The Dawning of... Part 2...

intercessor, I get alot of disparity in the progress of seedlings so I assume it has to do with their genetics. Some will put out several basal leaves while others just a few. I think your seedlings are doing quite well in spite of the bug problems. Are you giving them some dilute fertilizer?

Whatever is Wanda talking about....

Bell out of order. Please knock.

Yes fertilizer. I'll go out in the garage to see what it is...Ok it is called Expert Gardener 15-30-15 All Purpose Plant fert. A Miracle Grow knock off, less expensive though :*) It says to use 1/2 teaspoon/gallon. I started at that, but because the air is so dry I diluted it to 1/4 teaspoon/gallon and water every 3 ish days.
http://www.expertgardener.org/ProductCategories/WaterSolublePlantFoods/AllPurposeWaterSolublePlantFood/

The first post just kind of pulled me in....

Be careful Wanda... there may be some UGOs down that rabbit hole...

UGOs?

Wanda, take a look at the last thread, there is a link at the top. It might prove to be more entertaining than a rabbit hole.

I looked at the last thread and am still wondering where I am in the space-time cintinium.
Scotty, beam me up!

Or beam me home(?)

This is just getting curious-er and curious-er.....

I saw dawning of and started posting. Sorry for hijacking it :8*)

Hummm, the powers of the Dawning.......I see the word 'hijack', does this means intercessor is one of the Mighty Pard's trusty Pirate helpers????

intercessor, is the real name 'Interceptor', in disguise? Is intercessor growing a whole new breed of UGO's???

The endosymbiosis effect may be taking over.............

And I just dropped 3 old VHS tapes of Star Wars 4,5 & 6 to infect another generation--my great nieces& nephews.
Of course, I have the DVD set of six in the Science Fiction section of my film collection. A wood fire & good movie in the dead of winter help me forget that it's too cold & dark to garden.

How's this for a fatty? It's very windy tonight, it has some shelter but it's worrying....see how pale my hand was, it was sunny today but in low 40's.

Here I am sitting at my computer eating my noodles and wondering of all things about how wallaby's pod was doing and..... THERE IT IS!!! I think wallaby found the telepathic UGO.... (nice looking pod).

pard, can't get enough seeds to sort?

I keep wondering how much fatter it will get, how many 'columns' of seed it has making. It has several grooves, I think 6 columns so that must be the number of seed columns I guess. Fat as it is there is a long way to go but the stem and leaves are still nice and green. A -3C or less frost didn't touch it, it was just below freezing last night but the next 10 days is forecast higher. It's a trooper!

Hey I'm done with the pods now. Finished off the orientals today. Boy they are really funny looking this year. Very small seeds but I do see embryos. Yes 6 columns. Most of my pods had a lot of chaf. I'm getting my hypogeal seeds started now after a bit of research to find which ones germinate like that. Monadelphum and parryi. I have lots of seeds so am experimenting with germination techniques. Oct. 22 I placed a pinch of pardies in some water w/H2O2 added. Yesterday I potted them up. Same with an OT seed. Also on Oct. 22 I direct seeded one of the yellow pink picotee trumpet seeds and it came up yesterday so I am thinking positive on those guys. That was about 26 or 27 days. Will send some pardy seed off to NALS seed chair and maybe some trumpet seeds.

Pard, please elaborate on the water/H2O2 method. How much water and did you change it periodically?

Oh I just use these little shot glasses I get from the Goodwill, they are handy for stuff like this and rooting cuttings. I don't measure anything since I do that for a living I don't want to do it at home too. So, I boil the water first in the microwave and cool it; pour the shot glass half full and a little dollop of H2O2 and about 10 seeds and shake it, then onto the window sill to be ignored until yesterday. Since they didn't show any sign of germination (they did seem to be plumped up a little) I thought it best to pot them up. I have germinated other seed that way, daylilies for one.

Noodles! I love noodles! (My favorites are soba.)

So in the peroxide dilution from about Oct 22 to Nov 19. I guess peroxide doesn't evaporate?

Noodles were great! I topped them with a yummy stir-fry of lots and lots of veggies. What are soba noodles? Will have to check them out.

I don't think the peroxide evaporates much but the extra oxygen gradually gets depleted. The bubbles keep the seeds suspended at the surface and hopefully any mold is kept at bay. My guess is I slopped about half a mL into each glass.

Hum...i was having some problems with my pel cutting container. Everytime I looked at it, the 3 inch clay pot sunk in the middle and filled with water was empty. Finally found out my cats were drinking out of it. Very strange as they have their own bowl of water that they all refuse to touch, but will drink out of the toilet or a dripping faucet and very occasionally, the dog's dish. I don't know why I bother giving them a fresh bowl of water twice a day. I imagine if I started putting out shot glasses of water, I'd have the same problem.

So, you haven't actually seen germination on the lily seed when in the water. Please let us know if and when they actually germinate now that they are potted up.

Can't believe how many scales I have with small bulblets set. I don't know what I'm going to do with all of them. I'm really surprised that the one Claude Shride scale I obtained has already set 2 bulblets. I didn't think a martagon would set that fast.

OK Beak, I'll do that. Pardalinum seed is very slow to germinate. It can take several months. My interest here is to see if the soak will shorten the time it takes. Congratulations on your martagon babies. I have started them from seed but haven't grown them out. They usually end up in my pot ghetto and then disappear. I'm trying harder this time but something will have to leave my garden for something new to come in:-(

Cats can just be that way you know....

