Hybrid Collaboration Update: S. minor giant x “Green Monster”

Back in the Spring of 2009 I was in my old greenhouse in Pacifica on a phone call with Jerry Addington. We were talking about hybrids, tossing ideas around and I was trying to absorb as much wisdom as I could from him. Anyway, at the time I had a blooming S. “Green Monster” (an anthocyanin free form of S. excellens) and Jerry and I were throwing around ideas about the plant and some potential crosses.  One of the ideas that Jerry brought up was that S. “Green Monster” could be used to create an AF minor giant looking plant. I thought that was a bloody awesome idea, and I had only half of the answer to that puzzle at that point time. Sadly I had no minor giant in bloom to breed S. “Green Monster” with. Soooo, I began asking fellow growers if they had any spare S. minor var. okefenokeensis out there. I’m so thankful that Mike Wang had a spare S. minor var. okefenokeensis plant with a bloom just cracking open — so he lent me the plant! SO awesome of him. I drove to his place pick it up, and then went home and did the cross right away.

There were only a few seeds that came from that cross, and a total of only 4 seedlings were strong enough to make it to this point. Only 4. Those 4 seedlings are photographed in the first photo below.

Here’s a quick summary through the years showing how this plant is evolving.

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
20 November 2010

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
26 August 2011

Now in 2012. Keep in mind that my lighting is sub par so the colors aren’t as great as they normally would be.

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
27 May 2012

This next photo is something monumental for me – the culmination of our  efforts and ideas! (Well, assuming that the cross took, of course…) I had no AF minor giant in bloom, so I selfed the flower. I did this in hopes to unlock that recessive anthocyanin free gene, as well as have the size influence from S. minor var. okefenokeensis end up in at least ONE of those seedlings. The other thing that’s pretty cool that you can’t really tell from the photo above is that the S. leucophylla influence gives it a slight undulation in the lid. Hawt.

Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis x “Green Monster”
Pod after self pollinating – I HOPE that the cross took…
27 May 2012

Now you may be thinking – DAAAYYMMMNNNN Rob, how the f*ck do you get  your plants to flower so fast?  Well to tell you the truth – I was fortunate to have longer than average growing seasons in my microclimate. At my old spot, it was not unusual to pollinate, harvest, stratify, then germinate seed all in the same year! Combined with long photo periods, I was able to get a slight jump on growth.  Long term though, I am not sure how that shortened dormancy affected the adult plants. Dormancy for these plants is important. I would notice that after a few years maybe a few of the plants were not as strong as in years past, but that could be due to several factors that were going on. Don’t get me wrong, they would still go dormant for about a little over a month to a month and a half in the greenhouses at the old spot. The plants outdoors would obviously get a longer dormancy time as it’s quite cooler and they didn’t wake up so fast. I can’t really See any major negative effects on the plants though, so the time I had them sleeping might of been “just enough.” I also wanted to mention that this year the plants received a longer than the past “usual” dormancy period due to lower light, so I guess that’s a good thing.

Keep in mind the other youngsters plants don’t have flowers yet. The plant photographed above with was simply the first of only four seedlings to get to this point. I look forward to cracking that pod open in a few months! So exciting to see something manifest from all of our cumulative efforts and ideas! Thank you Jerry and Mike!