Wow!! Wouldn't that going to be cool? Are you going to try It?
K

I have seen this done with all sorts of citrus but never even thought about doing it with my hipps. now I might just have to go and get some more rooting stuff.

Jemima, I thought I'd post your picture since it's so intriguing!! Anyone trying this?

I just find it amazing that those leaves had not totally dessicated before the formation of the bulbs.

For those with books on hippeastrums, has there been any mention of this method of propogation? If not, i suspect it isn't viable.

Veronica Read says that commercial breeders and growers rely primarily on three techniques, twin scaling, chipping, and notching. (Page 219)

Several posts have inquired about how to increase offsets, and the techniques for notching are described in detail. V. Read says that from 16 notches you can get an increase of 1860% in bulblets. I'm trying to figure out how many that would be!!! I'm going to guess that on average you would get 18.6 offsets with 16 notches...and the mother bulb will die.

I would think that if this was used widely, it would be mentioned, but doesn't mean I couldn't learn something from it. I'll risk a leaf or 2 just to see how quickly I fail!!

K

OK...it's been 5 days. Leaves are starting to yellow. I pulled one up and there are no signs of roots. I replanted it along with the other 2 that are undisturbed. My hunch is...this won't work. We'll see.

Did anyone else give this a shot?
K

This post was edited by kaboehm on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 18:56

What for a rooting hormone did You use?

The brand is Green Light... "Rooting hormone". Looks like the active ingredient is indole-3 butyric acid.
K

Have you used something that will perhaps preserve the leaf? If it does work i'd imagine it would require something to keep the leaf alive for a fair amount of time... i can't see it creating bulbs before it went all yellow or dry otherwise.

AJ...this is a shot in the dark!! Are you trying it too? I'm not sure what would preserve the leaf.
K

Perhaps if you kept the leaves (the whole set-up) in a large closed transparent plastic bag (mini greenhouse) to capture the humidity which might fool the leaves and maybe keep them alive a bit longer..I know it works with Rhododendron and Azalea cuttings in a moist greenhouse, it keeps the leaves turgid while the rooting takes place which can take several months...just a thought....Donna

..and no... I haven't tried it...

Well, in a couple of months I'll be cutting the leaves down on nearly all my bulbs so I'll have lots to experiment with.
K

This experiment fizzled. All three leaves had gone to nearly nothing (thin and brown) below the soil line. Would have been nice though!!
;-0
K

That's a shame. Maybe one day if we get our hands on some super preservative.

maybe it helps if the whole leaf is buried

Snarfie, are you going to try it??
K

i googled leaf propagation of lanchenalia.
you'll need to decipher the terms:
Proximal segments of approximately 1/3 of the leaf were the best source for bulblet number and regeneration percentage. Optimal propagation conditions were in temperatures of 20ðC, and a peatmoss: perlite (1:1, v/v) planting medium. Bulblets originated from parenchyma cells near the vascular bundle sheath. Flowering size bulbs that weigh>1.5g were produced from bulblets after one growing season. Inflorescence initiation and flowering were accelerated by storing bulbs at 20ðC and forcing at 15ðC, respectively.

Well, I have the temperature and the mix right....I just don't think hippeastrum are open to this sort of vegetative propagation. I would love others to try this and prove this method works!!
K

i don't know what proximial segment is- but i think it's the base of the leaf - so you can't cut the leaf, you need to detach it carefully at the base , where it widens into a sheath (again, guessing , vascular bundle sheath??).
may be a botanist can chime in here :).
and then cut the bottom 3rd and plant it with rooting powder at the bottom in moist medium - and bag it probably. and then wait sev months (season) for bulblets to form. that surely will require a lot of patience. why not chip the bulb instead?

Since leaves for hippeastrum come out of the bulb, there is no way to detach it from the base!!

I am going to do some notching this year. Much less labor intensive that chipping and less prone to fungus, etc. Look up notching!
K

i did and i cannot find much. are you going to be making cuts on a bulb?

Yes please tell me about notching, can't find anything about it and i have alot of bulbs to be notching..

The V. Read book goes into much detail.

I stumbled onto a site for a Chinese grower years ago. Interesting photos. Scroll down page 54 and look for the word "camellialin" WITHOUT A HYBRID NAME IN RED and you can see (OUT OF ORDER) the notching and the results.

