Selection and re-grouping of seedlings

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

I have a dilemma, third year when my seedlings start blooming, is the time to segregate them according to the group. It is usually the end of April or May. There is a sudden rise of temperature, up to 40C. Transplanting at this time leads to lot of mortality. First the roots rot and then the bulb. Many who survive the heat die in July-August due to rains as they are yet not well established. Tagging the bulbs in spring for replanting in December has not worked as the tags get displaced or are obliterated during such a long interval.
Any suggestions?
Arif

[Izhar]

Sir, are you transplanting them when they start blooming??

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

yes, Selection is from flower.

[Izhar]

Sir, by the time plants (annuals mostly and few perennials) are in flowering stage the transplanting them reduces their vigor to a great extent and they will not perform for you, you should transfer the seedlings and let them mature in the bed, mortality rate will be reduced to 5-10% keeping other factors constant... for color segregation, initial sowing should be done with identification marks or tags..

If the transfer of seedling is done by mid April the seedlings will be strong enough to withstand the heat of May.

For bulb & deciduous perennials tagging plastic coins "Tokens" tied with soft wires, with numbers can be used and the numbers will correspond to the sheet on your PC or hard copy.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Aoa, Izhar you did not get my point, perhaps I was too brief.
Seeds are sown in May/June as they ripen. Next February the selected seedlings are transferred to beds. They remain in bed for two years. If looked after, they will start blooming in spring of third year.
Now they have to be sorted. If pulled out and re-planted at this time the temperature rises to 40c before the bulbs get established, resulting in high mortality.
Have I made it any clearer?

[tweedle2009]

I think you need to find a way so that your tags don't get lost.Use adhesive vinyl sheet and a permanent marker.

[Izhar]

Sir, I missed your point entirely. I think you are discussing about the Hippeastrums only?

I don't have any experience for this plant category and dont even consider myself as Tifl-e-maktab but one thing I would like to mention that most of us do not consider "Mulching" as a regular gardening activity, Mulching with leaf compost, bark etc reduces the temperature stress very effectively...

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Hello, Izhar
Hippeastrum breeding is my primery interest.
I have decided to follow an arduous way. I will force dormancy and in January pull out all bulbs, cut leaves and trim roots a little, Leave them in shade for 5 days and plant each in 7inch pot after a Fungicide & Insecticide bath. Sorting and grouping would be easy and safe with hopefully little mortality on re-planting.
Arif

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

I did not have the heart to do it to all of my bulbs.
I made three groups.Some I left in pots, no water from November to February. Not all lost their leaves. The Papillios did not loose a single leaf.
Those in the ground got no water except one rain, half of these were pulled out, leaf cut and replanted after exposing them to cold nights and days in shade for a week, the other half got only the leaf cut.
Hope I get early blooms.

[Izhar]

Sir, what was the maximum time taken by any of your seedling to bloom from seed?