South American plants

Sorry I forgot to introduce myself

I am a commercial bulb-salesman in the little bit less usual varieties

As hobby I run a small nursery
I sell to some international suppliers , as Dix export and Van Tubergen (same owner),
if I have leftovers from unusual bulbs

I don't export neither is the nursery open for public
the bulbs are just for sale at plant-shows

For the rest I prefer to swap seeds or bulbs
so I can increase my knowledge and assortment

Roland

Chileflora mentions also Solaria brevicoalita
but this is maybe a synonym
I will have a look later

Roland

Here is a little info for the family
See: Floral Anatomy and Systematics of Alliaceae with Particular Reference to Gilliesia, a Presumed Insect Mimic with Strongly Zygomorphic Flowers

What I understand is that they are different
two are Gethyum and three are Solaria
but they are different

Roland

I bought ten different Alstroemeria's
at Chileflora
Just the smaller ones
I don't have the space for the larger ones
Just google Chileflora and the name of the Alstroemeria
this is easier , because some are under Perennials
other under the bulb section
sure it's an interesting place for the real plant-lovers

First Alstroemeria umbellata

Pictures taken away
to complicated to show

Roland

Moderator note:  the simple steps of indicating "fair use" when posting copyrighted photos by others, were supplied numerous times (state "fair use", include a link to the source site).  Roland feels this is too complicated and subsequently deleted the photos.  Since many single messages showed someone else's copyrighted photos one at a time without commentary, once the forumist deleted the photos, the empty posts no longer made sense, so all empty messages were deleted accordingly to eliminate confusion for forumists.  sigh :(

To see the Alstroemeria photos that Roland has posted, take a look at the ChileFlora web site:
http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/PIC_FAMILIES_SIMPLE_...

Roland - I know a lot of the Alstro. names from seedlists but very nice to see them pictured here. I have grown pallida and the lovely dwarf form of hookeri in the garden, but sadly have lost them now. I do have a few others from Archibald seed but have lost the names. They are great plants and I would like to try them again on sand beds. Do you also grow or know Leontochir?

I ordered the seeds Tim
But I have never seen them

Roland

Hoy

How long did it take before they germinated
How old are your plants
and do you grow them outside , glasshouse or in a poly-tunnel
at which temperature in the winter

Lots of questions
but it is the first time I try to grow Alstoemeria
I thought they where all tall plants

now I found small plants
I want try to grow them

Roland

The only one I have in the garden is a A. ligtu hybrid
tall and flowering every year

the flowers are nice
but much to tall for me

Do you know if the plants can handle greenhouse temperatures in pots ?

Roland

Sounds good
My poly-tunnels are just free of frost
What means that on some places
the temperature drops down to -2 / -3 °C

I will try the species in the soil in a few years
First they have to germinate and to grow :)

Roland

I just got in seeds from Chili

Alstroemeria philippii var. albicans
Alstroemeria werdermannii var. flavicans
Rhodophiala sp. #1006
Rhodophiala laeta
Tropaeolum hookerianum ssp. austropurpureum

Roland

I have to do that
In a normal winter here they will freeze

Roland

For the first time in flower here
the miniature Tropaeolum brachyceras

Roland

Thanks Rick
they slept Three years
now the plant is 150cm tall (with pot 175 cm)
with hundreds tiny flower-buts
must be fantastic in a month or so

Roland

Beauties Fermi
I like the Habranthus tubispathus Salmon Pink form
and the Habranthus martinezii

maybe one day we can swap some seeds

Roland

Roland, I understand a preference for small growing plants- particularly for tender species- for me they have to remain indoors all year! (I've been thinking about trying some summer growers that can be lifted for fall and could grow outside, but haven't started any yet.. large garden Gladiolus can be grown that way here, maybe I should try some more interesting ones-- but that is for another thread!) I have not looked at the South American species so much (apart from cacti!)...

