Twin Scaling (Snowdrops)

Anyone done this sort of propagation?

I've been thinking of starting a collection of Snowdrops, and it seems that Twin Scaling is the only route to bulking them up reasonably quickly. But it involves sacrificing the bulb, which is a bit tough if you only have one to start with!

I'll feel more confident if I had an idea of the success rate I might get as someone trying it for the first time.

I suppose I could try it on some bog-standard Snowdrops this year, and then for real on some more precious ones next year ...

I found the two articles on Judy's Snowdrops site interesting:
http://judyssnowdrops.co.uk/Propagation/propagation.htm

 

You need steady hands, good eyesight, sharp blade and everything has to be sterile. I did it 30 years ago with success but not having the second one any more....................

 

Kristen, you said twin-scaling will bulk them up fairly quickly, but the information says that it could be five years before you get the end result, flowers I presume. So is this going to be any quicker than a bulb reproducing naturally?

 

No quicker, but potentially it could be far more productive! From my reading of it, if you stop short of the full twin scaling procedure and settle for just "chipping" you end up with sixteen segments, which should ensure (if done well and luck is on your side) in at least sixteen bulbils!

My question is what other bulbs can this technique be applied to?

 

It could work with any bulb which produces roots from a basal plate to which the scales are attached. Certainly Lilies are propagated from scales quite easily.

 

Thanks Palustris!
Done a few Lillies over the years, but this slicing is new to me.

 

Been trying to find a list of bulbs so propagated, but only ones mentioned are Snowdrops, Lilies and Amaryllis. There must be more. Mind there is a difference in scaling and twin scaling.

 

Some Alliums and Fritillary have come up too for me.
I inherited some Gladioli when I moved here. As I'm not a huge fan I've decided to experiment with those. Enough of them to try scoring and scooping methods too.

As an aside, Eucomis are easy from leaf cuttings in late summer/early autumn.

 

I've been trying to find out how quickly snowdrops will "bulk up" naturally.

What I have read suggests that you need to lift-and-divide regularly to get the best rate of increase. "regularly" looks to be every 2 to 3 years, although I suppose you only do it if there is leaf enough to suggest the bulb has divided. Presumably the bulb puts less effort into dividing if it senses that a "child" is still attached (or "crowding" may prevent further dividing too)

My feeling is that the rarer, and thus more expensive, bulbs divide more slowly that the common-or-garden ones - the cost reflecting the maximum possible speed of propagation.

But I don't know what "speed" that is. I get the sense, reading between the lines, that the snowdrops that are rarer/slower than common-or-garden ones, but not glacially-slow like the uber-high priced ones, produce one or two offsets every 2 or 3 years. So if my maths is right in 5 years they might manage 5x and in 10 years 20x

Assuming I got 16 from a single bulb using twin-scaling, and they took 5 years before they were mature enough to repeat the process, that would be 16x at 5 years and 256x at 10 years.

However, if I only manage to get 5 from a single bulb using twin-scaling I won't be any better off. And I will have lost the original bulb, so if I get zero because of mould etc. then its game over.

Quite fancy having a go though 256 bulbs in 10 years (which I reckon is the absolutely max. I can achieve) would be a 100% result from my perspective, as 256 bulbs would make a lovely drift, and assuming I did this on about 10 varieties that would give me enough to make a smashing winter walk.

Of course, there is the risk that it becomes a bank-breaking obsession