Tag Archives: seedling

Project: Clean Up

Greetings to all of you wonderful people out there! Things in the Asylum are moving along quite quickly. I did manage to repot and clean up a majority of the adult plants this year. That was an ominous undertaking but glad to report that was completed. Because of this, I did not work on too many crosses this year. Honestly around 10-15 or so crosses is all I did as my efforts were concentrated on cleaning up. One ongoing project I an working on this year is simply cleaning and repotting the juvenile plants.

Here’s a few shots of the various tables. Yeah, they are a friggin’ mess. I know. Not everything is pretty in The Asylum. In this mess, however,  there are a few neat little gems to be found.

Sarracenia Seedlings

Sarracenia Seedlings

Sarracenia Seedlings

Seedling mess

Cleaning up seedlingsA few of the juveniles freshly potted up!

WatertableThe table that is slowly filling up back to front with the the new babies. There is a lot to look forward to in the coming seasons!

They’re ALIVE!

This year, I started my seeds in the greenhouse without any use of lighting or additional heat. *GASP!* Yeah, really! I normally would start them under lights (like this), but I ended up with about 150 or so different crosses that I’m germinating this year. Germination just took a little longer that I was used to.

I only had about 30 crosses of my own that actually took and set seed last year. Yeah, only 30 because of this >FUGLY-ness< a year ago.  Yo, it’s crazy to think that I was in THAT mess a year ago…  That said, many other friends sent me their own seeds that I’m growing out now. (Thanks again, y’all!)

Under lights, and with the addition of heat I’ve had seeds germinate in little as one week. I didn’t feel like dealing with any lights this year so I decided to germinate the seeds under my existing conditions.  I started the seeds a bit later in the year when it was warmer. It took roughly 5-6 weeks before I saw any signs of life, but I’m glad to report – they’re alive! THEY’RE ALIVE! Muahhaehah!!  There’s a lot more interesting-ness that will be coming out of this 2012-2013 generation, but for now – here are a couple AF crosses I’m excited to grow out! (D’aww, aren’t they cute?!)

Sarracenia luteola x 'Suspicion' Sarracenia leucophylla AF x psittacina AF

Left: Anthocyanin free catesbaei (Sarracenia luteola x flava ‘Supicion’)
Right: Anthocyanin free wrigleyana (Sarracenia leucophylla AF x psittacina AF)

S. (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava v. rubricorpora) x rosea – Chipola, FL

S. (leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava v. rubricorpora) x rosea – Chipola, FL

A new pitcher rises for this promising cross. I did this pollination on 24 April 2010. I hope this particular seedling can maintain it’s light waxy appearance as it ages.

Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” OP

Sarracenia leucophylla "Purple Lips" - OPSarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” – OP

Here’s another one of those little surprises that I chanced upon while cleaning and organizing the seedlings. This is an open pollinated youngin’ of unknown pollen parent lineage. A promising spawn of Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” throws up a new pitcher above the fray of the old and decrepit foliage.

Cleaning and Organizing

   

Much ado about cleaning! Now that I have water tables built, I finally have the chance to spread the plants out. The pots used to be crammed into either those 10 x 12 inch trays, or cement mixing tubs. There is nothing wrong with that, those make flippin’ AWESOME containers to hold water. I have used those for years! Now that I’m here, I figure a larger “container” would help me cut back on the time spent watering. Now I can just flood the tables by letting the hose run whenever I want to water the plants, instead of watering tray after tray after tray.

I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning, weeding, and getting things organized. You can kinda see how some weeds have begun to slowly take over above. There’s also the sad looking long and lanky foliage – a result of the “dark ages” earlier this year. I’m clipping some of the dead pitchers off, well ‘cuz you know that good floral hygiene is great. The joy and rapture of cleaning and organizing never seems to end here. At least things are coming together…slowly. What is cool is that I’m finding so many crosses and plants that I totally forgot about. Yeah, every now and then I find pots that contained rotted out plants. Dude, it still sucks, but what can you do. I just close my eyes, shed a tear, and toss those out. As my friend Jerry Addington recently reminded me, I’ll have time to remake stuff as the years go by. Anyway, I’ll update my surprise findings on the blog every now and then. Stay tuned!

Sarracenia Seedling Cleaning and Organization
Getting plants grouped and organized! In the foreground are the younger seedlings. The group of plants behind that are various hybrids I’ve done with S. ‘Adrian Slack’ from prior years. They don’t look that great now, but I have high hopes for next season. Various other hybrids are in the back.

Sarracenia Seedling Cleaning and Organization
Another shot of the recent babies! Grow lil’ homies, grow! Can’t wait to see what you’ll look like in a couple of years! In the background, you see a fraction of the stuff I still have to go through, sort, and clean. WOOHOO!

Sarracenia Seedling Cleaning and OrganizationYeah, I know. It’s really messy looking, but some neat and interesting young plants here. All are on the road to recovery and doing well.

Sarracenia Seedling Cleaning and Organization
More seedlings! Finally having the ability to stretch and enjoy a little! Still more space to fill in, but that will be filled very soon as I continue going through the various jumbled trays of plants. 

Hungry Youngsters

Cute they may be – but don’t let them fool you! Even the first baby pitchers come up hungry! Here’s one showing an appetite for those little irritating fungus gnats (Bradysia species). MMMMMM — Delicious!!!

Sarracenia moorei - AF

Sarracenia moorei - AF

Seedling Update

Just a quick update on some of this generation’s seedlings.
Photos from 19 June 2012. Enjoy!

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Sarracenia "Green Monster" x purpurea rosea "Big Mama"
Sarracenia “Green Monster” x “Big Mama”

Note: “Big Mama” is a select big ol’ form of S. purpurea ssp. venosa v. burkii — or S. rosea depending which naming convention you’re comfortable with. Personally, I like S. rosea because it’s less taxing on my  fingers to type out. Seriously. Imagine typing out “S. purpurea ssp. venosa v. burkii” every time. Every. Single. Time. Blah. I’m guess I am getting lazy. Anyway – I’m hoping to use the recessive anthocyanin free gene in future crosses with this cross. I am hoping for big chunky S. swaniana flavored looking plants. Should be a fun plant to work with in the future!

Sarracenia ((purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp. jonesii) x (leucophylla  x rubra ssp. gulfensis)) x mitchellliana  - AF clone.Sarracenia ((purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp. jonesii) x
(leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis)) AF x mitchelliana AF

Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x “Green Monster”

Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x “Green Monster”

Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia mitchelliana AF x “Green Monster”