I don't think the white seeds would be viable.
birch

White seeds arise from a development disorder sometimes caused by momentary unfavorable conditions or from having performed a crossbreeding attempt with an uncompatible crossbreeding partner plant.

I am very interested to see your images of your historical amaryllis on the web.
Are these for example evergreen amaryllis which bear two red upright showing blooms of a pale red?!

Hans-Werner

Hans, I guess you already discovered the pictures at my other post http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bulbs/msg051326497039.html?2.

I'm not sure what your last question meant exactly, I don't yet know the difference between an "evergreen" Amaryllis, or otherwise. I just know I love them.

I get 5 to 6 flowers per stalk for each of all of these old Amy bulbs.

I would love to learn more about them.

BTW, I do remember one of the many flowers on the stalk from which I harvested the white seeds was different in that the "receptacle" for the pollen (I pollenate them all myself, can't rely on a bee or butterfly) - I don't know the techinical name for parts of the flower.....the "receptacle" was different from the others. Rather than being split into thirds, as usual (picture below), it was just 1 long piece.

DUH! I hope that makes sense. Not that it necessarily means anything.

Yes I experienced that particularly some white culivars are susceptible to malformations of bloom parts.
The normally three-branched stigma might be affected the way you observed; yes.

I just wanted to know - before I saw your nice amaryllis images if you are cultivating an "old-fashioned" gardener's amaryllis, an evergreen species (which keeps its very leathery leaves during rthe winter reposal at the windowsill alive)....
this one:
{{gwi:3614}}

Hippeastrum aulicum var.robustum;
with often 2 sometimes 3 and even, yes, 4 upright narrowly segmented blooms.
Funny, how different the bloom shapes of Hippeastrums are...

Hans-Werner

Beautiful pictures, Hans. Would you please give me an idea on how to post pictures to the Forum?

Hans,

I am assuming my Amaryllis ARE "old-fashioned", since they have been in the family for about 50 years. See my other post http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bulbs/msg051326497039.html?7 for old pics of same plants.

I love the Amaryllis you posted above. Would you care to swap seeds? My red or coral for some of yours?

BTW, to post pics, simply upload to your server, and in your message write "[img]http:..............jpg[/img]" - without the quotes, and it will appear in your message.

Posting pictures...

1) resize your .jpg image, using your photo eidting program, to an appropriate file size of less than 170 kB (!) Otherwise the text lines of your posting will become longer than the reading window.

2) upload your image to your webspace account.

As regards to this I praise www.photobucket.com for good reasons: Quick registration and soooo easy-to-use. It already GIVES you the code for posting an image here!

When my free account of 25 MB will be extinguished I shall not hesitate to acquire a rather cheap file space unlimited premium account, too.

3)Copy the code from the TAG line that is the 2nd line below the picture ...into your poting!

Hans-Werner

Hello Ladyborg;

Be sure... I am investigating the BulbForum carefully for any amaryllogene content *g* and what impressed me most was this giant pink hippeastrum in its pot on t let side (the blooms being bigger than the pot...I hope it did not "topple over" meanwhile *gg*

I am unhappy and I blame my H.aulicum v.robstum a lot for that it does NOT accept its own pollen. And funny, on the other hand, it unites PROMISCUITIVELY with every OTHER pollen from any Hippeastrums, might they be 2-ploid cultivars and species or 4-ploid-"high"-bred hybrids!
BUT, the point is: THIS unique exotic feature which is shown so "dramatically" is completely LOST in the F1 hybrids.
I shall try to raise something similar and with a better color saturation. I am just the beginning with that, havin crossed this antique amaryllis with diploid cultivars, as H.papilo, H.cybister"Chico", H."PinkFloyd", H."Giraffe", and....H."Melusine" (I assume 3ploidity in this latter)

And...here is my Melusine (has to b praised for its uncommon growing properties...uncommonly rapid, numerous and strong leaves, which I HAD to cut (thus breaking the husbandry rules for bulbous plants)

{{gwi:17098}}

Kind regards
Hans-Werner

Hans Werner !

I am definitly going to order 'Melusine' this autumn, that one and 'Giraffe', because of the pictures you have posted.

Thanks, Hans

Marc

This is an amaryllis that I forced to bloom Christmas 2003. I planted it in the ground last Spring, dug it up and kept it in the garage last Winter, then put it in its permanent pot this Spring. Here is what it has done. Since I have no other amaryllis for pollenation, can I pollenate each stamen with pollen from the same flower?

{{gwi:17099}}

Hello Pat;

Yes try this. On every flower. The flower in the front is ready to be pollinated, as the stigma is showing upright and has maximally divided into its three branches.
I had no success in selfing Appleblossom, but have heard of rich seed development elsewhere.
Report your personal result, please!
And...at last b.n.l.: Seed formation has no (better 6 no's - one for every bloom posible on a stem of "Appleblossom") weakening effect on the bulb - pollinate all the flowers you can get access to!

Hans-Werner

That's how I pollenate mine. I haven't bothered with getting pollen from others yet.

I am a relatively new gardener, and a very new amaryllis mom. I want to pollenate my amaryllis which is currently blooming with 8 blooms!!! It is a red lion.

Also, I have about 40 amaryllis babies from seeds. I want more!!!

Please, tell me the exact steps you follow to pollenate your amaryllises. I am a math teacher, so I think in terms of steps.

My email address is brademac@nwacc.edu

Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rademacher's Math Home Page

1. Remove Anther with pollen from father plant.

2. Apply pollen to stigma of mother plant.

3. Wait until the seed pod is ready to open to collect seed.

4. Plant seed and watch them grow :)

5. Enjoy blooms!

Well brademac;

you can as well take up some pollen from one or more of the six pollen bags (the anthers) with a fine and soft paint brush and "paint" it gently on the colorless inner side of the three branches of the stigma. Look at the RED flowers above, you recognize very well these white inner parts.

Note - I am only telling the following for being absolutely sure to excluding any misinterpretation: Self pollination or selfing means that pollen from the same flower or any other flower from a plant of the same clone is used. The clone is the entity of plants which have been raised by vegetative multiplication from the original plant (by offsets ore artificially by chipping or twin scaling).

The seed pod formation takes approx. 6 weeks.
The ripe pod becomes a little bit wrinkly and yellow and then gradually splits. Do not wait tooooo long until the seeds fall down from the fully drying pod.
Gently take the seeds ((30 to 100) out of the pod and put them into a cup.
Let them dry only a very short time (1 day is already enough). Fresh seed yields the best germination rate.

One sowing method is floating in water but I am a strong opponent against this method which is in my eyes incredibly unpractical. I tried once, against my conviction. Never again. The replanting of every individual tiny plant with its susceptible first root was a horror for me. No, never again, sorry.

Instead I put the seeds upright, each individually using blunt tweezers, touching only the margins in order not to damage the embryo, one beside the other, upright into slits (lines) into the soil. (I use pure coco peat) You can place up to 200 seeds in 22 lines with 9 seeds each into a box of 45 x 18 cm.... the embryo can be visualized when you hold the papery seed foil against a lamp.

The image below displays 12 week old seedling,s and you can furthermore (still) see how I had placed the seeds.

{{gwi:3584}}

I experience a germination rate of 75% and better from fresh seeds.
The sense of this overproduction is for me: To select these outstanding and all surpassing overflyers (sorry - that is the word-by-word translation from the German term). All the others are discarded, because I am having no extra spare place, and seedlings can not so well be shipped to other interested people.

Hans-Werner

Well
and this was one grotesque result in a later stage:
(3 y old bulbs)
{{gwi:17100}}

HI HANS
Have these bulbs been in the same pot for three years?
ARIF

Hi ALL
My Amaryllis germination rate (as precticed here) was very low.My trials as suggested by Hans and Keneth both produced 90% germination. The water germination is not prectical if want to sow seeds by hundreds.Below are my experimental seed pots.

