Tag Archives: seeds

Fabulous February

February, so far, is looking pretty fab. Thanks to the warm January, much of the crop has been moving at a very fast speed. There are plenty of buds to be found all over the place, a few open pitchers, and… seeds germinating! Enjoy a few snapshots from the past couple of weeks.

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Sarracenia SeedsThe seeds (from 2013!!) have been sown! Yes, you read that right. These have been sitting in cold stratification for a year. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and the kiddos helped pot up all 202+ crosses. It was an extremely busy year for me last year and by the time I was ready to put them down, the year was half way over. I didn’t want to use supplemental lighting as with this many seeds, as that electric bill would just be nuts. Now that I finally have a little more space, I was able to finally put these down.

Sarracenia purpurea heterophylla x leucophylla "Red"And guess what? Many pots have seeds that have are sprouting! Exciting! The one in the photo is S. purpurea heterophylla x leucophylla “Red” – these came from Jerry Addington and should produce a brilliant crop of anthocyanin free recessive plants to work with in the future.

The AsylumThe Asylum. Check out the Sarracenia alata flowers already opening up! And check out that other half of the greenhouse that needs trimming! Heh!

Sarracenia alataSarracenia alata flower

Sarracenia rosea - Baldwin Co., ALSarracenia rosea – Baldwin Co., AL in flower.

Sarracenia alataA few more Sarracenia alata buds about to pop!

Sarracenia 'Alucard' x 'Adrian Slack'One of my crosses from a maybe 3 or so years ago. This is S. ‘Alucard’ x ‘Adrian Slack’ glowing with the sun hitting it from behind. Notice one of last year’s autumn pitchers compared to this year’s larger spring pitcher. What a jump! You can see tell-tale signs of what the plant would be like from last year’s pitcher. However, with this year’s pitcher, you can see much more character shine through! The unknown of what comes out of the cross and how that plant matures is part of the excitement that comes with growing from seed. Anyway, I’ll post another photo later on so you can get a better view of this year’s most recent pitcher from this cross.

Sarracenia 'Reptilian Rose' x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) - Clone 14Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 14. New pitcher coloring up against last year’s wreckage. Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman.

Sarracenia 'Reptilian Rose' x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) - Clone 9Sarracenia ‘Reptilian Rose’ x (flava var. rubricorpora x leucophylla) – Clone 9
Cross by Dr. Travis H. Wyman

Sarracenia (leucophylla "Purple Lips" x flava var. rubricorpora) x 'Adrian Slack'Another one of my crosses – Sarracenia leucophylla “Purple Lips” x flava var. rubricorpora x ‘Adrian Slack’ – new pitcher opening up! 

Sarracenia oreophilaSarracenia oreophila, awake and ready to devour insects!

Sarracenia oreophilaSarracenia oreophila

Sarracenia alata - AFSarracenia alata – Anthocyanin Free!
A new pitcher stands out against last year’s crispy dead pitchers.

Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora x flava 'Suspicion'Young pitchers stretch towards the sky. Sarracenia flava var. rubricorpora x flava ‘Suspicion’ – an anthocyanin free recessive cross. This cross was done by Aidan Selwyn. I hope to use these AF recessive S. flava plants in future (anthocyanin free) crosses.

Sarracenia flava - AF - Colquitt Co., GAOk, ok, ok… I’m totally geeking out here. This is a flower bud of an anthocyanin free form of S. flava – Colquitt Co., GA. YEAH. You know what this means… 🙂

Stratification Ready

Hello February! Now that things are getting warmer, the plants are slowly breaking dormancy. Things over at the greenhouse are doing well, but there’s only so much about dead foliage I can post about. Dormancy is probably my busiest time as this is when I do my cleaning, trimming and repotting. One of the projects I work on during this dormancy period includes prepping the Sarracenia seeds for cold stratification. In order to germinate, Sarracenia seeds need a period of cold and damp stratification to break away a waxy layer that surrounds them. I’ve summarized my cold stratification process below.

2014 Seed Stratification

(Left) I store the Sarracenia seeds in the fridge. I make sure they are cool and dry while in storage to keep them viable as long as possible. The container I keep them in is lined with a thin layer of silica gel to keep them dry.

(Center) For my cold stratification media, I’ve used sphagnum moss that I’ve boiled and run through the blender. I’ve boiled the moss as a precautionary measure to kill off any fungi and weed seeds. A bit neurotic, I know but I didn’t mind taking an extra step this year. I like using Sphagnum moss as it holds water pretty well. I know others who have used media that include things like damp paper towels, moist sand, and peat moss. As long as the seeds are damp and cold, it will work out.

