You guys crack me up !
Hey Pondman. I read that you are a member at Pond Boss forums. I am now too and I have posted once or twice about pond construction and siting. I probably have more in common with the big mud ponders than most liner ponders. Nothing against liner ponds or anything, big mud ponds are just what I do and have lots of experience with.
Not much sense talking about slip seams and dam construction and pond siting or lilies planted in big mud ponds here.
Don't worry if you like that sort of stuff because I won't stop if you don't want me to. I figure it's a smaller audience for that sort of pond stuff here but interests and situations overlap between the two realms.
Frogman keep that spot open and get ready to build or enlarge because I'm dividing everything to the max this spring.
I have 8 lilies officially registered now with many more on the way very soon.
Also two will be entered in the IWGS lily contest this year.
The way I see it the earliest that Sunfire can be available for sale would be spring 2012. I don't think it would be longer. Sunfire reproduces fairly rapidly in low nutrient conditions and one plant will make around thirty new plants a year if conditions are right. I probably have 100 plants right now at least. so next spring, 2011, I could have 3000 plants that will make 30 more plants each by the end of the year. That's 90,000 plants, most of which would not be saleable size but I would say that 6,000-9,000 would be. At that point I better start selling them.
Sunfire is being grown in four places other than my place this year, two of them in Texas, coastal and desert, and one in central Florida and so by the end of the year I should have a pretty good idea how it does in the hottest parts of the country. Also many more of my plants are being tested in these climates. I'm sure north is no problem, probably just darker colored in cooler climates is my guess.
Fairy Skirt will take longer because it doesn't make " tuberoids " like Sunfire does it just makes offshoots so far.
Myra is also registered and makes twice as many offshoots and tuberoids than Sunfire so it might be available even sooner than Sunfire.
I think I might have a plant that's like Sunfire but even hotter colored. It's only made 3 flowers so far but I think it could blow Sunfire out of the water ! ! And that's HARD to do ! It's to early to tell for sure because you never know how a plant will change as it develops over the first two or three years but my experience tells me that this plant is going to be something special if it does what Sunfire did and gets darker and hotter. Also it seems like it holds it's flowers higher above the water than Sunfire and might even bloom more if that's possible.
