I asked it already, but nobody answered, at least not according to my recollection... I will just simply try.

Soultan do you have this same one or do they come in other flavors? This is a first for me.

Oh yes, you can cross it with Hippeastrum hybrids!

Question I don't know the answer to(but will try to find out) is the ploidy question, but I read that the crosses that were done before were with a "Dutch hybrid"--- which may mean tet rather than dip, but not necessarilly......

R.

Oh raydio-I wouldn't know the difference from a tet or a dip if they slapped me on each cheek!! lol Eliz has tried to explain this to me a couple times but more leaked out than soaked in! I have some pollen still from maria so if I get another flower, I may try some. This one I just chanced and have been giving it it's own pollen today. This sprek is a Dutch bulb, if that helps any.

Cindeea...I purchased 5 bulbs of Sprekelia last year from B&B and they all bloomed. Enjoy the blooms for they don't last that long. I did try to self pollinate them then but I failed. I remember I pollinated my La Paz (newly purchased then) with it's pollen and it failed too. Now these failures could be because they were just new bulbs and didn't have enough roots. Now they are starting to wake up. They have produced a LOT of babies last summer. I hope they would rebloom this year. I would try selfing it and using it's pollen with hippies. Don't you wish it had more flowers?

Lucky Cindeea I have 10 b0lbs of sprekelia which refuse to bloom year after year.Mine are SPREKELIA FORMUSAN. The leaves are much thinner than yours. Which variety is it?
Yes there are SPREKELIA HIPPIASTRUM hybrids.
I wish mine would bloom so that I can try.
Good luck
ARIF

Sprekelia Formosissima. I have 10 bulbs. Not planted yet. I still have to find peace around me to do it. My Ragtime is blooming in the moving box, and so is Santos. I removed Giraffe though and I like it a lot. It has small, delicate flowers. I thought I wouldn't like it based on the pictures, but I do love it based on personal experience.

OK. Let me make it even more confusing, Cindee. ;-)

But this is what I found out. Hope it helps you with your cross.

The Sprekelia was (are you ready?) a hexaploid bulb. Now, how in the world can we know if we have a hexaploid bulb? No way I know of, except to get one from someone whose done nuclear DNA testing on it!

But, try it with what you have anyway. The crosses that worked were with Sprekelia as the pollen donor and the amaryllis as seed parent. Sprekelia as mother didn't work.

A tetraploid can sometimes be "assumed" by the thicker substance in the blossoms and "largeness" of the plant and bloom. I assumed correctly this season that my 'Royal Velvet' is a tetraploid.

But a sexaploid Sprekelia? I haven't the slightest idea how to identify one!

But again, try putting the Sprekelia pollen on your large-flowered hybrids rather than on the smaller ones. But if you have enough pollen and Hippi blooms, try them all!

You were right about this in a way: "Can it's pollen be used on Amaryllis and vice versa-or is that against the ploidy-doidy law?". The sexaploid and tetraploid wouldn't seem to be a workable cross but it makes seeds. And beyond that, Sprekelia and Hippeastrum are different genera (plant classes) and *that* kind of cross "shouldn't" work!

But it does on occasion, and the Hippeastrum x Sprekelia cross results in the babies being "intergeneric" crosses, like horses and donkeys.

But the resulting babies, "Hippeastrelia", are manytimes not sterile (as the mule resulting from the other cross) and can be pollenated with either Hippeastrum pollen or Sprekelia pollen.

So if you *do* get babies from Hippeastrum x Sprekelia, you might be able to get seeds with a backcross to either parent when they bloom, years form now.

R.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hippeastrelia.

PHEW-Radio that is a brain full!! Thanks for trying to help out a novice!

Arif-the name on the packaging is just "Sprekelia Formosissima". While at HD with hubby this morning-I found another one. For just 4.99 I couldn't residt. i don't know why yours haven't bloomed. I wish they would!!

Cindeea naughty of you. You confused me with Amaryllis leaves of bulb in the same pot.
Soultan tell me how to get them to bloom.

Raydio...Thanks so much for those info. This explains why my pollination attempts failed. Hmmmmmmm...now the planning starts.

ARIF...This is just my second year with Sprekelia. After they bloomed last year, I took care of them just like the Amaryllises. They rested last winter in the unheated garage and are now giving out new growth/leaves. No sign of scape/flower bud yet. I saw a picture of it in B&B's catalogue before planted in the ground blooming in their nursery(zone 7). Mine are planted in a big squatty clay pot. We'll see in a few weeks if it will rebloom.

Absolutely, the first cross between a Sprekelia and a Hipp was made back in the 60s by Udai Pradhan when he was in grade school and he called it 'Durga Pradhan' after a famous family member. I have many of these that I got from Udai himself a few years back. Since then others have accomplished the same feat of intergeneric crosses so all I can say is give it a whirl and see what happens!! I happened to have some of my 'Durga Pradhan' and some unknown Wally World hybrid a student gave my wife in bloom at the same time and so tried to pollinate....the seed pods got quite large before they aborted.....oh well :o) Dan

Arif,
I just bought them. This will be the first time for me too. They are not potted yet, due to the moving.