Post by meizzwang on May 9, 2023 13:43:51 GMT -5
Here's a super rare and absolutely amazing lily species that I haven't seen cultivated before, although I'm sure others have succeeded with it in the past. It naturally occurs just north of San Francisco and only goes North into maybe Mendocino County, CA! It has a super tiny range. The habitat is typically seasonal wetland-ish areas that are in bright, indirect light to full sun. Keep in mind, by the coast, it's not unusual to have cloudy days all summer long (aka JUNE GLOOM), so even if they're located in a spot that can get full sun, it's not always sunny in situ. The plants are also almost always shaded by tall grasses and shrubs, so they're effectively in part shade.
Historically, Lilium maritimum was also found in San Mateo County, CA (just south of San Francisco, CA), but those populations are believed to be extirpated. They're pretty much only found growing within a few miles from the coast, and are extreme rare in nature.
The hardest part about growing this is getting the dang seeds to germinate: I still have no clue what precise, repeatable steps can be taken to get uniform germination. Here's what I've tried:
1) warm treatment followed by cold treatment
2) stratification for 90 days, which resulted in about 20% germination
3) sowing in the fall and leaving the pot outside.
I've tried step 3 many times and have had the best success this way. In some years, this method yielded maybe 2-3 sprouts the first year, but as long as the seeds didn't dry up or get placed in scorching hot sun ever, they survived just sitting in a ziplock bag outdoors all summer long and then the following winter, many of the seeds germinated!
Substate-wise, I've tried a mixture of 60% sand/40% potting soil, which actually worked very well, but I've also used pure peat and this seems to be the best, at least under my care. The key is to treat them like a carnivorous plant: low nutrients in the soil is a must, otherwise they will get leaf tip burn very easily. They also don't really like full sun: I have them in bright, indirect light all day long and they seem to love it!
Temperature-wise, they're almost like darlingtonia: if the soil gets too hot, the bulbs will be mad, so keep them cool, like under ultra-highland conditions sans the super high humidity. You might be able to get away with high humidity if there is great air circulation. These are coastal plants, where the winter doesn't usually go below 35F and summer temperatures rarely go above 80F. That said, my pots froze over several times this past winter with no problems.
Feeding-wise, I wait until the bulb has pushed out a few leaves, and I soil feed them with maxsea 16-16-16 1x a month, 1/5 strength. Remember, these guys are sensitive like carnivorous plants! Stop feeding as soon as the plants stop growing, which is typically late summer. I still don't know how to feed them when they flower, this is the first time there's ever been success on this side!
Water-wise, I use only reverse osmosis water and NEVER have them sit in water! In the wild, they may be found in seasonally boggy areas, but the physics of water in a bog is completely different than in a pot. The soil should be kept hydrated at all times: cephalotus watering is probably the best analogy.
During the fall, they will die down to their bulbs and go dormant. they can be asexually propagated from scale divisions.
Okay, now for some pictures, all of which were taken 5/9/23:
Here are some seedlings that had great germination!
and the first ever bloom documented online that I know of that is from a cultivated plant! It's an unusual orange form as well, these are normally red!
shoddy pic, but proof that it's a cultivated plant:
And just for fun, here are some wild plants growing on my friend's property:
the normal red colored variant:
Historically, Lilium maritimum was also found in San Mateo County, CA (just south of San Francisco, CA), but those populations are believed to be extirpated. They're pretty much only found growing within a few miles from the coast, and are extreme rare in nature.
The hardest part about growing this is getting the dang seeds to germinate: I still have no clue what precise, repeatable steps can be taken to get uniform germination. Here's what I've tried:
1) warm treatment followed by cold treatment
2) stratification for 90 days, which resulted in about 20% germination
3) sowing in the fall and leaving the pot outside.
I've tried step 3 many times and have had the best success this way. In some years, this method yielded maybe 2-3 sprouts the first year, but as long as the seeds didn't dry up or get placed in scorching hot sun ever, they survived just sitting in a ziplock bag outdoors all summer long and then the following winter, many of the seeds germinated!
Substate-wise, I've tried a mixture of 60% sand/40% potting soil, which actually worked very well, but I've also used pure peat and this seems to be the best, at least under my care. The key is to treat them like a carnivorous plant: low nutrients in the soil is a must, otherwise they will get leaf tip burn very easily. They also don't really like full sun: I have them in bright, indirect light all day long and they seem to love it!
Temperature-wise, they're almost like darlingtonia: if the soil gets too hot, the bulbs will be mad, so keep them cool, like under ultra-highland conditions sans the super high humidity. You might be able to get away with high humidity if there is great air circulation. These are coastal plants, where the winter doesn't usually go below 35F and summer temperatures rarely go above 80F. That said, my pots froze over several times this past winter with no problems.
Feeding-wise, I wait until the bulb has pushed out a few leaves, and I soil feed them with maxsea 16-16-16 1x a month, 1/5 strength. Remember, these guys are sensitive like carnivorous plants! Stop feeding as soon as the plants stop growing, which is typically late summer. I still don't know how to feed them when they flower, this is the first time there's ever been success on this side!
Water-wise, I use only reverse osmosis water and NEVER have them sit in water! In the wild, they may be found in seasonally boggy areas, but the physics of water in a bog is completely different than in a pot. The soil should be kept hydrated at all times: cephalotus watering is probably the best analogy.
During the fall, they will die down to their bulbs and go dormant. they can be asexually propagated from scale divisions.
Okay, now for some pictures, all of which were taken 5/9/23:
Here are some seedlings that had great germination!
and the first ever bloom documented online that I know of that is from a cultivated plant! It's an unusual orange form as well, these are normally red!
shoddy pic, but proof that it's a cultivated plant:
And just for fun, here are some wild plants growing on my friend's property:
the normal red colored variant: