Lycoris and Rain - A theory
Kelly Irvin (Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:18:48 PDT)

Jim:

Theories are fun. Sometimes they lead to conclusions. Other times, they
lead to more theories. I was really worried this spring when my
spring-foliage Lycoris leaves were dessimated, for the most part, by a
very late, very hard freeze, after 4-5 weeks of very spring-like
weather. Still, bloom came for my L. squamigera, L. sanguinea, L.
longituba, and L. sprengeri in that order. I shouldn't really count L.
sanguinea as only 3-4 stalks arose out of a potential of hundreds. On
the others, the show was not all that spectacular, but stalks were
normal sized, I believe, because we had adequate moisture through the
spring.

Enter chapter two, and a theory, not my own, but one I am considering.
Through Friday, we had experienced about 18 straight days without rain
and temperatures over 90°F, up to 104°F during that whole period. Enter
Saturday, and we get .5-.75 inch of rain spread throughout the day and
Sunday. I go out this morning and a number of new L. longituba and L.
sprengeri are poking up new stalks. I'm also seeing a few L. chinensis.
Was it just time, or did the rain trigger it?

Thing is, if you look at these alone, you might conclude it is possible
the surge of moisture contributed to pushing up new stalks. Problem. I
also had winter protected fall foliage Lycoris that bloomed pretty well
for me this season to this point; L. xhaywardii x L. longituba
(shouldn't need protection, but it is in the protected row), L.
xhaywardii (what a show!!), L. houdyshelii (my first time), L. radiata
var. pumila, L. straminea, and an unknown cream white. None of these
suffered from the spring freeze. Still after the rain, and after the
hybrid and L. xhawardii looked completely done, I have new stalks of
them both coming up today, mostly from spots that are not secondary
bloom locations. All the others mentioned are putting up new stalks this
morning, too. Meanwhile a few others that had shown no activity to now
are pushing up new stalks today. As an aside, but significant to the
coming theory, my potted rain lilies are sending up a flush of bloom.

The complication with just considering moisture with these is that I had
done a long slow drip soaking of that particular Lycoris bed a week ago,
and it wasn't suffering stress in the first place, being under about 2"
of mulch. The rain lilies are in with other potted items that need
regular water, so they have been getting overhead water twice a day. Is
it just water that these plants are responding to, if not sheer
coincidence? I can't remember who has brought this up before. It may
have been in another forum. What qualities might exist with rain water
that don't exist in ground water, lake water, or treated water? What
about ozone? What about other combinations of Hydrogen and Oxygen,
however minute the percentage? Could these qualities or others unique to
rainwater influence Lycoris bloom and other plants?

Who knows. Thoughts I consider while I enjoy flowers in bloom.

Mr. Kelly M. Irvin
10850 Hodge Ln
Gravette, AR 72736
USA
479-787-9958
USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a/b

mailto:kelly@irvincentral.com
http://www.irvincentral.com/

James Waddick wrote: