Hi Jeff,

Welcome to the group :-)))) Your hippies look wonderfully healthy and the blooms are and the blooms are just beautiful. Thank you so much for rescuing that poor bulb from it's wax prison. You have no idea how much it disgusts me to see growers offer these poor tortured bulbs for a quick bloom then the trash and all in the name of profit...GRRRRRRRR :-((((((

I too live in the north and I have to wait until at least late May to put things outside. I try to put them in the shade of my grape vine until they acclimate, then full sun and lots of fertilizer. There will be some leaf burn but soon enough, new leaves will start growing nice and strong.

Any way, your garden in the background looks equally beautiful and please post more of your wonderful pictures as we can sure use them during this rather scary time :-)))

Thank you for the kind note Fred. Much appreciated! yes, I'm in Cleveland Ohio, so lots of winter and lots of clouds and rain.

Here are some more pics:

I crossed the noid with apple blossom and have a bunch of babies growing. I crossed both ways and interesting the only ones that thrived were the noid as pollen parent. Pic below, left side is noid as seed parent (most seeds sprouted in water but only 1 has survived), right is noid as pollen parent with Apple Blossom (most seeds sprouted, threw out so many that sprouted in water as I don't have room to plant).

Here are some pics of the menagerie:

I also have a lot of succulents, they re looking a little winter worn but should bounce back now that we have some sun, them enjoying it today

I also did a cross of Pink Surprise and Benfica, pods growing now

Fabulous growing, really dramatic & impressive. Certainly a breath of fresh air & uplifting, Welcome & thanks for sharing.

KarenS, NYC

Absolutely lovely :-)))) Your menagerie looks wonderful and thanks to the bright and increasing daylight, everything will definitely bounce back. BTW I'm in Cambridge (Boston) MA and currently we're having cold rain with the possibility of wet snow mixed in...yukkkkk!!!!

Hello Jeff and welcome on board! Vlad here, from Berlin Germany (also pretty up North, but rather mild in winter).

I love love love what I am seeing from you, very healthy plants, so please keep them coming. And thank you so much for saving the orange one from the wax prison. By the way, take a look at Orange Souvereign, it is one of the sturdiest I can remember.

And, you will simply love Picotee!

Thank you all! I really appreciate the warm welcome and the kind comments. Vlad, I just got an orange sourvereign bulb. It being off season most of the bulbs in the batch were in pretty rough shape and were starting to put up scapes. I decided to do a hot water bath (115degF/46degC for 45 minutes) as a method of prophylaxis to protect my collection from mites and red blotch. I'll see how they react to it. In regard to Picotee, I hope the white is true and not streaked with red, the bulb is certainly nice, it'll be the first time blooming. Hope you're all safe & well. My best.

Picotee does not usually have the additional stripes, while Picasso does. I also love its flower shape.
About the hot water treatment, I also do it regularly and I use my picnic food box for it. Works best against red blotch, as we cannot import Banrot from the US

Thank you for the great info Vlad. Do you do HWT at the first sign of disease? or do you do it routinely to all the bulbs after you lift in the fall ? or before you plant in the spring ? Do you know if the HWT kills dormant roots or negatively affects flowering in the spring if it's done to the bulb in the spring vs. the fall? (this is something that I've read). Thank you in advance and sorry for all the questions :-)

I normally do it only on those bulbs that I spot any infection and normally before the rest period, in spring only if I notice any infection. Some roots die indeed, but not all and sometimes it does damage the flowering (if they are already out of the bulb)

Hi Jeff,

I've had good luck with sulpher powder treatment followed by reduced watering and a very well drained potting mix.

Welcome to the group, Jeff and congratulations to your beautiful and healthy plant collection! Please post a picture of your Picotee when it is in bloom. It is one of my favourites and actually the varietiy that brought me to the world of Hippeastrum.

Anja

So I got some really good deals on old bulbs from last season (Cocktail, Merry Xmas, Red Lion, and orange sovereign). the cocktail bulb was quite rotted. I trimmed it and the other of old scales and dead tissue. This removed quite a bit of the side of the cocktail bulb. Then did a hot water treatment (112-115degF for 45 minutes) and potted up. what can I expect from the cocktail bulb? I'm wondering if the main plant will die and put up bulblets...I've never so invasively cut into a hippe bulb before! thank you all!

Jeff,

Good luck with your experiment and please keep us informed on the progress.

I just wanted to say I enjoyed the pictures of your menagerie too. I love your shingling scindapsus amongst other things you have growing there!

Jeff, if the growing point was not really cut in halves, then the bulb will continue to grow. If it were, it will give offsets. There are exceptions to this rule, have fun with it

I had to do the same with my Ruby Star bulb. I did not do the HWT but I used fungicide. It is now sitting on the heating pad and I'm praying for baby bulbs since I'm sure that I touched the growing point...

Fingers crossed Anja!

Picotee doing its thing finally ! ! !