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1974
www.insectivorousplants.co.uk
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HOW MAKE A HYBRIDIZED
INSECTIVOROUS PLANT.
Like most plant collectors you
will one day want make you own hybrid plant from your
collection and name it.
You can only mix within the
same type of insectivorous plants e.g. Sarracenia flava x Sarracenia purpurea.
You will not be able to make
monster plant like in the books & films.
How ever this should not put
you off as many great plants crosses have great flowers size,
colours and foliage is normally great too.
Like all crossings of plants
parents you need to know that there is a male and a female parts
to a flower.
Male parts are called style
that carries the pollen and female is pistil is the part where
the needs to be on to make seed.
So you need to use the male
part from one plant to rub on the pollen to the female part of
another.
I would also make sure that
each plants have two flowers. then you can do the same as above
but using other way round.
You will then get a good mix of both parents genus.
( or see the table below for another way to
get the genes from both male and female sides)
You need to like both plants
and know that you will get a number of seeds from doing this and
that you will need time and space to grow them all. Also
that each plantlet will grow at different time and have defences
that come from the crossing. You also need to know that plants
like Sarracenia can take up to seven years to get to
flowering to show you the colours & size.
Also with the number plants you
grow from this crossed seed, you get you can pick the ones with the best variety of flower &
traps.
To name your new cross ( Hybrid )
You will need to be able to know all the
details about your new plant or plants size, shape, colour,
flower size and colour. You then need to get the plant or plants written about in a well known plants journals
describing all details of parents and all details of new plant
and the name you would like to call it. ( rules do change some
times as there are a number groups that do this )
See below a table on how save time if you have
only one flower per plant, but have two of the same plant.
You can make an hybrid by using many different plants to get one
that you like to have named by your self, but you must keep a
good records and have fun as you do this. |
Below is a table on
how make a hybrid out of two plants.
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Plant A1 ( use pollen ) |
Cross ( x ) |
Plant B1 ( use female part ) |
Plant A2 ( use female part ) |
Cross ( x ) |
Plant B2 ( use Pollen ) |
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First cross
male to female A1 x B1 seed will become C1 |
This table is for two
plants ( I named as A1 & B1 ) that you wish make a hybrid
from. To save time you need to have copies of your plants to
save you time. ( A2 & B2 ) To get the best from the genes within
the both copy of plants you need to cross by using pollen from
one copy of a plant then cross the other way to get gene mix
fully from both plants. Remember to label each flower that you
have used and which way you have crossed for a true good record
to put to the write up to name the new cross ( hybrid ) Remember
to make sure no other pollen can get to the flower which you
use, by putting a paper bag over it.
Then you need to grow both sets
of seed ( Remember to label which way you have crossed on each
seed tray ) This may some time as in likes of Sarraceina
, it can take up to seven year to get a plant to flower. You
will need to see the flowers as the crosses will give you plants
with different shades of colours and even size may be different
too. You will over this time see the size, shape and how fast
the new plant grows. You will then need to make a choice between
the two sets of new plants which you like and which may give you
the best cross after the next cross.
So you have made your pick of a
number of these new plants at this time . ( The others you may
like swap, give away or sell but you must make sure you give a
good label on each plant so the other person knows all details.
) You may also find that you have not the room for all
these new plants and made your choice by all other good points
of these new plants other then the flower, so you have given or
traded all others away. You then need to do another cross
at this time to give a fully good hybrid. And then after growing
the both lots of seed to flower size again this will give pick
of the very best mix from the genes as both male and female have
been doubled crossed. And then if you pick the best plant or
plants out of this work you can name it ( if it has not been
done before ) But if the plant or plants grows different in
speed, size or shape or has a different colour to leaf or
flower, then you can still get to name it.
See below the second cross
table. |
Second cross
female to male. A2 x B2 seed will become D2 |
|
Plant x C1 ( use pollen ) |
Cross ( x ) |
Plant x D2 ( use female part ) |
Plant x C1 ( use female part ) |
Cross ( x ) |
Plant x D2 ( use Pollen ) |
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HOW TO
COLLECT SEED
In response to a few requests asking about collecting seeds,
here is a brief guide to help you get the most seeds out of your
plants.
After the flowers have been pollinated and the petals have
dropped, the seed head,
if pollinated should start to swell with the ripening seeds.
This can take anything from weeks to a few months.
After a while you should be able to tell which seed heads are
ripe.
Some are harder to detect than others.
There is a very easy way to collect the seed without cutting off
the flower
stem as some plants produce seeds at different times on the same
stem.
Drosera species that produce multiple flowers on a single
stem,
produce seeds from the lower flowers before the flowers further
up have opened.
One of the best ways I have found to collect the most seed from
the plants is as follows.
Cut up a sheet of white A4 paper into 4 pieces, Fold each one in
half to get a crease down the middle.
You now have four collecting sheets. Hold one sheet under each
seed pod.
On smaller species this is easier if you lay the pot on its side
on a bench so
that when you tap the seed pod the seeds fall directly onto the
paper.
When the seed is ripe it should fall onto the paper when the
seed pod is tapped or shaken lightly.
This way you can collect all the seed from a species over a few
days or weeks,
without having to remove the seed heads.
The paper can then be folded like an envelope to contain the
seed inside.
The paper also absorbs any moisture and keeps the collected
seeds dry.
Plastic bags or plastic envelopes cannot remove moisture and can
rot the seeds that you have carefully collected.
Seed is a lot easier to plant if it is in seed envelopes or
paper,
seed sticks to plastic with static and is almost impossible to
tip out.
Hope this helps you to get the most out of your seed collecting
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