Donna, what beautiful pictures ;)

Sadly I see the leaves as well and they do appear to be virused...

Good luck with your pollination attempts!

Hard to believe, that both pictures show the one-and-same Hybrid. But, this is not untypical for Knight Star Lilies!
"Two spirits are, awww, struggling in my chest" - I am in awe, about the first picture.
"Estrela" looks like a typical TET for me (thus, on a dogmatic basis crosspollination with a DIP should fail), but I would try the same even though if not even all-the-more [in order to prove the existence of loopholes LOL!]:
I still bear in my memory that one User reported about having successfully pollinated "Red Lion" with H.papilio, and an other user documented pictures of hybrids, that he created these out of crosspollinating a white hybrid with Papilio.

Hans-Werner,

The second picture was the first bloom in Aug. of 09 and 2 months later the second stalk appeared and bloomed,(1st picture) maybe the cooler temps had an effect on the blossoms as the plants stayed out probably until Nov. but the night time temps get quite cool around here in Sept and Oct.

Would Fairy Tale be a DIP, I have some fresh pollen. I also have pollen of Sumatra, and Santa Cruz if either of those might be DIPs. I have a couple of dozen packages of TET pollen. Something tells me that I read some where some time that Estrela was seedpod sterile. I wouldn't chance it's pollen on anything as I think it's virused..did you notice the leaves? They only get that way towards the end of the year. I think I've had the bulb for 4 years and even though the leaves look suspicious, it's growing just fine..currently sending up two strong and healthy looking scapes...but it is kept away from all my others and when it goes outside, it will go very far away...
Thanks for your imput..

Donna

Best choice!
"Fairy Tale" is a Papilio hybrid. It looks like an intermediate between "Baby Star" (TET) and "Giraffe" (DIP) but good news for you: "Fairy Tale" is a TET! It is self fertile and it pollinates other TETs. So hurry up. And create a new generation of babySTAR sized and colored flowers (with white midrib)

I suggest, that you will not relocate your "Estrela" outdoors. Bcz, Aphids that will transmit the disease, through their volatile - or should I be saying airworthy specimens - travel farther than you might even presume.

Hans-Werner,
I have ample amounts of fresh Fairy Tale pollen and by the way, about 2 weeks ago I brushed h. papilio on all four flowers of Fairy Tale and they appear to be swelling and the pedicels have doubled in length..you never know..and, thanks again for your advice.

When I meant to put Estrela outside..far away from the others..we have 1+ 1/2 acres, so I really can place the pot far away but I probably will take your advice and leave it in the cellar in a sunny window.
Thanks,

Donna

I also had a semi-successful seedpod of h.papilio x Lillystar..about 30 good looking seeds out of a gigantic seedpod yielding about 70+ seeds, the rest were bad.. they are now soaking and several have sprouted.. :-)

Also, I had a pod of h.papilio x either Misty or Sweet Nymph, I sort of think I may have mixed up my arrows on the scape as the pod I had marked as Misty aborted and the pod I had marked as Sweet Nymph yielded about 40 good seeds some of which I have given to a friend. Those are sprouting for me also. Do you think that they were in-fact Misty instead of Sweet Nymph..as the seed pods were next to each other and I guess I got a bit sloppy with my labeling. Now, I hang tags, I've learned my lesson..

40 good seeds from one seed pod...
IF there had ADDITIONALLY been plenty of "deaf" seeds (empty seed foils and spotted foils, with deformed embryos respectively) only THEN I would vote for "Sweet Nymph" as pollen donor.

The picture on the left as you can see is what I had labeled as Sweet Nymph..actually, there weren't that many throw aways, just a few undeveloped seeds and a bit of chaff, this picture was taken before I cleaned them out.

The picture on the right was labeled Misty and as you can see they were all bad, not even one good one..

