To break up some of that monotony of dead foliage and seeds, here are a few current shots of some seed-LINGS that I am growing indoors under lights, behind glass. I grow my plants mostly outdoors or in an unheated greenhouse (to protect from wind and such), but I have started seed successfully indoors under lights. These seedlings will be shifted and grown out in the unheated greenhouse once it gets a tad bit warmer. And those flowers are from Mexican Pinguicula (another carnivorous awesome plant.)
Now don’t get me wrong, I do love this season, but it’s seems like there is never enough time for all I want to do with the plants. Winter is a great time for me to work on all them since they be all dormant! Once they’re up and growing/blooming, I don’t like to bug em. Trips em’ out.
Anyway, basically the photo below is in a 50 gallon terrarium/grow chamber with lights.
These babies are just over a year old and as you can see, have been growing in rather cramped conditions. Yuri in the earlier post commented:
“… I just sowed something like 50 different crosses, and needed space is really a problem…”
Yep. I have that problem too! LOL! No way I can grow all these seedlings, so what am I doing with them? Compost some (the very weakest ones), or distribute some as gifts, give aways, or sell some off to help offset my growing costs. These plants above are ready to be thinned out.
Being that I am new to this, I am finding my way and trying to get somewhat even more-so disciplined in the art. It’s hard though. You have a seedling that you’re about to toss, but yet, that nagging voice says “OH, but you don’t know if it will have some insane beautifulnormous pitchers in a couple years, after all you can’t really tell what it will be like at this point in time…”
This is true. But it’s also dangerous especially with limited space and resources. So I tell the voice to “Shove it.” Then, I just plod along, composting some and transplanting even this early (which, isn’t too early for me…) shifting them to roomier abodes.
In the background here are some Mexican Pinguiculas. They are great for in the terrarium gnat control! I haven’t had any gnats so the leaves are nice and clean. During the first week of set up on this terrarium, the leaves were chalk full of those lousy fungus gnats. Cycle broken. Yay.
And… standing head and shoulders above the rest of it’s fellow seedlings is this one UNKNOWN plant.
It’s a plant that my good friend Jerry Addington crossed. The exact parentage is uncertain. The plant is S. [(leucophylla x rubra) x minor giant] crossed with the pollen parents of either S. “Nadine” or S. “W.C.” Unfortunately I do not have a photo of either parent plant, but can tell you that S. “Nadine” and “W.C” both have the Sarracenia leucophylla (white top pitcher) influence which is very present above. It’s kinda hard to tell and will probably be impossible to really determine later as it gets older. Who knows, we’ll see. It happens. This was an “Oops cross”, as Jerry called it. (Hey, it’s all good Jerry, it’s showing a lot of promise to be an interesting and beautiful plant already…)
Sarracenia, I am told, can accept pollen from several different sperm donors, and the seeds will of course be all mixed representing characteristics of pod parent + sperm donor A, or pod parent + sperm donor B… or donor C… and so on and on. Digest that for a while and then a new world of madness opens up. Fun stuff, this breeding thing!
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