Alstroemerias for Valentine’s Day

Roses are so 20th century- surprise your sweetheart with alstroemerias for Valentine’s Day

Alstroemerias (Peruvian Lily) are dazzling flowers with large showy blooms where tri-color and quad-color blooms are common. Native to various regions in South America, they are extensively cultivated in the equitorial flower growing regions of the world for markets in the USA, Europe, Russia, and Japan.

Alsotomerias have multiple blooms per stem and one of the longest vase lives of all cut flowers- it makes for amazing long-lived arrangements on Valentine’s Day, or any other time of year.

Besides the usual issues with all types of floriculture, alstormerias have one addition frustration for growers: slugs love them! Alstromerias are monocots that send up new shoots from the roots. The brand new shoots that emerge from the soil are irresistible to slugs.

Can breeding solve the slug herbivory problem? Can biotechnology? What are some natural and existing slug-proofing solutions that other plants have?