Where do plant bulbs come from?
Discussion
otolith said:
Many plants commonly sold as dormant bulbs can also be grown from seed. It's just more convenient to allow someone else to germinate them and grow them on for the first year, so that you can buy the bulbs and have them flowering the following spring.
What he said, I had this exact conversation about spud with my green fingered oldies, they have been planting "seed potatos" which are basically tiny little spuds, which then grow into big bunches of "proper" spuds.
"but where do they come from"
says me, in my childlike wonder! (31 years old)
Spud plants will go to flower, do the normal pollenation thing and go to seed, which then grows this tiny little spuds.
Its just easier to buy the little-uns and plant them than go from a "real" seed.
At least thats how I understood it.
davido140 said:
otolith said:
Many plants commonly sold as dormant bulbs can also be grown from seed. It's just more convenient to allow someone else to germinate them and grow them on for the first year, so that you can buy the bulbs and have them flowering the following spring.
What he said, I had this exact conversation about spud with my green fingered oldies, they have been planting "seed potatos" which are basically tiny little spuds, which then grow into big bunches of "proper" spuds.
"but where do they come from"
says me, in my childlike wonder! (31 years old)
Spud plants will go to flower, do the normal pollenation thing and go to seed, which then grows this tiny little spuds.
Its just easier to buy the little-uns and plant them than go from a "real" seed.
At least thats how I understood it.
(Seed potatoes are only smaller than the ones you eat so there is less to store and they are easily handled, some of the ones you buy in the supermarket can easily be stuck in the ground)
Edited by AndyAudi on Monday 23 March 13:04
AndyAudi said:
Seed potatoes are only smaller than the ones you eat so there is less to store and they are easily handled, some of the ones you buy in the supermarket can easily be stuck in the ground
I thought they sprayed them with something to prevent the growth of those little sprouts. A spray which obviously doesn't work very well as the ones we buy always sprout about two days after purchase.
jeff m said:
AndyAudi said:
Seed potatoes are only smaller than the ones you eat so there is less to store and they are easily handled, some of the ones you buy in the supermarket can easily be stuck in the ground
I thought they sprayed them with something to prevent the growth of those little sprouts. A spray which obviously doesn't work very well as the ones we buy always sprout about two days after purchase.
Try and keep them in a cool dark place like (dare I say it) the Garage.
Other than seeds, which take alonger to become flowering plants: Bulbs come from bulblets. When a bulb has grown to a large size, it will basically generate a small bulb on the same root base. When these get large enough, they break off from the main bulb and effectively become their own new bulb. This is why it is a good idea to dig up daffodils every few years and split the bulbs to give them more space.
With some bulbs, they can be opened up into dozens of 'scales' which can then be planted to grown on their own.
With some bulbs, they can be opened up into dozens of 'scales' which can then be planted to grown on their own.
james_tigerwoods said:
Plotloss said:
Nice, another Ambiwlans moment.
Howso? I genuinely don't know how a daff goes from sprouted flower to a mass of seeds....http://www.flower-garden-bulbs.com/daffodil-seed.h...
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