{{gwi:17101}}

The centre one were germenated in water the other in sito.
Thanks to my forum friends now I have few thousand seedlings to attend.
ARIF

Hi Arif;
Do not let them get into contact with adult plants, bulb scale mite transmission occurs so easily!

The 15 crowded bulbs in the photo above (seedlings from "PrinsCarnaval x "RedLion") were the result of 1 1/2 years continuous growth under metal halide high pressure discharge lamps! The seedlings had been replanted once more previously.

Hans-Werner

Thank you so much, all of you. Hans, your instructions were superb!

Now, another question. Does polination work between unlike types of amaryllises, for instance, between different colors?

Thanks again, everybody!

I have grown Amaryllis in hydroponics with sucsess.
Now that the flowers are gone, i cut the stems, but left the leaves. What to do next, leave the leaves and keep watering, or cut the leaves and take the bulbs out of the medium ?
Thank you, Chefmichel.

Well, the size of the bulb will already give you the answer. Is it not shrunk considerably by the rapid "emission" of a lot of plant tissue as are stalks, blooms and leaves? You need a vegetation period of several months providing good light and fertilizer to compensate for this loss and re-establish the size, this is sure. Did you measure the bulb circumference before you potted ...or ooops basket-ed it up?! A honest comparison between circumference "before" and "now" will open your eyes *ggg* that is absolutely sure!

The question is, what of practical value do you want to show or prove with your hydroponic experiments? I administer water from the bottom into pots filled with coco peat... every 2nd day. I am absolutely sure that this needs much less equipment and experience compared to your sophisticated method. Often more simple is more better. That's the way I think (and therefore I am asking you now).

Now... the pollination question:

the "common" tetraploid amaryllis with these big blooms can be crossed among each other and selfed, too.
There are some restrictions, however, particularliy in cultivars which show unusual kinds of red (pink, magenta, burgundy red). For example my Appleblossom has viable pollen but never sets seeds. My Royal Velvet is completely infertile.

Diploid gardener's amaryllis (species are usually 2ploids) and hybrid cultivars are often self sterile. But they often cross with others of this group.

For example H.papilio x H.aulicum or H.cybister or H."Pink Floyd" and reciprocal.
Crossing of tetraploids as mother plants (seed partner´s) with diploid pollen donors seems impossible.

The reversal, that is crossing of diploids as mother plants with 4ploids (pollen donors) is sometimes successfull:
H.aulicum x tetraploids yields many seeds, but the triploid progeny is sterile - althougfh yielding very beautifull blooms....

An interesting feature is shown by H.papilio (diploid) when crossed with tetraploids. It develops many non viable seeds, but among these are sometimes a few which have a different shape (smaller, more narrow and compact) and these are sometimes... viable.

I reported on such a hybridization;
H.papilio x "Donau" in the GardenWebBulbForumImageGallery

The important point in this case was that the progeny which consisted of these both seedlings was self fertile and I conclude from this that they were "regenerated" tetraploids.

This bears an important implication because I can continue breeding with them and observe the segregation of genes in the F2 and further generations, OR cross them with other tetraploids (with normal yields of seeds now) thus having constructed a "bridge" from H.papilio to the common and much larger blooming tetraploid gardener's amaryllis.

Hans-Werner

Here is a link that might be useful: H.papilio x H.

Hans, I found your instructions on gathering seeds very informative and helpful but I have one question. After gathering the seeds from the pods and letting them dry for a day, do I have to put them in the refrigerator for a false winter, or can I plant them immediately?

My Apple Blossom amaryllis eventually had five beautiful blossoms. I pollenated all five, and three formed seed pods. It is not quite time to gather the seeds yet, but the Apple Blossom has surprised me by sending up another, shorter stalk, and it looks like I'll have four or five more blossoms!

