Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 09:28:45 -0400 From: Chris Marsden <Byway@compuserve.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1964$foo@default> Subject: Darlingtonia pollination
Hi All,
I only reply to the list as it may be of benefit to others.....
> Lastly, I came home and my Darlingtonia's flower has opened. Can I self
> pollinate it? Whats the procedure? How long should before seed should
> develop?
Yes, you can. Ideally have 2 flowers (even of the same plant), but 1 should
do. Get inside the flower and make sure the stamens (centre-ish) are mature
and dropping pollen. When they are, get a small paintbrush and pick up some
pollen and dab it onto the stigmas. It's so long ago since I did this (Oh
my brain hurts) I can't quite remember where the stigmas are but they may
be similar to Sarracenia. For optimum success repeat this daily.
Also, my ceph. that I self pollinated last year did set seed, and I sowed
it on the surface of the compost. It hasn't however, germinated and I
believe it to have been infertile or otherwise flawed. The same Ceph. is
putting up a flower spike this year but I will cut it off.... my other
Cephs are tiny and the flowers weren't pretty anyway. If there's no good
seed produced you may as well have a slightly stronger plant.
Lastly, with VFT flower spikes, I say if it's there, leave it. Unless the
plant is really poorly and flowering is it's last-ditch chance to
reproduce, the flowers will do little harm and will make the plant "feel"
like it's growing naturally. Last year I cut the flowers off and there was
a noticable difference in growth to this year -- it was much slower to grow
and didn't have the growth surge they normally have at the start of the
year. All the traps remained of the winter variety right until late summer.
Perhaps flowering makes the plant "realise" like its in spring and not
still winter.
Kindest regards,
Toby
P.S. I've got no problem in people pursuing off-topic things on the list --
as long as it interests me!!! And, being as a lot of the CP stuff on the
list won't interest everybody, I see no real problem inless it starts to
choke the list up.
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