Thank you for the links, SSG.
In Cornell University's experiment, water was replaced with an alcohol solution when the shoots were several inches long. Since potting soil cannot be replaced the same way, I probably need to start watering Amaryllis bulbs with an alcohol solution much sooner.
One of the bulbs (an older bulb from last year) is still refusing to wake up. A perfect candidate for this experiment. I will start to give it some alcohol as soon as I see signs of growth :o). Will keep you posted.
Indoor gardens fall winter 2013, #2
re the time lapse- I guess the alcohol was on the left? Did it say?
THe 'alcohol' one bloomed sooner, shorter and smaller than the other. The one on the right got taller and also more leaf growth and a more vigorous looking plant.
All in all, if I'm seeing that correctly, it seemed to work but to the possible detriment of the plant long-term. Maybe it would catch up later, you could switch to just water.
Sally, I found a blog post that explains what was on the video.
The one on the left was grown in a solution of 7:1 ratio of water to 80˚ vodka. I think the height limit may be less noticeable when you grow in soil and water with a weaker alcohol solution. In the video, the water-only amaryllis needed to be staked.
He did a followed up with 3% and 4% alcohol solutions, using rubbing alcohol this time. Here's the link! http://slapphappe.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/amaryllis-on-alcohol-revisited/
Just one observation-----
No one can predict how many bloom spikes a bulb will produce.
That has too many other factors contributing to it.
So--maybe the comparisons in the # of bloom spikes is just a random chance.
G.
I had gotten this amaryllis to give as a present and when I opened the box it had a bloom spike already starting and terribly twisted downward. So I potted it up and put it with the house plants not expecting much.... To my delight it stood up within a couple of days and put out a couple of lovely blooms.
Here are a couple of pics of one of the new orchids we picked up last month. It has very graceful flower wands with small flowers that spiral around the stems.
Amaryllis flowers are so cheerful this time of year! I would love to get a few more if we do a group buy this year (hear that, Jill? ;-) )
Very interesting orchids, Holly. Are the flowers fragrant?
Something curious has happened to my Satin Coleus.
The top leaves are throwing a different color....
Winder if it is a "winter thing"?--or lack of light? Or--maybe it is reverting to
another parent-Coleus? Other wise--they all are doing well.
My 3 Acalyphas, which have done amazingly well, are all of a sudden
dropping their leaves. No! There are NO bugs on them......
I moved them from under my lights to the top shelf--natural light only.
Maybe they had too much light--also too warm under the lights...
Maybe I am watering it too much too....things dry out quickly under the lights.
Everything under there has grown so leggy. I need to take new cuttings
from all the Coleus---Yaddda....yaddda...yadda....I know I have said this before....
Look at this! Check yours if you have them and see if this same thing
is happening.....
Karen--how about yours? I know you have this one..
No they aren't fragrant. Just a bit different and so graceful.
Holly, gorgeous orchid! My mom and I go to the MD Orchid Society show and sale every Spring and love to drool over the prize winners.
Gita, I went down to check on my Velvet Mocha just now to see if my plant is doing this. It's still looking very red and normal. Well, there are a few leaves that have a tiny bit of green, but not like yours at all. I would hazard a guess that your plant is not getting enough light, and so it is reverting to green. Mine is under a 16 hr timed shoplight. During the Christmas season, it often got many more hours, sometimes 48 hrs straight because the timer was being used for the Christmas lights outside and I would forget to turn the lights off. Here's what it looks like right now.
My coleus are starting to look sad and some have started flowering :( I'm thinking about giving them a shot of fertilizer now so that I can take cuttings in a month or so.
typwc, Ric and I have been going the last few years and we really enjoy the show. Usually come home with a few new plants. Last year we realized that one of the vendors at the show has a GH not too far from our area. About 45 min drive. We gave him our contact info and he sent us an invitation to an open house back in Dec. He has quite the GH and we really enjoyed viewing his orchids, plus he really enjoys talking about his plants and since it wasn't busy when were there he really spent a lot of time talking orchids to us. He has quite the selection and several beauties that aren't for sale but beautiful to see.
Karen--
I suppose my Velvet Mocha is not getting enough light.
It is amid all the plants clustered around my LR window.
I don't want to burn my 3-globe LR light all day, though, and I do not have room
under my light set-up.
Well--the plant seems healthy and will re-grow the red leaves...I hope.
Not too worried....
Interesting to think that the velvet Mocha may have something green as its
parents.....Hmmmmmmmm... G.
I had a tiny, 3-section Holiday Cactus cutting send out ONE beautiful bloom...
SO dainty!!! Not pure white, as it had some blushes of pale pink.
Love it!
First pic two struggling coleus. I moved them to the warm end of the shelf and they are haning on
second is velvet mocha, limelight , and speckled noid. Donner this is the speckled one i am reserving for you.
My coleus also looks quite leggy, with leaves that look kind of droopy. Not sure what the problem is...
Sally--
To me--they all look OK. My black one looks the same--I don't think there
is anything 'wrong" with it. They just 'cup"...
In picture #1--the other Coleus is "Careless Love"
I did have a speckled one too--thought it was called "carnival" (???)
I have to say that--"Inky Fingers"--no matter how or what--is a very hardy grower.
Mine must be a foot tall--most of them are....That is why I keep saying I need to cut
the tops off and start new cuttings. One of these days....
What worries/surprises me most is that my 3 brownish Acalyphas have all
dropped their leaves lately. Have no idea why? Like I said earlier--it could be:
Too much light--too warm--or too much watering. I moved them. We will see...