Thank you very much for your most helpful information.

Hi Pat;

I can not recommend to store seeds for a long time.
The germination rate is the best with fresh seeds, and I don not care for the season. There is always a windowsill to place a box with seedlings. I use fluorescent lights to be completely independent.
If you have succeeded in performing an outstanding crossbreeding, do you really can afford to delay sowing -
*NOOO*
Please report on the appearance of your Appleblosssom seeds when they are ripe!

Hans-Werner

Hello again, Pat;

There is a particular implication in your question, that is obligatorious reposal of seeds, like the corresponding bulbs, and you point to an important aspect with this:
As far as I understand you conclude from other bulboous plants (daffodils, tulips...) that the normal fate of a seed of a bulbous plant is to undergo a summer reopsal.

This is not the case in Amaryllid's with these papery foilied seeds. This kind of seed is "designed" to find humid conditions and germinate instantly! This wing- or disc- shaped embryo cover helps the seed to be transported a certain distance away from the mother plant, but it is in no way a protection against fatal drying out!

Hello Hans,

Thank you very much for the information I needed about when to plant my Amaryllis seeds. You were right to assume that I needed to know if they needed a summer reposal.

Two of the seed pods from my Apple Blossom have dried up completely and fallen off. When I opened the pods, the seeds were very small; some were green, but most were brown. I disposed of them all. I still have two more pods forming from the first group of blooms, and have pollendated the second group of three blooms. I will be sure to keep you posted on their progress.

Paat

thanks guys for the tips.
this is my first trial and so far i am have lots of amaryllis babies. they are still sprouting up like crazy! these are my future hybrids, i sown in 18/june/2005.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures

Hello Tuan;

Thank you for your informative pictures.
I never saw an arrangement of amaryllis seedlings performed or should I prefer saying compiled with greater accuratesse than those you have now generously shared with the forum community
But please do not be angry with me: I would be interested what kind of hippeastrums you crossed there - and we can speculate together on the putative outcomes of your crossbreeding!
(click on the th_image)
{{gwi:17102}}href>
Hippeastrum aulicum (selfed)

Hi Haweha,
i polinated a double red bloom to a single bloom(it was labbled chrismast star)
i also polinated white and pink zephyprantes to a large single red, and a small single red, and chrismast star.
i polinated a double bloom orange color to a large red.
i also try the single to the double but the double never develope seed pod.
when i try polinated amaryllis to zephyprantes the zephyprantes just not develope seed pod, but they do develope seed pods when polinate one zephyprantes to the others.
i will try to updating the picture when them seeds are fully grow, and i just posted a question regarding this subjects can you give me any idea what i will get from those hybrid? i thanks you for any tips you have to offer, tuanh.

Hello. I have not been online for a while...work has been very busy. BUT, I have many new amaryllis babies, most Red Lions, and a few Orange Sovereigns. I notice the germination for Orange Sovereigns is far below Red Lions.

I have recently purchased many other amaryllis types from Holland: Apple Blossom, Minerva, Elvas, Dazzler, Nymph, Cherry Nymph,and others. What kinds of experiences do all of you have with these types?

Thanks,

Barb Rademacher (brademac)

Hello Barb,

I don't know much about the other types of amaryllis you mentioned, but I do know that my Apple Blossom absolutely refuses to self. I did the pollenation thing with them all, and got very immature seeds that were worthless. Hans had warned me this would probably happen, and he was right.

Good luck with all the others you purchased.

Pat Jordan

I've brought my Apple Blossom into the garage for its second winter. Somewhere in the above messages you can see how beautifully it bloomed this summer.

It has developed "sprouts" from three sides of the main bulb, and the leaves are beautiful and healthy. What do I do with these sprouts? Right now, I've left them as they are and will continue to do so until someone tells me otherwise.

Thank you very much for your help.

Pat