Not to be confused with tight and loose bulbs, the cause of firm and soft lily bulbs is the degree of hydration (assuming the absence of disease which should be easily discernible). In all the different Lilium species I've dealt with, this has held true. (And you all know that I am one who inspects my bulbs!
)
Regarding your comment, Della, that you had planted a single nose bulb, yet when unpotted you found a second stem:
Some Asian lilies (ex: L. formosanum) do possess a latent capability to produce new shoots from the bulb without vernalization. (This is the aim of the Lilium x formolongi breeding that will soon be emerging in the trade.) But for a shoot so strong to initiate and grow so quickly is quite improbable. I think more likely, your L. cernuum had already initiated a new bulb within the mother bulb that was not detectable when you planted it. This baby bulb inside (and enclosed by the mother bulb scales) may have begun the previous season or even the season before. I have seen this happen with L. martagon and L. szovitsianum. If indeed the blindness of the first stem was environmentally caused, it could have spurred on growth of the baby bulb, growth that
may have otherwise remained dormant for yet another year.
dellac said:Is it possible this mountain lily is adapted to losing an early stem's flowering capability and responds to cold damage by producing a second, later stem? Such an intriguing species!!
In the plant world nearly anything is
possible. But in your case, Della, your theory is high improbable. Much more probable, and in fact, likely, is that the second stem was already there (as previously mentioned) and acting like a puppy due to the set back of uprooting and shipment. That shoot probably would have remained a pup due to the lack of sufficient supporting root system due to shipping, but since the first shoot growth was stopped, the available vigor was transferred to the pup. There is some discussion among lily experts whether lily buds are
always preprogrammed in the bulb the season before or if it can be influenced in the same season as the bloom fruition. Since this second shoot was undetectable (and relatively undeveloped) when you first planted, I suspect the latter is the case with your L. cernuum album.
More to say about L. cernuum floral color expression. See post #14 here:
The thread "Lily Genetics" in
Lilies forum
