This is what I found when I got snoopy and dug down to see what was going on with the Elise bulb that was a no-show this spring...
Elise, the bulblet making machine...
One of my orientals did that this year. I went digging around and I found it there, no top growth at all, just 30 new bulblets that I potted up, some of pretty decent size for only one year's growth. I just wondered what it was that sent it into overdrive on the bulblet production. Kind of a neat little phenomenon though.
Nice baby maker!
That's kinda scary (it's Halloween, ya know). Even the babies are having babies. . . . makes me think of aphids since they are born pregnant too. (cue the scream of horror.)
But as many of us probably already know, I don't think that the basic premise is all that unusual. It looks as though the either the central growing point or the basal plate was damage or rotted, and spurred said growths.
I once dug up what turned out to be a rotting bulb, a species lankongense even. It looked so bad I thought sure it was a gonner. Half of the bulb was mush. I don't know what prompted me, but I replanted it (mush and all!) in an area where I had no lilies, and proceeded to forget about it. The following spring it came back from the dead (another horror scream, please). I found it growing when I was weeding. Unfortunately, that was only after I had weeded it out! Well, the bulb is still there, as I ended up only pulling its wandering stem. I wonder if it will still have enough energy to reappear next year to haunt again.
BTW, I wouldn't mind one of the Elise bulblets. My first niece's name is Elise.
This message was edited Oct 29, 2008 9:29 PM
This one and another Elise were planted in the cedar container that I mentioned in the nepalense post. That means they were in some sort of potting mix that I concocted. The other Elise that I planted just inches away grew and bloomed just fine. So it must be something about this bulb. I don't think the roots got to growing on it. Then I quit watering in early summer because I was concerned the soil wasn't draining fast enough; I didn't want it to rot! The other one continued to do just fine without additional water.
Since I obtained these from the PNWLS last fall that means it arrived here very close to Halloween. Now it is celebrating its first birthday here by being WEIRD!
Lefty, I once had 2 bulbs of "Summit" from the Lily Garden. For 3 years it didn't come up, and each year I gently dug down to see what was going on. And each year the bulbs were still there but smaller than the previous year. By year 3 I got fed up and gave them a heave. Now THAT was weird! I have had no inclination to try them again...