They cut the bulb into 1/8ths, but I may try up to 1/16ths.
K

PS, explore the pages for other beautiful blooms!

Here is a link that might be useful: Flower Hunter page 54 with

I've been waiting for a cheap 2nd hand copy of that book to pop up.

I saw the pics and it looks like cooking a chinese home dish. lol

Is it mandatory to cut off the roots? If only i saw that before i chopped most of the basal plate off one of the giant bulbs i had. lol

How deep do you cut?

Check Amazon.com for a second hand copy!
Maybe I could get one for you...email me off list.
K

Yeah i looked on amazon.. pondering getting it but then i read an excerpt from an article:

"Please also note, that some hippeastrums have their permanent roots removed, especially those sold in kits. Sometimes the roots have dried out and broken off. The plant will need time to regrow these roots. In all likelihood, such plants will not bloom the second year. If they bloom the third year, consider yourself fortunate."

That made me think of the komoriya bulbs and just ruined my day. lol I don't want this doomsday hippi book now. 3 years might actually be true for some of the ones i have... which means we'd have been almost as fast growing from seed. lol

This post was edited by AuntJemima on Fri, Sep 20, 13 at 15:15

Well, many consider this book as the authority on the matter, with excellent technical and practical content. If that paragraph drives you off owning a copy, then I guess someone else on the list will be fortunate to get one! I don't consider it a "doomsday hippi book"!!

I have found it to be an excellent help for propagating as well as disease recognition and management.

All of my Komoriya bulbs except 1 have rooted and are growing leaves.
K

Yeah i'm just being dramatic and in denial. Like a child finding out santa was fake! lol

I'll get a copy once i see a cheap one on ebay or get it from the library since only really want to see the notching part before i carve up the biggy... as the neck is rotting even after i cut. In my mind it will be like a pinata in a few months time, spewing out bulblets.

Of course there is a scape sprouting so i'm waiting for it to flower first so i know what it is. If it is red lion i'm getting the mandolin out and experimenting. lol

I actually chipped a red lion last month as it was rotting and for a 28/30 bulb... it had like 6 scapes inside. Typical. lol

Don't know how you cope having to chop down a greenhouse full of them. You must be real dedicated or efficient. :)

WHAT?!?! Santa.....noooooooooooooooooo
You're bad!!

I'm both dedicated and efficient....with a really sharp knife and a huge container of alcohol (merlot preferred)!!

The area on the side yard is 10' x 15' that is full of hippeastrum. The greenhouse is 9'x9' with lots of shelves!
K

kaboemhm,
i looked at the link and searched as you suggested - i only saw pics of seeds? and there are so many of them, i didn't have the patience to look at each and one. the page might've moved too.
can you actually look at the date/time stamp of the post with notching pics and copy it (it's on the right side above post)? it'll be good for the future too - for manual search, instead of page.
is notching same as chipping?

Is it necessary to remove the roots?

I'm not sure. Think they are likely just trying to get things as clean as possible.

thanks, i understand. i'll may be put it thru translator or smth. i get the idea. so the center of the bulb is intact and growing , while the notches initiate bulblet formation. the notching on basal plate must be helping too. it looks like it's been sheared off - to rejuve the bulb and force it to multiply fast? interesting! it looks to be safer and faster then chipping!

Having observed bulbs which have chunks of the base missing for whatever reason, i notice that more often than not they have offsets. So i guess the basal plate does need to suffer some trauma.

Perhaps they cut the roots off to encourage each section to produce one to support itself.

How long does it take for the new roots are visible?

It was pretty quick. Within a week (7 days).

In the mid 80's I had read articles where bulblets have been formed on Hyacinth leaves and Lilium leaves. Had never seen anything mentioned about Hippeastrum leaves being able to form bulblets. Found no mention in my literature review. Did many experiments trying to get Hippeastrum leaves to form bulblets. Tried young leaves, middle aged leaves, and old leaves. Tried with mist and with out mist. Tried powder rooting hormone and liquid rooting hormone. Nothing! However, I was very successful at getting Lilium longiflorum leaves to root and form bulblets. So it seems that some members of the Lily Family have this ability, but it does not seem that members of the Amaryllis Family, or at least Hippeastrum, have the ability to root and form bulblets from leaves. Lachenalia was a member of the Lily Family.

This post is nearly 3 years old. Several of use tried the leaf cutting for fun with no luck.