I was thinking about your experiment is it Feb. 7th yet.

no....patience grasshopper!
:-)

After reading your posts , I tried to chip an Hippeastrelia Durga Pradham , with the same technique , in perlite , without growing hormon. First I covered the bulb with a plastic bag , but as new leaves were growing I had to remove it.
5 weeks later :

{{gwi:452486}}

Wow... That was fast!!! Mine has about 10 bulblets, but still no leaves. What kind of light is yours getting?
K

Wow, that is great. I look forward to doing that sometime, but for now I need to find a way to get fewer Hippies, not more!

how did the mother bulb do, did she send out any leafs, roots or did she give up the ghost. And what was the ratio of cuts to bulblets

First of all, many thanks to Devon and KB2 for posting the link, which I just watched.

Bonjour Beatrice,

Your results are fantastiques! When it comes to cutting up my bulbs, I have been a coward. I am going to have to try this technique.

Congratulations!

Meilleures salutations,

Blanca

P.S. Pour l'instant, je dis juste bonjour. Je t'enverrai une lettre ou un courriel quand je serai capable.

Kristy : mine doesn't have much light , barely enought to grow , but it has botton heat as there is a growing light under the shelf. How ddid you install yours ?
Devon , the mother bulbs were very healthy initally, I applied hot water treatment in prevention as I usually do before repoting plants for killing eventual bugs, and they are sending leaves , certainly because this method doesn't destroy the central part of the bulb, maybe it is a chance for feeding the young bulbs during their growth ? I don't know.
{{gwi:452488}}
The mother bulb developped new roots too.For the moment it seems that there is more or less one bulblet / cut , but it isn't definitive .
Did you tried the technique too ?
I realling wanted to multiply this variety , so I have to thank you for the link !

Chère Blanca , je te dis àbientot pour plus de nouvelles .

I didn't try, at the time I was just glad to get my bulbs back in the ground. my home had just finished being rebuilt from a fire. hopefully they bloom this next season then I'll pick one or two to try it with.

So, lets say you want to get a few offsets from a strong healthy bulb, but you don't what to cut it all up and sacrifice it. Could you cut a small bit off the edge of the basle plate, to encourage just a few offsets?

I'm thinking of a controlled recreation of Donna's situation, but without any bugs or diseases.

What do you all think?

K:
Looking forward to your experiment update on the 7th!

Matthew
Indiana.Matt

K:
Any updates?

If offsets are forming, they are taking their time and starting from the far inside layers. A bit discouraged, but not giving up yet.
K

Well, here is an update on my no-id seedling that was "chipped" by the NFB. It is doing great, I really wish I knew the identity of this bulb as I rarely loose tags. I guess I will have to see this one though to see what I am going to have so many of!

There are 6 or 7 bulblets. So Matt, you might want to try your injuring the bulb thought. You might take an apple corer and core out a piece going into the center of the bulb near the basal plate just the way the NBF would.

Donna

I have to admit, the bulb that I started out with wasn't doing great. If you look at the original photo with the basal plate that looks like it's been scrubed with steel wool....that wasn't my doing. So, perhaps this bulb was struggling and then I sliced and diced it!!! If I get 1 offset I'll be happy! I think cutting an otherwise healthy bulb would produce better results. I was just trying to salvage the bulb.

IF I LOOK REAL HARD, I think I see some bulblets forming up in the layers. I have never used perlite for this before; I've always used vermiculite.

K

Cutting th central growing area might stop the leaves growing up as I did in the recent thread 'propagation by chopping bulbs in two' posted on Feb 4th

I can't wait to try this technique again this spring, so I'll make it a larger scale experiment and see how they develop over the next 12 months

This post was edited by HippieZep on Tue, Feb 11, 14 at 14:28

I was feeling a bit discouraged by my chipping experiment, so decided to dig up the bulb, clean it up, and really look at what was going on underneath. After doing so and realizing that I was not looking closely enough previously, I see that there are no fewer than 12 new bulbs being formed within the layers of this bulb. Some are quite large, but I just hadn't looked closely enough, as they weren't that obvious and the perlite was sticking to the bulb, obscuring the new bulblets. The addition of bottom heat may have helped (thanks Lena).
K

That's great news,

And you saved your bulb , great !

This is a great thread! This winter was extra cold and I've lost most of my bulbs because they were outside. Next year I plan on starting over. If I had a bulb to propagate, I would join in this experiment! -Tina

I think the bulblet inside is putting a leaf out through the top! Look between the slices, you can see a good sized bulblet. Leaf isn't from the mother bulb. Thanks again Lena for suggesting bottom warmth!
K

This post was edited by kaboehm on Fri, Mar 14, 14 at 10:34

Not yet, but suppose I should start with weak MiracleGro.
K

Updates please!!

Mine has 3 leaves coming out the top from bulblets and many bulblets of all sizes growing withing the bulb and between layers. It even is growing roots.

I am just not used to using Perlite. I am much more used to vermiculite. I'll post a photo soon.
K

I repoted mines today :
{{gwi:452494}}

there were many small bulbs growing all around the mother bulb , and even below the bulb.
{{gwi:452497}}
{{gwi:452499}}
I divided one bulb in 8 parts , tiddy a little the old scales and repoted in small pots , I left the second bulb intact for comparison.

