Experiment growing Neo Seedlings

16 years ago

Here's a little experiment/observation about growing Neo seedlings. It involves 2 different crosses that were sown about 2 month apart.

First one: French's cruenta x Tiger. Sown July 2008. Spotted off into seedling trays 2 months later when they were still a bit small and they were foliar fed at least twice a week. Another 2 months later the most vigorous ones were planted out into little 8cm square pots with a little bit of Osmocote. The still got some foliar feeding but only about once a month. And as they grew, they were continuously potted on into larger pots and are now in 15cm pots (about 20 months after sowing).

The other lot is Hannibal Lector x Foster's Pink Tips F2.

They were sown 2 months after the FCT's. They were spotted off about 4 months after sowing and were not so regularly foliar fed. 6 Months later, still no sign of colour on them, the most vigorous 12 were planted out into the 8cm square pots. Half of them got a little bit of Osmocote, the other half, no food in the potting mix. But both lots were foliar fed once or twice a month. And now about 18 months after sowing, this is what they look like. The greener ones on the left with less markings/colour are the ones that were fed the Osmocote and the slightly smaller ones with more markings on the right are the ones with no food added to the potting mix.

And for a real size comparison between between the 2 groups (remember they were sown just 2 months apart!), here's the biggest FCT and the biggest of 2 of the HLFPT's, one with food the other without.

So for me it means FEED YOUR SEEDLINGS!!! Pamper them and give them all the attention you can. That is if you want them to grow fast. There is one other factor that might have played a role. The first lot was sown in the middle of our Winter and came Spring they were spotted off thus getting the longest growing season possible before Winter sets on. And growing them this way, is the best possible way for me to compete with all growers in the tropical climes with one long, never ending growing season!

Japie

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Comments (7)

malleeaustralia
16 years ago
Cheers Japie - very interesting post and great pics to illustrate. Like you, I have cold (dormant for broms) winters here so now that growing brom seeds Ill also have to maximise my summers. Some nice looking plants there too!!

While on the subjects of great posts with great pics - i have been looking around at some of the other forums (Sansevieria, Cacti and Succulents etc) and I must say all you brommers do a fantastic job with you're use - quality and quantity of pictures. I guess this is because broms are such amazing looking plants!!! All the great pics (along with the info and general friendliness of course) really make the forum a very interesting and extra informative place to visit.

all the best
Kristan
LisaCLV
16 years ago
Japie, as you know, it's a balancing act between getting rapid growth and being able to see the markings early on. Too much or too little feeding will give you either a bunch of big strappy green things or little bitty brightly colored ones. Moderation in all things is usually the best policy.

I'm not sure you can draw too many conclusions from comparing the 2 grexes, though. You have to figure in the size of the parents, as well as their growth rate in general. Even if you had started both at the same time, the first one would likely still be twice the size because of the parentage.
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splinter1804
16 years ago
Hi Japie,

That's an interesting post. I only give my seedlings minimal feeding and still can't keep up with the repotting, so if I followed your recipe I would have to spend 24/7 repotting and move to a larger block. However if my plants all looked as good as yours it would be a great place to spend all of my time.

Thanks for posting, all the best, Nev.
paul_t23
16 years ago
Hi Japie,

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing it. My first batch of Neo seedlings seem to be going pretty slowly so far - so I'd be keen to find out how much light you give yours, and what size they were when you spotted them out. Thanks in advance!

Cheers, Paul
rickta66
16 years ago
Japie,

Very nice, it will be interesting to see them fully grown if you have the room.

I have some scrappy two year old Neo seedlings which are F3's of TakePride, I have been growing out for sentimental reasons because they were my 1st seedling - I haven't fed them and they look like minatures compared to all of yours.

Cheers,

Rick
lyndi_whye
16 years ago
Japie,

Thank you so much for sharing your findings! Hopefully my cross from Hannibal Lector X Pink Shadow gives me some seedlings to play with.

Cheers,
{{gwi:450541}}
hotdiggetydam
16 years ago
Any experiment we do will give us information. Good job Japie