Fermi- love the Zephyranthes :)

Same here
I grow all my plants indoor (most small plants)
in the poly-tunnels it can be -3/-4°C
For here now it was so mild
but now last night -9ºC
for Wednesday they give -13ºC
cold for here but our family near the rocky mountains are laughing

I hope they make a mistake

Roland

The news is telling us about unusual cold temperatures in Europe-- many people dying even!
True, for us, -9 is a temperature for night in early fall...lol-- but the effect of temperature is very much dependent on what you are used to, what you are prepared for! Hope your plants will be okay...

If I could have a greenhouse that did not go below -3 or -4C, I would think myself very lucky :) frankly, if I could keep a greenhouse that got no colder than -10 or -20C, there would be a world of things I could grow...lol

I think Poly-tunnels are easy to heat
I use bubble air plastic on the vertical site
summer and winter
during the night I use aluminium-shade cloth
this is reflecting the heat and cold enormous
and of-course a ventilator for ail circulation

today I will buy a new small ventilator for in a tube
plus 10 meter tube 10 cm

this will bring the cold air from the poly-tunnel to the heater (I hope)
to get a better air circulation

Roland

Many lovelies, Trond :) I finally visited your thread from that trip- fantastic!

Lori-- I know the zone numbers aren't that helpful, always, but there are so many plants that are just a bit too tender for us outdoors (I don't stress about it-- even z2-3 hardiness includes more plants than I will ever be able to grow!)- there are a lot of cacti and succulents that could be grown in a greenhouse that just took the edge off our coldest days- a balmy zone 5, say, with moisture control (would have been easy this year-only 2-3 weeks below -20C so far) and I imagine a lot of mediterranean bulbs, and south africans as well.. if it were -10C only, even more things :) Light would only be needed for those things growing in mid-winter, and at those temps, I'm thinking of things that would be mostly dormant in mid-winter..

The greenhouse would certainly have to be very well-insulated and heated... when it's -20 C outside here, it's -20 C in our greenhouse too!

Yes, it would need to be well thought out- there are no plans at the moment, just vague fantasies-- sometimes I think of it as an extension of outdoor gardening (eg- some of those cool NZ plants that are probably not hardy here) and sometimes as an extension of indoor gardening- which in some ways is my more serious plant collecting! Certainly I wouldn't think of the traditional flimsy all glazing sort of construction as anything other than a mid-summer space here...lol.. I'd be thinking very well insulated, probably not glazed to the ground, possibly not on the north side, (maybe even lean-to) and probably some kind of heavy shutters or drapes to enclose it entirely on the coldest days.. with the right system, you'd only need modest heating to keep it from deep freeze...
Have you seen any of the type of greenhouse that blows warm daytime air (I know- no value in the coldest weather) into the soil under the greenhouse, and pulls it back out at night? I think I read of someone getting 8 months of vegetable growing with that system in Edmonton.. not bad....

cohan wrote:

Have you seen any of the type of greenhouse that blows warm daytime air (I know- no value in the coldest weather) into the soil under the greenhouse, and pulls it back out at night? I think I read of someone getting 8 months of vegetable growing with that system in Edmonton.. not bad....

No, I haven't - sounds intriguing.  I don't get how air is blown into the soil??  Is there some kind of base on the greenhouse with, I dunno, maybe a baffle system that traps air, or ... ?  It seems that most people with greenhouses around here don't even have thermostatically-controlled fans to control excess heat, let alone systems to deal with extreme cold, so whatever system they are using, it sounds quite advanced!
Having said that, we get 7 months use out of our greenhouse using only small electric heaters, pond heaters, and by covering the insulated ponds with styrofoam sheets at night to hold in some warmth - but it's those other 5 months that are the killers!  ;)  We used to run it for 8 months, but March is pretty unpredictable and it has not seemed to be worth the effort, so April is the usual start.

Lori wrote:

cohan wrote:

Have you seen any of the type of greenhouse that blows warm daytime air (I know- no value in the coldest weather) into the soil under the greenhouse, and pulls it back out at night? I think I read of someone getting 8 months of vegetable growing with that system in Edmonton.. not bad....

