Lycoris and Rain

Lycoris and Rain
diana chapman (Tue, 16 Aug 2005 11:00:40 PDT)

Hi Arnold:

I have posted this before, so apologies to those who remember it.

I moved my Lycoris from the hot interior of California to the cool coast a
few years ago. The temperatures they left were in excess of 100F, and they
came here to temperatures of about 60F or less. I stored them in a garage,
since they were dormant, returning two weeks later to find the most amazing
mass blooming I have ever seen, especially of L. radiata. The flowers were
a bit pallid, since they had no light, but were lovely nonetheless. This
would seem to indicate that it was the temperature drop - in this case quite
a significant one.

Diana
Telos Rare Bulbs
----- Original Message -----
From: "arnold trachtenberg" <arnold@nj.rr.com>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 10:36 AM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Lycoris and Rain

John:
You have touched on a favorite topic of mine, what triggers a bulb to
put forth a flower at a specific time of year.

Is it the availability of water as in spring rains, drop in temperature
as you have mentioned for lycoris or changes in light intensity or
duration. I have some cyclamen hederifolium flowering that have been
sitting out side on a stone wall. I put my boophone disticha in the
basement under lights for the winter and with out changes in water,
light duration it almost always comes into growth in early March.

I imagine there are chemical triggers that are in place that are
responsible for the flower initiation.

Any thoughts out there?

Arnold
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