Re: Re: CULT: bloom season/freeze damage

Linda,

>Very interesting thought Donald - and nice we both did some very late
>planting so we have two data points.  So much for giving plants time to
>get acclimated!

I think the question here is how long it may take to acclimate.  Perhaps
this is longer than a season?  Seems to be the case here anyway.  Some I've
grown have waited a year or more before they decide to start doing well.
Others do well in the begining and then reverse acclimate?? - in other words
they seem to decide they don't like my part of Texas at all though they
didn't object in the beginning.  MACHO HOMBRE comes to mind on the former
list.  It was anything but a macho grower the first year with only a mild
improvement the second year.  Subsequent to those first two years it has
turned out to be strong (very macho) grower and reliable performer.  It has
not been disturbed since planting, but I think it needed it last year.
Trouble with that is during the drought times I seem to cause as many
problems by dividing and replanting as I get from overcrowding.  The weather
again.  But even more do well for a season or maybe two, then dwindle.

  I dunno if I believe it tho - usually, the cultivars
>that get the most damage one year continue to be the most susceptible to
>freezes.

This is probably true to a point.  However, conditions (weather again) can
set up a plant that would ordinarily (here) for damage when I don't usually
see that plant suffer from our variable weather.  When they do, however,
they seem just as susceptible to coming down with assorted ailments as
plants that seem to get it more often.  That makes it hard for me to
ascertain how much may be the plant and how much it is the location of the
plant and the conditions it gets subjected too.  E.g., two clumps of the
same variety sometimes react quite differently under the same weather
patterns but under different planting conditions.  So I tend to always feel
I simply haven't figured out what is best for that particular cultivar under
the conditions I have to grow it in.  In my case, that is likely to harsh
under the best of circumstances but it does seem they don't require 100%
perfection to make a reasonable adjustment.  Figuring out what that
adjustment might be isn't easy.  Simply 'guess and by golly' for the most
part.  But I'm stubborn and repeatedly tinker with what a plant has to cope
with.  More sun, less sun, more organic, leaner soil, wetter, drier, etc.
Sometimes I actually get it right.  I think that's the only reason I have a
few medians growing.  ZULA (MTB) finally got located right and has gone
crazy since, but for two years I considered it on the point of death most of
the time and never thought it would end doing well.

>Some of the increases that developed here on last year's new rhizomes
>that were planted here at the recommended time of year were less damaged
>than the parent rhizome.  Do you see that as well?

Yup.  Even though some were knocked down to ground level with that freeze,
they came back and grew better than the parent rhizome, many of which have
stalled in growth.  Could be that is because those parent rhizomes have an
undetectable bloom stalk and it froze out.  That means they will dry up
sometime this summer or will develop rot somewhat sooner.  The former would
sure be preferable.

> I'm assuming the new increases won't bloom this spring.

Not many, I wouldn't think.  However, for me, on some of the seedlings the
same effect is showing up on the primary seedling fan but I'm seeing a few
stalks coming on the increase on some that were rampant growers this last
summer.  A pleasant surprise and completely unexpected.  I really thought
first year plants wouldn't have a chance of blooming on the increase.  I
will note here that this is ONLY showing up on those seedlings with a parent
known to have reblooming tendencies.  In this case AUTUMN ECHO (the most)
and EARL OF ESSEX.  Both crosses yielded exuberant growing seedlings with
lots of increase on most of the seedlings.  Nearly all look like two or
three year clumps.  Too bad I consider these 'throw away' seedlings.  I made
the crosses for other reasons than expectation of nice blooms (trying to
calculate how easy it would be to retrieve some traits and trying to see how
bloom stalk height might be inherited), so the parent combination really
aren't likely to yield anything special.  These plants were also among the
most severely damaged by the freeze and there is a lot of deformed foliage
still growing out of the fans.  Still, I think it is because they are so
willing to grow so naturally had more tender foliage to get frozen.  Give
them three days of nice weather and they would grow visibly.  Essentially
the plants have grown all winter - have never stopped since they sprouted.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA



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