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat. You can find them at Asian markets.

Congrats on Claude Shride, Beaker! Goodness, I've been spelling his name wrong all this time.

Rick, it might be that I'm wrong on the spelling. LOL, I've been talking about this martagon all summer long to Forrest and he keeps correcting me. I kept calling it Clyde Schride.

No, no. You are right - Claude Shride (without the c in Shride). I checked it out in a couple reputable sources.

This message was edited Nov 20, 2006 6:46 PM

Oh gosh how boring these dark nights can be! It's dark around 4pm now, the sun is about gone by 3.30, that is if it shows itself. Not a bad day today though, I took some pics just as it was getting fully dark.

I've been trying for ages to get a good top view of THE pod. Today I managed an interesting one, the camera has infrared so it fixes the focus and can produce very good results.

Well what is that round purple thing to the top right???? I thought for a start it must be on the camera lens, I had been taking some pics upside down of something else. But the next pics didn't have a thing on them! It has a darker purple ring inside the outer white haze, a purple spot in the middle and it looks to be segmented in at least 4 pieces with faint lines running from the centre.

It's an UPO or Unidentified Purple Object!!!! Pard, have you been here again with your PRODOFFPARD spaceship?

...rumble...bump....rumble...bump.....

Cap'n Slappy what in the heck is going on now you numchuck... Say what??... Oh, sorry... forgot about the scheduled deployment of the top secret purple spy eye pod watcher (TSPSEPW)... now that the UGOs have been used up it is time to move in for the kill, er, make that pod heist... little does the wallaby know or suspect... the last UGO hasn't worn off yet... and by then the pod will be with us... on board the PRODOFFPARD... Oh Chumbucket, please pour me another glass of....

I guess the Mighty Pard is foiled again. Nothing can get past that camera of yours, Wallaby!

My FOPS Camera (Foil Offensive Prodoffpard Spaceship) has done the job Sherleft! The infrared has destroyed the TSPSEPW, you are correct, the Mighty Pard has been foiled once again!

The UGO's to which she refers have all gone to mush, totally useless now! Like mushy peas........

Poor Pardy, her plots are always successfully foiled :0)

I've been looking closer up at that purple thing. The white edges are sectioned like the turbine blades on a jet engine, the purple ring has flat edges where it joins the outer white part and each section is bordered to the centre spot. The whole centre part looks to be slightly bulbous, all a bit like a flying saucer!

It must be some sort of pollen, I don't think it would be a seed as the pic is much larger than reality.

I blew it up, if it posts big you will see it

Oh that's just a run-of-the-mill alien probe. I just swat the darn things with a rolled up paper and that's that.

(Did you notice that in the thumbnail of the enlargement, it looks like a smiley face?)

Bleep-blork.

R.

Oh Watson. You and your bloody newspaper. If you would just spare one for me to examine . . . .

The pod is looking close to maturity, the outer skin feels loose. We have had 4 days of fog and frost around freezing point, today I don't think got above freezing but last night probably -4C, tonight the same.

This doesn't seem to have harmed it all, probably has primed the seed for growth.

While it's looking OK I think it is best to leave it on the plant until the last possible moment I can. If it starts to look wet and soggy then I will remove it but at the moment it looks and feels dry.

If this species of lily is self incompatible, as there was no other lily open at the same time and if it is not a hybrid (it doesn't look like the typical philipinnense), does this mean it has been pollinated by gloriowhatsits? If there happens to be some other species in it, i.e. a cross, the chances of it working have to be high don't they ?

I can't wait to see the seeds! That finger always seems to end up in the picture too!

Will it ever ripen and reveal it's (possibly) alien secrets?

Great to see it again, even bigger than before.

I think the seeds are so close to maturity now, the pod is yellowing and I can see the seed ripples, it feels loose when I press it now where before it had a firm feel.

I reckon it's just a matter of ripening now, if I had to take it off I think they would be OK. Some seed will finish drying in the pod if taken off early, but you have to be able to leave the pod intact! It's coping with the weather and the stem is still OK other than a brown patch on it.

The aliens secrets will be revealed when the seeds are grown to mature bulbs.........what a wait that will be! That is if they are viable seeds, they must be!

If the pod is loose and airy inside, seed should be sufficiciently ripened to pick if you had to, for instance, if it was going to get too cold. But I think it is wise to not remove them, as long as molding, etc. is not a threat. Just because the pod is spongy, of course doesn't meant the seeds are dry inside. I let my pods dry naturally, even when they are inside. Pods should crack open by themselves and the slow drying of the seeds (which I assume is best) will continue.

It gets my morning check every day, I go and examine it and ask if it feels OK. I am trying to let it go full term, but if needs be I will do all in my powers to incubate the seeds in the correct manner in a more friendly environment.

This is one baby that needs careful consideration, I will keep you all informed of it's progress report!

The seed pod has gone full term! On my daily gentle squeeze as I do my rounds, it felt just a little bit more dried and loose today. I heard a 'pop' and the top seams had split!

So, as the seeds looked brown and I dare not risk it to the strong winds we are having, I broke the stem off and brought it inside.

The seeds look good, most look to have an embryo, and there is TONS of them!

Now what are the chances, the only other one that could have pollinated it is the second flower to open, this one I pollinated on the 14th September, the 2nd to open was on 23rd Sept. Too long?