeded itself about in his pots so obviously it shouldn't be hard to grow. I mentioned in another email that Gordon has an amazing collection of different forms of Spiloxene capensis. One of these days I'll get pictures of them on the wiki I hope. He suggested I sow the seed (which is tiny) uncovered without sand or grit and then cover the pot with plastic wrap to maintain the moisture. Water from below so as not to disturb the seed. When the leaves start to emerge you can anchor the seed with a little sand. The same procedure can be used for other tiny seeds like Ornithogalum. He advised patience and leaving some of the small ones in the same pot for a long time. This final picture shows the room that Gordon has managed to talk his wife into letting him have to manage the business and store his seed. He has not only written the name of the plants but the place where the original seed was collected and he is keeping seed of the same species therefore separated. That's me behind him smiling when I saw all those containers of seed. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/… Hopefully some of you will find this interesting and helpful. Others may disagree with some of his findings. This is what works for him. Hopefully I'll be corrected if I got any of this confused. Lauw tried very hard to persuade Gordon to join this forum, but I could see that he wasn't going to succeed. Gordon doesn't feel he has time. He did say he'd answer questions if anyone had them and we could send them through his daughter. Lauw volunteered to be the contact person for the group. A very wonderful quality about Gordon is that he really does want people to be successful growing bulbs and he is willing to share all his secrets. Sometimes experts keep their secrets to themselves. And he says he wants to know if people have success with his seeds or not. If they don't have success, there has to be a reason and he is eager to change this. Mary Sue