No, I haven't - sounds intriguing.  I don't get how air is blown into the soil??  Is there some kind of base on the greenhouse with, I dunno, maybe a baffle system that traps air, or ... ?  It seems that most people with greenhouses around here don't even have thermostatically-controlled fans to control excess heat, let alone systems to deal with extreme cold, so whatever system they are using, it sounds quite advanced!
Having said that, we get 7 months use out of our greenhouse using only small electric heaters, pond heaters, and by covering the insulated ponds with styrofoam sheets at night to hold in some warmth - but it's those other 5 months that are the killers!   ;)   We used to run it for 8 months, but March is pretty unpredictable and it has not seemed to be worth the effort, so April is the usual start.

I'll dig up a link on those greenhouses-- tomorrow  ;D...
As you say, you can get some months just with the 'greenhouse effect' and minor heat-- that's why I think it wouldn't take that much if you only wanted to bump up the minimums a couple of zones :)

In Holland they build now Neutral Greenhouses
that means they produce the same or more energy as they consume
there are a lot of experiments with different foils on the glass panels
but this is not for hobbyist like us in the moment

from an Alpine greenhouse there is an good example here
See: http://bp1.blogger.com/_2m3wGnWBkAk/SFldTDoOZCI/AAAAAAAAAKE/c3M0roVU_3Y/...
must be at least 1,5 merer deep

Roland

McDonough wrote:

bulborum wrote:

from an Alpine greenhouse there is an good example here
See: http://bp1.blogger.com/_2m3wGnWBkAk/SFldTDoOZCI/AAAAAAAAAKE/c3M0roVU_3Y/...
must be at least 1,5 merer deep

Roland

just not enough time.

Mark

You work much to hard
and make toooooo much money ;D

do as what I did with the bathroom
ask somebody to do the job
My wife happy after 11 years waiting
and I could continue working with my hobby  :)

No , you are wrong
It isn't flower-stamps ;D

Roland

Roland- beautiful greenhouse! True, I think there are a lot of innovations being made now- more so in Europe, but hopefully North American governments will  see the benefit in supporting more of that kind of research instead of only supporting petroleum  :rolleyes: ( I know, living in Alberta I'm supposed to blindly support all oil business...lol)

Here is the link for the greenhouse I mentioned:
http://www.sunnyjohn.com/indexpages/shcs.htm

Do you have an indication from the price per m²

No idea, personally, about cost, I think they may discuss it a bit on the site, its a long time since I read it all the way through; I think the technology is fairly simple though, so costs will be mainly construction- depending how much you do yourself, and regular costs for glazing etc..

Tropaeolum hookerianum starts flowering here
flowers after six months

Roland

bulborum wrote:

Tropaeolum hookerianum starts flowering here
flowers after six months

Roland

Pretty! Is it a climbing sp? Do you mean flowering 6 months from seed?

Yeh

six months from seed
I was surprised too
its climbing and in the moment 60 cm tall
As support I put a small bamboo stick in the pot
leaves are curling around the fine branches
but it looks if the plant grows taller

Roland

Cool :) a genus I don't know much about, apart from knowing it has species I don't know  ;D

Today in flower
Alstroemeria leporina
from seeds I got from Chile

Roland

The flower-stem is 25 cm long
but the flower is to heavy
so it grows over the ground
I seeded it last year September

they germinate bad here
from 100 seeds only one plant
the same for most other ones I seeded

Next time I try it with glibberine

Roland

bulborum wrote:

they germinate bad here
from 100 seeds only one plant
the same for most other ones I seeded

Next time I try it with glibberine

Roland

Roland ,(and others),i been given a little gibberellic acid to 'play' around with.
Having not used the stuff before i'm wondering how successful it will be on old Colchicum seed.

Cheers Dave.

Dave

I would do a test if you have enough seeds
one without glibberine
a weak and a stronger solution

Roland

Alstroemeria umbellata