1--Here is the mess of Coleus on top top shelf (just natural light from window)
2--Coleus on the middle shelf (under lights)
3--The big dark Coleus--by LR window
4--Satin Mocha Coleus under lights--lower shelf. This one has the normal coloring.
The orange tint is from the lights..it IS red.
5--Paul--if you are looking--here is your "Black-Foot Rabbit's Foot fern"
growing--slowly but surely....with my little, tiny CC behind it. It just bloomed..
Love the white--tinted with
a touch of pale pink...
Gita, that tiny CC, they just go all out for you!
Catmint- low light look there but otherwise healthy. I have one of those inky fingers.
thanks, Sally--I'll move it to a sunnier spot. Yes it is from Gita and I'm looking forward to planting it outside come spring! :-)
The white CC flower looks like a jade flower. Very pretty.
Here are a few Amaryllis pics
1. The 'Flamenco' flowers live on in water after the stalks broke off from the bulb
2. 'Double Dream'
3. 'Misty'
Donner, your amaryllis are beautiful!
Gorgeous. Makes me wish I stayed on schedule with Zombie. She's a trouper but I think she'll bloom in the garden again this year.
I checked on my Amaryllis down in the cold shop.
One of the bulbs, in my huge pot with 7 bulbs in it, has a bloom bud tip showing.
None of the others is that far yet. One has a leaf....
I guess it is time I brought them upstairs and started watering them.
I have 7 pots total--almost hate the thought! More changing plants around
so these will have room.
Keep in mind--these bulbs are MANY years old! The big pot is about 10 years old.
It had 5 bulbs in it to start. Then it "pupped" a couple more. Will see if they will bloom??
Alan Summers always said the "pup bulbs" had to have 4 leaves on it before they will bloom.
G.
Forgot to tell you what i was doing for a couple hours this morning...
Lovingly and slowly--I was applying Systemic Granules to ALL my CC pots--
big and small--as well to all my pots with Easter cactus in them.
Mostly trying to interrupt the darn Fungus Gnat life cylcle
Of course--there are 50 other plants they can "do their thing" in.
Not sure I can treat all of them---that would take a couple days....
Now my kitchen stinks a bit.....G.
This year I picked up 3 amaryllis after Christmas at Target for $1 each plus the nice clay planter. Well okay it cost more than $3, it cost my credit card number and identity, buuuuuuut who's counting....
Each bulb has a nice flower bud, they are each about a foot tall. I think the variety may have been 'Red Lion' or something?
Gita, I understand that fungus gnats thrive in constantly wet soil. Perhaps you could scale back on watering a bit?
Typ, so sorry to hear you got caught in the Target scam! Hope everything is okay with that.
Would love to see photos of your amaryllis when you get a chance!
I had that happen to me earlier last year. Not sure who or where they got my Debit Card info but all these charges started showing up on my card. They were all down in Orlando and luckily my Credit Union was on top of it. Didn't loose any of my $$ all was put back into my acct. Did take about a week for it to all come back it did get taken care of. Sorry Typwc, that you have to go thru it, too.
Karen--
I know Fungus Gnats like moist soil--but with my CC's--that does not seem to be true.
Most of my CC's are in clay pots--so I won't over water them. They dry our in days
after I have watered--at least so it seems on top of the soil. Some are in plastic.
Today--as I took one pot at a time to treat--I saw that in most of them the soil was dry.
Yet--as I moved the pots and started to scratch the top of the soil to loosen it,
the Gnats went flying all over from the disturbed soil.
Yes! I found that odd--as they are not supposed to be in dry soil--but they were.
It seemed, almost, like they were disturbed from the soil in the pots.
Don't know what else to tell you....I have sticky pads hanging right above the CC pots.
There are almost NO gnats on them--yet they are all over the counter and around the pots.
Why not on the sticky pads?????
Most of these pots are under my kitchen cabinets where the task lights are.
They seem to thrive here....just enough light? Some warmth from the lights?
Attention from me--as I always see them and attend to them.
I know I have posted pictures of my CC's under these lights. Can't find them just now--
too late--need to go to bed....
Beats me.....G.
typwc- Red Lion is probably right for the name of that bulb. FUnny I shopped at Target today and never gave it a thought.
We've had credit card 'issues' no idea who took the number but I was NOT in Towson spending $300 at Macy's that day!
The Hubs and I were both caught up in the Target thing when they talked about it on the news the second time, after Christmas, when they said that it was more people and more information stolen from those people. Looks like our bank is on top of it and we are getting new numbers. So far no one has accessed our bank account or credit. We signed up for the free credit monitoring for 1 year. I guess it's the best we can do right now. If you shopped at Target you can get the credit monitoring for free too, even if you didn't get caught up in it.
https://corporate.target.com/discover/article/free-credit-monitoring-and-identity-theft-protecti
I think it's ironic that I have always been paranoid about gas station pump card skimming but always thought Target was safe. Turns out not so much! Ah well, I still shop at Target because I'm not a huge fan of Walmart (more like, I hate Walmart;).
Sorry to hear about that, Holly. Do you use your check card as a credit card now more often or do you still use it as debit? Having your cash in limbo for a week is still very uncomfortable!
Oh wait, so what's this thread about again? Indoor Gardening? :)
Gita, Fungus gnats are such a pain. I hope the systemic works! I still have mealy bugs on my jade plant. But they are easy to kill, I just never seem to get all of them.
Sally, Thanks for the help on the name of the amaryllis.
Cat, I will post pics later today. :)
Need a new thread!! Hang on…..
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1348162/
This message was edited Jan 21, 2014 8:32 AM