Naturalized Crinum Bulbispermum

Al al@alsisk.com
Mon, 07 May 2007 09:45:44 PDT
Hi all; 

Like Joe, I love some of the Naturalized Bulbispermum.  I have 2 alba
varieties and 4 white/pink varieties.  I can document the history of most of
them dating to the early 40's.   I have had up to 7 scapes in one year from
my original alba.  The original bulb is now more than 15 years old.

I have come to the conclusion that naturalized bulbispermum can be induced
to offset some by my processing them for the garden. 

I use a medium pressure hose nozzle to remove all the soil and trash from
the bulbs.  I have enough problems with weeds from the pastures on either
side of my beds.  I remove old scales down to a good solid healthy bulb,
making sure to peel the scales to the basal plate.  I trim green leaves and
roots to 4" each.  This procedure is the only difference in the way I
process bulbs.   I am working on proving that removing scale layers induces
offsets. 

I might add that I have offsets on two bulbispermum bulbs I received from
Jim Shields.  They are from imported genetics and have not offset for Jim. 

Soil here, 40 miles east of Austin, is heavy very fine sand that drains very
quickly.  I amend soil with composted pine bark mulch and peat moss tilled
into the sand with my 6' tiller.  Beds of bulbs are planted with as many as
50 bulbs of a variety taken from offsets where possible. 

My latest acquisition was from a bar ditch that had heavy bulbispermum for
almost 1/2 mile.

 

Al Sisk
PO Box 68
Lexington, TX 78947
USDA zone 8b
al at alsisk dot com



More information about the pbs mailing list