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Harvested Heliamphora pollen

Harvested some pollen a few moments ago from a ripe H. folliculata flower.
(tuning fork method)

Flower harvested:
(Image post harvest)
folliculata_flower_hf.jpg

Notice the anthers have dropped down and become parallel with the pistil.
They have also turned from green to a nice bright yellow.
Tuning fork frequency = 512 Hz.

Pollen collected on a cdrom case:
(anything black plastic, easier to see the pollen IMHO)
pollen1_hf.jpg


Please excuse pic quality, quickie images with point and click camera
Thanks for looking,
Av
 
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congrats Butch! Hope you gets some seeds.
 
Nice...wish I had some of that pollen for my near future hetero x minor flowers...but I bet you have serious plans for it. ;)
 
Nice...wish I had some of that pollen for my near future hetero x minor flowers...but I bet you have serious plans for it. ;)

Ummm yeppers, the very next H. folliculata flower :)

Thanks Luca, it's really a simple process to harvest the pollen.
 
that is an awesome folliculata! What shade are its pitchers?
 
and I thought I couldnt possibly want folliculata even more :lol:
 
Ummm yeppers, the very next H. folliculata flower :)

Thanks Luca, it's really a simple process to harvest the pollen.

Got plans for the pollen from the final flower? :awesome:
 
That would be a cool combo, H. folliculata x (heterodoxa x minor)
 
  • #10
Got plans for the pollen from the final flower? :awesome:

probably not.... i have tequila and ionasii and someting else sending up flowers at the moment as well
 
  • #11
So you have to use a tuning fork to collect pollen? It dont just fall off when the flower is tapped or the pollen is tapped???
 
  • #12
So you have to use a tuning fork to collect pollen? It dont just fall off when the flower is tapped or the pollen is tapped???

I was wondering about this as well.
 
  • #13
Pollen is trapped within the anthers... the tuning fork simulates the vibrations of bees, this releases the pollen

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bf9Z2BYbjTM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
  • #14
Very very interesting! Who would have guessed to do that? Neat how there wad a puff of pollen.
 
  • #15
Butch
good to hear your getting pollen out of your helis , i have so many pods now , and seed every where , got some interesting crosses now , the ionasii pods are just about ripe too , ,got some nutan's seed, crossed minor x hetrodoxa x nutans , got seed from that already , got some tequila crosses too , the puchella x ioasii did not take ?? the pollen seems to have a short life span , i have not refrigerated mine because of so may flowers i had and had , ,recon i have about over 50 flower spikes this years and still going !! , may be we can swap a few seed soon mate , need a few different plants , we just can get them here !! darn customs restrictions are so tough here , if we can swap or what ever ,got heaps of CP seed here let me know ok even got my own nep hybrid seed too
John
Went took some pic's of seed pod and then the seed when I extracted them also some nutans seed i got plus some ionasii pods and a puchella pod too see if i can get them all on here
 
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  • #16
ok will try again , it would not except all my pic's ?? so will have one more go

P1120024-1.jpg


P1120031.jpg


P1110981.jpg


P1110983.jpg

H. minor x hetrodoxa seed pod
P1110985.jpg

H.monor x hetrodoxa seed pod
P1110988.jpg

H.ionasii seed pod

P1110989.jpg


P1110990.jpg

H.tequelia x ionasii I hope !
H.pullchella seed pod
 
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  • #17
John,

Outstanding, and yeah.... it's a deal. But I've got to catch up ;)

I am wanting to try to do a little research on heli pollen and see what works best. Hopefully, I can grow some pollen tubes and be able to compare apples to apples finally.

Looks as though you are having some great success mate, any pollination tips or tricks you might share with the yanks?

:p
 
  • #18
Hi Butch
yer , i think you all ready know , but really its fresh pollen that works best , and getting to the flower , just as the pettels open at the front too ,you know what i mean right , just as the front opens up just enough for a bee or wasp to squeeze through , is the time to pollinate , the receptor is ripe then , i just open up the flower more and pollinate , do it about 2 or 4 times in a hours seems to work good too , just like they get in the wild ,I use a fine art brush too , dab some fresh pollen on and gently dad the receptor , , it goes brown or dark as soon is it pollinated
hope that is understandable :-))

the fresher the pollen the more seed you get , one of those pod had 80 seeds in it ,was stocked at that , the hybrids seem to produce more seed than the specie too , why ??? will be keen to see what the ionasii will give me , the pollen as a mungrel to extract
j
 
  • #19
Hi Butch
yer , i think you all ready know , but really its fresh pollen that works best , and getting to the flower , just as the pettels open at the front too ,you know what i mean right , just as the front opens up just enough for a bee or wasp to squeeze through , is the time to pollinate , the receptor is ripe then , i just open up the flower more and pollinate , do it about 2 or 4 times in a hours seems to work good too , just like they get in the wild ,I use a fine art brush too , dab some fresh pollen on and gently dad the receptor , , it goes brown or dark as soon is it pollinated
hope that is understandable :-))

the fresher the pollen the more seed you get , one of those pod had 80 seeds in it ,was stocked at that , the hybrids seem to produce more seed than the specie too , why ??? will be keen to see what the ionasii will give me , the pollen as a mungrel to extract
j

not only understandable, but also identical ;-)
 
  • #20
the fresher the pollen the more seed you get , one of those pod had 80 seeds in it ,was stocked at that , the hybrids seem to produce more seed than the specie too , why ??? will be keen to see what the ionasii will give me , the pollen as a mungrel to extract
j

Hybrid vigor?
 
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