The 168 degree F Dip

While touring some of the U of Minnesota greenhouses with lily trials, we came upon some amaryllis. These were the simple ones that everyone has seen, like Red Lion, for instance. They are testing out a "new" method of quicker rebloom:

--After blooming is over, cut flower and foliage back
--Dunk bulb and soil in 168 F water for 30 minutes
--Repot, and grow plant (no dormant period)
--It is supposed to rebloom

Has anyone heard of this?

Bill Warren in Ocala, Florida has written about his "Consecutive Blooming Technique" which sounds a bit like what you describe at U of M.

" Send an email request for Consecutive Blooming Technique
to= amstgrp@yahoo.com learn how to make them bloom 3 times a year.
Bill in Ocala = Amaryllis Study Group "

R.

Seems to me like the bulb would die out very quickly. There's a reason people sleep, the same thing applies to plants.

Thanks, Robert. I will do that.

Ecobioangie, what you say had occurred to me also, and it only seems logical, but . . .

If there is one rule I have learned in horticulture, it's that there are no unbroken rules in nature. Still, it is more the lack of rejuvenation time, rather than the sleep time that concerns me.

I myself am not interested in trying this technique.

As far as tiring the bulb out, get this (gleaned from a bulletin board):

"You can not let the bulbs go into the growing stage and get them back to blooming without doing a form of forcing instead of Consecutive Blooming which is actually keeping the bulb from going into the growth state and getting it to send up next years blooms now."

Sound like a bulb would just fade away after that kind of treatment.

R.

I posted about one technique of forcing amaryllis blooming here:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/711545/

R.

Perhaps the greenhouse is more concerned with the display of the bloom than the life of the bulb?

It must be something like that.

There are only so many buds in line in the bulb and to force them causes the number coming to go down. The next season there may be fewer scapes, say, only one whereas if one had just left them alone, there might be three. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the following season, there were no blooms at all.

The highest temperature I have seen for treating a bulb for mites and pests (using the "hot water" technique, was 125F, back in the 1930s when researchers were exploring the method. Temps today are 118F at most.

I wonder how long the 168F dip lasts, as too much heat for too long ruins the developing blooms. But in a purely academic sense. As I said, I won't be doing it, even if I really-really wanted some out of season blooms.

Well, *maybe* to impress someone really-really-really special..........should I ever meet someone like that..... mee-ow! =8-O

R.