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Amaryllids Garden
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Box 173, Barnawartha, 3688, Victoria. Phone/Fax:
02-60267377.
Email: plants_man@bigpond.com
Scadoxus cultivation tips and Images
Notes
on Scadoxus puniceus and Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. katherinae.
Gardening
folk are fast becoming aware of these wonderful plants from South Africa.
Scadoxus puniceus and S. multiflorus ssp. katherinae are bulbous plants with
large ovate shaped leaves, a sometimes spotted neck up to 900 ml tall, connected
to a bulbous plate and supported by thick, fleshy roots. The plants prefer to
grow on a shelf type environment so pot growing for this treasure is easy and
very rewarding. Scadoxus puniceus has an interesting and very curious bloom.
Arising before or during the foliage growing, the blooms look like some one has
a torch of red fire alight in the morning sun. S. multiflorus ssp. katherinae
has a large globular head of scarlet red to burnt orange with many flowers going
to make up the entire bloom. A breath taking sight in any garden!
After the bloom has faded, the fruit become apparent as a small green globe form where the flowers were. (If your Scadoxus is not setting seeds, you may need to get another clone and cross pollinate by rubbing your hands across each bloom.) When the fruits go red, they are ripe for picking. The small seed, inside the fruit, will need to be dried for a few days after the skin and seeds are separated. I prepare a mix of one part Sphagnum moss, 4 parts Seedling raising mixture and 4 part 5 – 10 ml. Orchid bark. All of these can usually be purchased at your local Nursery supply. Mix these together thoroughly and place into a 40 litre foam box. You can use anything you like to raise this bulb. Just remember to provide room for the roots. They can get quite big!
Press the seeds into the medium and leave on the east wall, under 75% shade cloth and water when the medium is drying out. Intermittent watering seems to help Amaryllid seeds germinate. The seeds respond to the difference in moisture content in the soils. The species Scadoxus puniceus usually geminates by hypergeal method. The seeds send out a radical and form a bulb and maybe one or two roots. They then wait until spring before they send up any foliage. It is at this time I start to feed with a dilute liquid cow manure fertilizer.
Around autumn, they start to go dormant for me. I place them back under cover so no rain gets to them during the colder months. I control the watering to once a month over the cooler period. This works very well for me. Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. katherinae seeds are raised in the spring in the same mix. Again, not too wet during the cooler months.
Happy seed raising,
Daryl (Dash) Geoghegan
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