Friday, March 21, 2014

Hippeastrum Intokazi, Mambo; Navel Orange seedling

Wow! I didn't think it'd been that long since I last posted!

12/16/13 - Hippeastrum Intokazi
I cross-pollinated the Intokazi flowers. All of the pods failed, unfortunately.

1/23/14 - Hippeastrum Mambo
The amaryllis above was sent to me in a kit labeled "Cinderella". I didn't think it was right so I posted it on the amaryllis forum and it was identified as Mambo.

2/10/14 - H. Mambo seed pods
I cross-pollinated all of the Mambo blooms except for two. The pollen on this plant was so messy that the two un-crossed flowers were selfed. All of the crossed pods had failed except for one(?). The two blooms that were inadvertently selfed had taken and swelled. The pod that was crossed(?) was crossed with Temptation. I guess I hesitate to say it was fathered by Temptation because every single crossed pod failed on both Intokazi and Mambo. Mambo's pollen was so messy that I don't know if this crossed pod was actually selfed or not. I'll be planting the seeds and I'll know the answer .. in about 5 years. Heh!

2/11/14 - Chrissy and Koda playing in the second snowfall
What amazed me is that we had a total of three separate snowfalls this year. Of all the years I've lived here, that has never happened before. I don't know what impact it has had on the plants here. I won't know until spring really kicks in. Weatherman is warning of at least one more frost next week.

3/20/14 - Navel Orange seedling germinating
Back on February 27th, I was eating a Navel Orange and was pretty surprised to find a seed in it. The experience was so bizarre that I decided to save the seed and do some research. I settled on the 'wet paper towel' method. Finally on March 20th, I see life!

3/20/14 - Navel Orange seedling setup
I cut a plastic water bottle in half, found some unused cocoa fibre, and used an old Reveal 60 watt bulb.

3/21/14 - Navel Orange seedling
Seems pretty happy after just one day of being moved!