Well, I'm sure the ash does return nutrients, but probably not fast enough to make a difference the following year. With many bulbs I grow, they bloom but don't set seed that readily. My Paramongaia bulbs have been blooming for three years, and this is the first year I got a pod, so I think with Amaryllids they need to reach a certain size before they can maintain a seed pod. I think you are right about moisture because in wet years in the foothills you see populations of bulbs blooming that you didn't even know existed in that area. I never knew C. superbus grew just up the road until we had a very wet spring. Diana > Greetings, > > I would posit that the mass growth& bloom was a result of the reduced competition for sunlight and moisture but I would further posit that seed-setting is comparatively more limited by trace elements than by sunlight/moisture. It would be interesting to test this by comparing the seed-set (rather than merely the vegetative growth or flowers) of two populations that experience manual vs. fire-induced clearing (assuming there is some truth to the idea that fire returns nutrients to the soil!). > > -|<ipp > >> Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 14:45:44 -0700 >> From: rarebulbs@suddenlink.net >> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> Subject: [pbs] Mass blooming Calochortus >> >> I was in the Sierra foothills about a month ago for my usual trip to see >> the wildflowers. Last year I was very dismayed to see that virtually >> all vegetation in one area had been cleared in on both sides of the road >> to a depth of about 20 feet. This went on for some miles, and was >> probably for fire control. In a completely different area, similar >> clearing of manzanita had taken place. This spring there was a mass >> blooming of Calochortus tolmiei in one place and C. monophyllus in >> another. In both areas (which I know very well) I have never seen >> blooming like this, and in some places I have never seen them blooming >> at all. This was not a good year for bulb flowers due to the two month >> dry spell we had, so these two areas really stood out. It has been >> postulated that mass blooming of bulbs after fire could be due to smoke >> penetrating the ground, or to nutrients from the ash, but there were >> neither, just the removal of dense shrubby vegetation, so maybe it isn't >> anything mysterious at all, just the removal of competition, thereby >> making available to the existing bulbs more moisture and nutrients in >> the soil. I went back this weekend for seed, and another thing struck >> me was that the percentage of plants that set seed in colonies like this >> is very small. The flowering was amazing, but seed was fairly sparse, >> not even 10% of the individuals producing seed. the C. monophyllus (it >> is not spotted) literally covers square miles in this area, and the C. >> tolmiei is almost as abundant. >> >> Diana >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >