Crinum and Scilla maderensis
Johannes Ulrich Urban (Tue, 05 Jun 2018 05:14:32 PDT)
Hello Lin and Pamela,
Crinum
Your Crinums look virused indeed and I would dig them up and destroy
them, I would put them into the garbage and not on the compost. It is
not loss if they did not flower anyway and there is always a risk of
transmission of virus through aphids or garden tools used for the
several plants .
Scilla maderensis
Scilla maderensis forms a kind of berry which contains one or a few
seeds. If you speak about dry pods the fruit has probably ripend and
dried out. The fruit itself is not the seed. You could harvest the
muslin bags and empty them. If you carefully crush the dry fruit you
should find a round black seed, big enough to clearly identify it as a
seed. If the fruits are not dry they are ripe when they turn yellow(ish)
and the seed inside is deep black.
Scilla maderensis has a short dormancy period and I would not store the
seed for too long. it comes from a habitat that is never fully dry and
certainly does not bake in hot summer sun. An immediate sowing in
slightly moist compost may be best, not too wet. The seed may then
choose the right time to germiate. To be very safe, you could divide the
lot and sow some now and store the other part. True Scilla maderensis is
not very fertile so you may find only small numbers of seeds.
I grow Scilla latifolia which some people consider only a variant of
Scilla maderensis. My plants did not set any seeds this spring but in
general are very fertile. I find the plants impossible to distinguish
from S. maderensis. Which ever plant you grow, it is worthwile
propagating and seedlings do develop quite fast. I had sown seed of this
plant two or three years ago and also donated part of it to the BX. The
sowing was done immediately and germination took place over an extended
period of time but to near 100%.
Bye for today
Uli
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