The second picture was h. papilio x Rebel/Lilly Star..I'm thinking Lilly Star was the successful one..this one was a mixture of good and bad and was from a different plant. I know I shouldn't keep double dabbing, but I had already lost several other attempts..I had a total of 8 flowers on 3 plants and only ended up with 3 good seedpods. And, of course, last year I had my beginners luck with my "cocktail" of 4/5 pollens and those seedlings are growning nicely, about 3 of them are much larger than the rest...maybe next year I'll see a flower.. Thanks again for your interest...

Donna

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Donna,

I am sorry that your Estrela is probably infected with TMV. I think the flowers are stunning. I will keep my fingers crossed that you will obtain seed from her this year. Your idea of using Papilio is great as it has TMV resistance reportedly. I am also excited for you that you are having success crossing Papilo with other blooms! :)

AJ

My Estrela is now blooming again..the first scape has six flowers and I have pulled the pollen sacks off of 4 of the flowers before the flowers opened and the first two that were ready have been heavily pollenated for 3 days in a row with papilio. The next 2 flowers will get Fairy Tale. The second scape hasn't opened yet. The leaves look pristine, would never know there was anything wrong with it..yet.
Here it is with no flash..

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and the leaves so far..

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Donna

Oh...Awww...
That thing is pretty!
You can see - it is a "rather commercial" mini. The scapes are very strong (they could bear flowers of size) and the leaves are very broad. I saw this with my own eyes years before, and I thought "never would I figure that these leaves belong to a cultivar that produces TINY blooms" and almost the same applies for the contemporary mini "Fairy Tale"(1998). On the other hand, the somewhat older hybrid mini "Baby Star" (1991) HAS accordingly "fitting" narrow and gracille leaves. This plays a role if you place such bulbs at the windowsill. What I want to indicate is, that "Estrela" is rather "space consuming" - but "Baby Star is not, that you can liken the leaves thereof to those out of a cybister hybrid like "Tango" even.

Hi,

Just an update on my seedpods on Estrella. Two pods X papilio aborted..one large pod X Fairy Tale and X a large white noid look very good. On the other scape I have another Fairy Tale and an Exotic Star that look good, but the second scape is a few weeks behind the first...
Take a look, and so far the leaves look pristine..I can only hope...

Donna{{gwi:390266}}

this one is X Fairy Tale look pretty good huh?...

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and the leaves..so far..

with flash..
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no flash..
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Donna, your plant looks very healthy. Especially to keep all those pods I would think it felt healthy too! Let's hope the leaves stay clear. The blooms are beautiful.

Alana

Donna, have the leaves shown symptoms of virus before?

Donna,

I just looked at the previous picture from prior years and the leaves show molting, sadly I think your H. estrela has virus. Whether the molting skips a season or two the plant will still contain the virus. Even feeding a plant high nitrogen fertilizer can mask the symptoms of virus. Once a plant carries the virus there is no possible way at this time to eradicate it. Leaves may appear healthy for several years, several days or not at all and they plant can still contain MV.

Sorry to get your hopes up :( It's such an ugly thing but it's better to know the situation than not.

Josh

Just goes to show that none of us are safe against this and we're all probably unknowingly harboring unhealthy plants...but the seeds should still be good right??!!

Donna

Joshy, how does molting manifest itself?

(Did you mean "mottling"?)

Thanks,
Carol

Carol, yes that's what I meant, I have a spell check on my Firefox browser that automatically changes some words.

The leaves are mottled in the first few pictures!

I'm sure the answer is yes, but tell me again...THE SEEDS WILL BE FINE..RIGHT?.....

Donna,

Of course the seeds will be fine :) I feel awful, I hope I'm not ruining Hippeastrum for you with all the bad news :( I just don't want you to get too excited and then see mottling leaves :(

I would probably hold onto the bulb as it's a fabulous bloom, it seems to be trumpet shaped? Do you have any side shots of the flowers??? I'm very intrigued by this one!

Josh

Josh, I know it's sick...and I don't think I have a side shot without the other flowers in the way. I'd call it a semi-trumpet and it is very fragrant..which I know I've said before....If half of these pods mature..I'll be looking for homes...