(Right) I take the Sarracenia seeds and a bit of that beautiful blenderized sphagnum-slushie and mix it all up in little bagies. I throw a tag in there so I know what’s in the bag. Since the greenhouse doesn’t get cold enough, I opt to use this method to give the seeds a nice chill. Other growers who live in colder climates will just put the seeds into the pots that they’ll start to germinate in and leave all that in out the cold. Hey, that works too! I wish I had that luxury. I leave the seeds in the fridge for about 4-6 weeks (or longer if I can’t get to them right away) then throw the entire seed-sphagnum-slush mixture into a pot to get them started. You can check out this post from 2012 to see how I prepared the seeds for germination.

Ahhh… the cycle starts over again and as always, I’ll be watching these babies with great anticipation hoping for some cool stuff in the coming years.

Happy growing!

Under the Olloclip: Sarracenia Seeds

Sarracenia PodSarracenia seeds, behind the shell

My wife Dahlia recently surprised me with a very cool present – an Olloclip! (Thanks so much, hon!) I used this new toy to snap this photo of Sarracenia seeds behind the pod. I had to carefully peel that shell off. Seeing the plant have a successful pollination and produce seed is so worth it. I’ve waited all season for this moment. The thoughts and ideas that I’ve entered into this year with are now tangible and made manifest. These seeds have only begun to answer the “Yo, so what would I get if I crossed these plants?” question that haunts me each season.

I’m pretty impressed with the quality of the Olloclip – you can see the texture on these seeds pretty clearly. Dude, I really don’t know why I didn’t get an Olloclip sooner. (In fact, the Drosera capensis that’s on the package actually originated from my garden. I gave the Drosera to a fellow plant geek and next thing you know, the Drosera capensis is famous!) Anyway, don’t get me wrong – I still love shooting with my DSLR. With my day to day stuff, I use the phone quite a bit. Now I’m able to capture macro, wide angle, and fish eye shots. I can tell I’m going to have some fun with this!

Harvest

A bit early, I know. There’s been a few plants that for some reason, ended up rotting for some unexplained reason after doing so well for years. (It happens.) In this case, the S. rosea “Big Mama” – once a huge multi point plant that I’ve had for years – just decided to go to the bog in the sky. UGH!! But why now?! Frustrating!! I’m thankful that at least a few others friends have this plant as a back up and had extras, and I’m thankful that I was able go replace it. Anyway, one of the pods on this was used in a cross with pollen from the monstrosity – Sarracenia “Smurf.”

It was a cross I did early in the year so I am hoping that these seeds are viable.  A similar situation happened in July of last year with S. alata AF. I’m sad to report those seeds did not sprout, and couple others who I’ve sent seeds to also reported that theirs did not sprout. I hope that this isn’t the case with this one.

A few other plants that I crossed early in the year also appear to have ripe seed pods too. Greenhouse growing is something else and I’m getting the hang of growing in such a big space. I speculate that hot days could of contributed to some of these seed pods to also brown up prematurely? Who knows. Time will tell if these seeds are good.

Sarracenia rosea "Big Mama" x purpurea "Smurf"
Sarracenia purpurea “Big Mama” x “Smurf”

Sarracenia rosea "Big Mama" x purpurea "Smurf"Sarracenia purpurea “Big Mama” x “Smurf”

Gone, But Not Forgotten…

Gone. But not forgotten. The era of this grand Drosophyllum has come to an end. I received a small plant in 2009 from Mike Wang, and the thing eventually grew into a colossal beast. As you can see in the skeleton below, the main trunk got as thick as my thumb. I started noticing a decline last month – and now it’s gone. No biggie though, it happens. I miss this plant though, that’s for sure.

End of an era.

Drosophyllum lusitanicum

Yeah, the thing was a beast. the photo to the left was taken in July, 2011. This was taken just before it started branching out like crazy and eventually, the weight of it all made it spill over the edge of the pot. I really never expected that I would of been able to grow this plant to this size.

Knowing what I know now, I think that I’ll get a bigger pot for these monsters to grow in next time. When I first received the plant from Mike, it was still growing in a 3 inch plastic pot. It was a young plant at the time. I was able to transplant that plant into a larger terra cotta pot. Yes, it’s possible — but you have to be very careful not to disturb the root system. I basically just slid that dirt brick out of the small 3 inch pot and carefully potted it up all nice and happy in it’s new home.

