Hi Rick

I've actually just purchased some pollen from you on eBay.

My most advanced mandonii I bought as a 12-18 month seedling, its been growing very vigorously and I have had it around a year so it would be at least 2-2 1/2 years old

Would you know how old mandonii has to be to flower? I'm going to freeze the pollen I get from you and use that

Once I eventually get flowers I'm happy to swap pollen/seeds if you still require it.

I bought some seeds from a US seller and they are growing very strongly also

Hi Wiljonn,

Mine came from Telos, and has grown faster than any hippeastrum I've ever seen. It was ~8-9cm wide when it started it's first flower spike, so it sounds like yours should start sometime soon. All else equal, the width of the bulb probably determines whether it can bloom or not. I have h.evansiae, which sends up a nice didplay from a fairly small 4-5cm bulb. It appears that mandonii needs to be larger.

Self-pollination of the first set of flowers produced fewer seeds than expected. The second set received pollen from cybister 'Chico'. One pod failed early on, but the second pod is much larger and 'lush' looking, pictured. This one is starting to ripen, which is very exciting, and has taken twice as long as the earlier pod, probably because it's much cooler now.

The latest flowers, spike #3, received mandonii pollen from a different genetic line, so the waiting game starts again!

Wiljonn, I'm hoping the pollen has already arrived? I'm sending you a private message.

--Rick

I had to put my fat fingers in the picture to show scale, and to get the camera to focus more sharply.