Donna

Donna, I feel terrible for you. I am so sorry. I don't want to make things any worse, but in the interest of good/accurate information, in the post linked below, Joshy wrote, "POLLEN FROM A VIRUSED PLANT WILL GIVE THE SEED-BEARING PLANT THE VIRUS" (caps emphasis his). If I understand correctly, your Estrella is the seed-bearing plant and the pollen donors are other bulbs, right? In that case, it sounds like your seeds should be ok.

Josh, thanks for confirming the spell-corrector's error. During the Haiti earthquake crisis last year, we had a doctor who used a voice-to-text converter to write (not spell-check) his emails. We were ALWAYS having to decipher them. He (it?) wrote some really unintentionally funny stuff!

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Diseased?

Carol, I'm not sure if you have an iPhone but there are several websites that are based fully on the iPhone's auto corrections because they're SO incredibly funny :)

Carol I was extremely careful when I pollenated Estrella, I used a cotton swab and never put it back in the pollen bag so as not to contaminate my remaining pollen, which I'll probably never use anyway.. that's what I though too, that the seeds would be fine with healthy pollen on a sick plant...but I'll bet if and when I offer them up, nobody will take any...wanna bet? ;-)

Donna

Haha, Donna! That is too funny. I'll throw in some Minerva bulbs to sweeten the pot!

Carol

In the species world if we have a virused specie that's incredibly rare we ask for pollen from others that may have a different clone, if it produces seed we share half of the seed with the other. There has never been any hesitation within' the specie communities to take seed.

I know many botanists that actually only grow plants from seed to avoid have virus introduced into their collection. Some botanical gardens are the same way, they'll only grow plants from seed to avoid virus in the Amaryllid family!

I assure everyone that the seeds will be more than okay ;)

H. Estrella:

10 bulbs recieved Fall 2008
Fertile
10 bulbs virused.
10 bulbs burnt.

What a waste!

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The purple anthers give away H. aulicum as a parent.

It's such a beautiful flower it's sad that they're all virused, maybe this is why they're not in circulation any longer?

Beautiful pictures Maria!

Josh

Well, I checked the date on my first picture of Estrella and it was taken Feb 27 2009, which means I bought mine in 2008 also..mine was a mislabel though..Well, I've had this bulb all this time and have never re-potted it, so when it goes the pot will go too. Strange though how my bulb only at times shows any signs of virus..the leaves are still pristine and the bulb is still performing like it's on steroids...

Not particularly comforting to know that all this time I've had a virused bulb way before I even know what a virus was...

Donna

Donna,
I am sooo sorry your Estrella is virused. It has many of the qualities that make many love Gordie. If anyone knows someone who can propigate bulbs where virus is eliminated in the process...please let me know. Not all my babies are virused, but if someone can propigate and eliminate virus, then I can send a bulb off and have lots to share!

Thanks,
Kristi

I am very-very sorry for your Estrella. She is gorgeous. But there is always a hope to have virus free seedlings. I have tryed some pollination with virused ones also back there in India, but cannot get the result as I am in Ukraine now...
It's like when we have a cancer patient in the family but we cannot give up...
Wish you lots of luck with your seedlings

Annia

Hi Annia,

Thank you for your well wished for my Estrella..she is living with her disease and showing no signs of deterioration other than the striations on her leaves. Last year I was successful in pollenating her with Fairy Tale and also a large no-id white. All seedlings are doing fine. My Estrella was obviously virused from the beginning and I didn't know since I wasn't aware that moasic virus even existed. I just thought the mottling on her leaves was due to excessive sun. I've had this bulb for close to 4 years now and close to two years ago I removed 3 or 4 bulblets and gave them to someone who KNEW that the bulb was virused but, they wanted them anyway..I probably shouldn't have done that, but they promised me they would not give the bulbs to anyone else...She is quite fragrant you know...

Donna