Re: [aroid-l] New Query

Ted.Held@hstna.com wrote:

 Any ideas
>about what is happening? I think I have ruled out nutrient deficiency
>because of the later successful flowering without cultural changes. My
>understanding of these things, as a non-botanist, is that a plant will not
>willingly attempt a flowering unless it has enough resources to carry it
>through. And, once started, a flower is more or less on "auto-pilot", which
>should spur the event to completion unless adverse conditions intervene.
>Maybe our list's fine botanists have some conjectures about what is
>happening? Thanks.
>
Certainly.  For well over a decade, I have had "amaryllis" (i.e., Hippeastrum) bulbs.  Usually, they will send up anywhere from two to four leaves, and then those leaves will one by one wither away and disappear, and the bulb will sit dormant for a few weeks and start again.  About every two or three years, the plant will get up to five leaves, and then flower.  They flower only when they have exactly five leaves, no more, no fewer.  Once the flowering is completed, the bulb goes back into its cycle of growing and losing leaves.  Whether or not there has been a flowering, the bulb will often (but not always) divide after each "wave" of leaves.
>Ted.
>
>
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