Whoa what a find! but it was so buggy!

13 years ago

So Im pokin around the other day in a greenhouse, lookin at some insanely over grown A. amazonica, they really could use repotting, some have pseudostems 6 inches above the soil and are planted 4-5 inches below the soil, huge bulbs! and they have tons, say 100, or so, and...the are infested with mealy bugs, and not just a few, seriously they are covered in all life stages of mealies. bleh...im not scared of mealies tho, they kill easy are big slow and cant fly, ive never had a problem eliminating them in the past.

Sooooo...Im pokin around in this mess, and i decide there atleast a couple of clones that are different from the rest, but its really hard to say if they truly are different or just appear different. I think they are...maybe 3 select clones that are different, so i proceed to pull the winners and examine them better, mostly just for fun, cuz im broke... : P The owner also will sometimes sell me cuttings that I ask them to take as well as plants I find on the floor that will die, nice, right? So Im also kinna huntin for exposed bulbils to ask to pop off for a few bucks.

Well in the process of grabbin the last one I bumped the table a bit and tipped darn near all of them over! Lots of other plants further down the bench too. Im pretty smooth.

I go ahead and start cleanin up my mess and about the 20th one i uright i see one that IS different. Its variegated! Theres nice pink stripes up the petiole, 3 colors of variegation on the front of the leaves and 2 colors of variegation on the backs too, pure white and a less bight white, the splotches on the front dont always correspond to the splotches on the back either.

I bought it, brought it home and unpotted it, cut the leaves of and killed the bugs. The main bulb was huge, I divided it into 3, there was also 2 more bulbils that had rooted and had 4 leaves each, all variegated, and 15 more decent sized unrooted bulbils.

I should have a solid collection of these if all goes well, I sure hope they all stay true.

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Comments (6)

johnsonm08
13 years ago
Nice find!
miketropic
13 years ago
that is a nice find a am a freak about varigation..any and everything varigated I like to have. although most things will revert back to normal if there strong genes they will hold it with a little help. my basjoo went back to normal so im still trying to find another one of those varigated. real nice find on that, what greenhouse is still open down that way. frankfort is about as far as I venture south for greenhouses around here
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miketropic
13 years ago
meant to ask what you use to kill the mealy bugs with? I have more problems out of spider mites than mealys and can't ever seem to kill those off completly.
tropicbreezent
13 years ago
That's different. never seen it on any of mine.
grabmebymyhandle
Original Author
13 years ago
yea, mike i just mash em with my fingers or a thin stick if i cant reach em.

I had never really had trouble with mites until this time last year, a new freind had givin me my first infestation of them, he lives near...
This year, thanks to the weather, i had them worse than i had ever personally witnessed. once the weather cooled off and some humidity came back i nuked em with the vinegar/lemon juice/baking soda mix, it was the only thing i tryied that worked, and it needed to be washed off. I also blasted em with the hose too, it helped but not until the weather cooperated.
If you have them inside I swear by the no pest strips. They are cheap and are the only thing that i trust to kill em. I dont like using the strips in the house.
as for the reversoin to normal, i sure hope not! I had been told if variegation reverts to normal, then its a chimeric mutation, and is therefor apt to revert right back to variegation. Im not sure how true that is...

also mike i have some gingers, if ur still interested in the spring ill make sure to have some extra for ya :D
miketropic
13 years ago
yeah id be happy to make a trade with you for some ginger since I know your looking for some other aroids. I used a iso alocohol and water mix to blast the mites. worked VERY well but its hard on the plants. burns the leaves and acually killed my Bordelion banana..went almost 2 months no mites and BOOM there back even worse.

I LOVE variegation. your right about the mutation but once there gone its hard to get it back. best thing I can tell you is to ammend the soil and try to keep the PH around 6 if you can. it really brings out the whites in the leaves and helps them hold the variegation better. once you get up to a PH of 7 or more they start to lose it and its not nearly as prononced.