Drosophyllum lusitanicum

It eventually turned into this crazy muti-headed honey smelling hydra. See photo to the right taken last year in the fall. Not sure exactly what caused the crash. It could of just been age? It has been said that the plants can flower themselves to death. I have been quite cautious with the flowering part and limited the flowering by trimming off most (not all) of the flower buds/stalks. I suspect that it may of had to do with the roots? In previous years, I’ve kept the plant a little bit on the dryer side during winters, only watering occasionally. Perhaps missing a watering with an overly root bound base may of stressed the plant. Who knows. After yanking the trunk out of the pot, I decided to do an autopsy and look at the root system. In the photo below, you’ll see the black roots running all throughout the pot, and looking somewhat cramped at the bottom.

Dead DrosophyllumCramped.

Above you can see the roots all packed in pretty tight. The mix I used was a pretty rocky/quick draining one. At the very bottom of the pot, I used a thin layer of long fiber sphagnum moss. This was to prevent the media from spilling out of the hole at the bottom of the pot. The rest of the potting mix consisted of a coarse grade horticultural sand, perlite, pumice, a handful of peat moss, and some APS (Aquatic Plant Soil). I can’t remember the exact ratios, but I just mixed it until I felt the media was “happy” enough. I guess.

This Drosophyllum is now gone, but like I mentioned – not forgotten. I’ve had success with cuttings with this plant – it takes a long time but I managed to get roots on a couple of those rejected flower stalks, or random branches I felt like lopping off. Those did not survive all of the moves last year, but genetic representations of this badass plant are still alive and well. Kinda. In my fridge. In the form of seeds. (Ok, now cue the Circle of Life…)

Drosophyllum lusitanium - Flower Pods and SeedsThere are tiny beasts locked up in the shells.

Taking Root

A few more photos of the next generation! Photos taken on 26 May 2012 from plants sown on 13 May 2012  – germination method described by this post. I’m fascinated and so excited to see them starting to take root! More updates to come from this generation of crosses, so stay tuned! Hope for the future is taking root…

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

This cross above that I described is *very* significant for me because the pod parent was actually a cross I did back in 2008! It’s amazing and exciting to be at this point to see that I’m coming up with hybrids and crosses from the crosses I’ve done in years past. Freaking exciting, yo! S. ((purpurea ssp. purpurea x rubra ssp jonesii) x (leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis)) was the cross and check out some of the prior posts on this plant here, here, here, and here. Dude, for me to be at a point to breed using your own past crosses is something so marvelous.

Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea AF x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea AF x “Green Monster”

Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea AF x "Green Monster"
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea AF x “Green Monster”

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

Sarracenia courtii AF x purpurea ssp. venosa AF
Sarracenia courtii AF x purpurea ssp. venosa AF

Sarracenia moorei
Sarracenia moorei, Select Clone

Sarracenia Seed Stratification Satisfaction

FINALLY. I got around to getting this done!!!

As you know with all the changes this year, it’s set me back quite a bit on a few things, however I’m glad to finally get around to this project. Stratification! I had a very poor seed count from last year, and I believe this was due to the unusually warm January we had that caused many plants to start to form flower buds early.  Then in February, we had very cold weather, and plenty of hail.  I think that the stress by these weird weather fluctuation affected pollen viability, stigma receptiveness, and just overall seed count production.  Out of all the crosses I did, I only managed to get seeds from half of what I did. And within those crosses, there was a low seed count.

Envelopes (that are not really) full of Sarracenia seeds.  After harvesting this year, I stored the crosses in the fridge.  This helps keep the seed viable.

Left: Seed envelopes and pre-made plant labels.  I wrote the cross of each plant and stuck it in front of the respective seed pouch.

Right: Stratification pouches.  I don’t have the room really to do this the Mother- Nature-Way of laying the seed on the media and having them stratify naturally.  I also didn’t want to mess with damp paper towels (although that works as well!)  So, it’s basically just peat moss and sand.  In the bags are currently a dry mix.  When it comes time to plant, I just dump the mixture onto the potting media in their new pots and will let them grow from there.

Oh, what awesomeness will come from these seeds??  Next I dump the seeds into their stratification pouches.

Here the seeds are mixed with the dry stratification/planting media.  I insert the plant tag as well for proper ID of the cross. I repeat for every seed packet.

So after a while, it gets kinda messy… I just started throwing the bags all over the place.  This is what it looked like as I was going through and getting the seeds into the strat-pouches. At least I kept them in kind of one area!

Sarracenia need damp stratification – so my next step is dropping some water into the mix.  I tried something new this year ( I don’t know if this will make a difference) but I added a little bit of hydrogen peroxide to this water mixture. I’ve heard that it helps inhibit fungus…  figure might as well try it. 🙂

Stratification pack: done!

… and when all done, throw em  in the fridge for 4-6 weeks or longer, then plant!