Beatrice,
When did you start yours?
Kristi

Chère Béatrice,

WOW, WOW, WOW!

Your results are simply amazing.

I congratulate you on your success with this technique.

Cheers and warm regards,

Blanca

Wow! Look at all those gorgeous roots!! You sure have the right formula for chipping!! I think if I wanted to chip a bulb I'd send it to you and let you do it!! ;-)

What brand of fertilizer do you use?

Donna

My little bulb is doing ok. I think it's progressing slowly as it was in bad shape to begin with. There are now 4 leaves out the top, a few coming out the sides, and there are roots. I think adding the bottom warmth 6 weeks in made a good difference.

Beatrice's bulb and offsets look so well ordered. Mine is a real hodgepodge!
K

Kristi do you have yours growing in perlite? At least it survived.

It is in Perlite. I am going to quit pulling the poor thing up! Now that it has roots, it needs to stay put. I added a little potting mix and sand into the top inch of the Perlite after I took this photo.

It's not doing as great as Beatrice's, but it was dying before I tried this.

My next 2 subjects will be 2 rotting expensive imports, in an attempt to salvage something.
K

I've been reading various forums for over a year, but this is the first time I've written anything. I want to chip some bulbs in the next couple of days using the technique/s mentioned above. I have a couple of questions. Can you give me the names of two or three systemic fungicides. I live in a small town in Texas and can find fungicides but no mention on the containers as to whether, or not, they are systemic in nature. My other question is what kind of light to provide the chipped bulb. Do you think south light close to a window would work? I'm guessing it's ok to starting using bottom heat right from the start. Right? Thank you for your help. As soon as I figure out how to upload photos, I'll post a few.

Bulbmaniac,
I'm in Spring...where are you?
Kristi

Hi, Kristi,
Thank you for responding. I'm so excited about getting to know other people who love amaryllis and gardening. I live in Columbus---basically halfway between San Antonio and Houston. I used to teach in Spring I.S.D. What a small world it truly is!
Nancy

Nancy,
My local Ace Hardware ordered some fungicide for me. I don't remember the brand. It was less than $10 for the container of concentrate. Definitely said "systemic" on the label.

I'm going to chip another bulb tonight. I'll post the brand later.
Kristi

The brand I got from Ace was Green Light Fungaway. It clearly said systemic, and I didn't have to buy a gallon!
Kristi

Thanks, Kristi. I'll look for that at a local farm & ranch supply. I appreciate your help! Good luck with your chipping experiment.
Nancy

Sorry for answering so late , and thank you for all your comments , but I am afraid the good results are a coincidence with the variety of the bulb, an hippeastrelia and not an hippeastrum , and the fact it was very healthy . I have to try another bulb for comparison.
Do you think the time of the year has an incidence ? is it feasible with a growing bulb ?
Donna , I have a classic gradual realise fertiliser 10.11.18 , I can't find miracle grow in france.
Kristi , I started mine in december a few days after viewving your pictures. What kind of bulb did you choosed for your new chipping ? a growing one ?

My December experiment was an offset of the first Hippeastrum I received as a gift in 1992. It was an old Ludwig hybrid. It was in bad shape with no roots and looked to be failing. In an effort to get at least 1 offset, I tried this.

Last night I repeated the experiment with a bulb from afar that has never had roots, the bulb is about the size of your thumb with a basal plate nearly 1" thick!

I sliced the basal plate, chopped the bulb into 1/8ths, inserted toothpicks, soaked in fungicide and planted in perlite. I am not going to disturb it. When cleaning it up, I saw that there is a red hole going straight down from the neck....so, we'll see what happens. The thicker part of the bulb showed no red.
K

Good luck, Kristi!

-Blanca

Good luck and lets hope it has a will to live

Well...the latest vic...I mean experiment (on the very small imported bulb)....just plain rotted! Guess it was a goner from the start. Expensive waste...

Meanwhile, here is H. Candy Cane. An offset from the first Hippeastrum I got in 1991. It had not roots and was just existing. This is the one I sliced and diced in December...many offsets!
K

Is it possible to reverse the order of entries? I have to scroll all the way to the end of the postings to read the latest one. Does anybody know if reversing order can be done?
Thanks,
Nancy

Nancy, it's not possible...it's just how the Garden Web forums work! The original post is followed by all the responses. A bit like reading a book....
K

Hi, Kristi,
Thanks for the information about posting. I did find the systemic fungicide and will be attempting to chip 2 Gervase bulbs this weekend. Your Candy Cane bulb/s look so healthy. It looks like you've got the hang of it. I'll post photos of my bulbs when there's something to share.

OK it's been a year, how about an update

Offsets from H., Candy Cane are growing, but all I got was rot from K bulb. I'd try this again, but would start with a healthier bulb!

hi Kristi,

How long it lasted for the bulb new bulbs got?

this is a great thread that needs to be bumped every so often …

and updated with photos and stuff …

it def. is faster than growing from seed … and starting with a 'known' quantity (a bulb you like when it flowers) … it's a good way to clone the stuff you like and of which you want more ...

I have never tried this process before but I think I will give it a shot!