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Helimaphora from seed: old school and new school . . .

Some of you are probably aware of my fondness for seeds -- and, especially, for seed-grown plants; and here is a selection of Heliamphora, sown 15 June and an example of some grown in vitro from 2009. I have another batch (in the fridge, next to my Guinness) ready for culturing this coming Monday; and I will update this post next week.

It may seem contradictory to some to also be fond of tissue culture or micro-propagation; but it is not necessarily the case. Often, when I obtain "valuable" seed, I like to spread the risk (especially considering their potential age and sundry, ugly issues with Customs); some are sown conventionally; others treated with gibberellic acid; and others are germinated aseptically, only to be planted in compost within a few months. I generally don't multiply plants in flasks -- the most common use of tissue culture. So, one still has seed-grown plants; it is only that the germination of some of them have occurred in TC media; and it is then no different from those who do so with seed in wet paper towel or water.

For the few to one who happens to be interested, my preferred TC media for Heliamphora is 2/3 Knudsen C; 0.1mg/l NAA; 25 grams sucrose; 1 ml/l PPM.

Heliamphora sp.
DSCN6698.jpg


Heliamphora pulchella: 2009
HPULCHELLA09.jpg
 
This thread is a thing of beauty! I have been searching for a Heli media recipe for about 4 days now. :)

Do you find heli seeds to be extra wispy? I have to hold my breath when moving mine around or else...poof! There flying everywhere!

Thank you for sharing your methods! Definitely subscribing to this one.
 
interested....very. thanks for sharing David!
 
This thread is a thing of beauty! I have been searching for a Heli media recipe for about 4 days now. :)

Do you find heli seeds to be extra wispy? I have to hold my breath when moving mine around or else...poof! There flying everywhere!

Thank you for sharing your methods! Definitely subscribing to this one.

You're too kind . . .

Oh, the seeds are "wispy" and then some -- to the nth degree, as a matter of fact; and it becomes quite clear how the plants can spread across several neighboring tepuis, with or without the assistance of birds. I was reminded of the cocaine scene in Annie Hall when dealing with Heliamphora seeds for the first time . . .
 
@bigbella: concerning TC, have you ever tried using a liquid media? i've had a friend say he had stellar results with liquid rather than gel, presumably because the gel does not allow homogeneity of the nutrients dispersed...the plant uses up the surface nutrients but is unable to access the supply near the bottom of the tube...
 
I have always had success with a gel media with them; but I am always up to try other techniques . . .
 
very,very nice david :)

gotta love a CP'er.... they keep dormant plants, UHL, Trich or TC stuffs in their fridge
ummmm next to the Guiness, of course :)
 
Thanks, Butch; and true enough, I have a few jars of media waiting for Monday, along with said Guinness (a few cans short of a case), plant hormones, Trichoderma (thanks, once again to you); left-over kung pao squid from take-out Chinese, some fish trimmings and baccalà to make soup, Sarracenia seeds -- and colchicine, not to be confused with hot mustard . . .
 
colchicine...isn't at a microtubule poison? remember it from a university course based purely and even called BIO 3N03 or something: CYTOPLASM.

;p

Either way...BigB....awsome as always David. You are your "place where the bodies are scattered". :p
 
  • #10
suite

Bonjour

my seeds came from 'in situ ' , grown only on the peat , are well developed but never reach their adult stage, you have a solution?

jeff
 
  • #11
Jeff,

It would seem that the plants germinated for you; but it can take several years for some species of Heliamphora to begin to produce adult pitchers. H. glabra was over four years old before its first adult leaves formed. Andreas Wistuba once suggested that trimming the juvenile leaves could spur on the growth of the mature; and that worked for me -- but it could also have been the age of the specific plants as well . . .
 
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  • #12
Slack-jawed punk that I am, I just realized that I misspelled Heliamphora at the beginning of the thread. Oh well . . .

Anyway, here is a flask of Heliamphora seeds from Monday; and I realized -- through lack of sleep coupled with potential stupidity -- that I added an excess of sucrose to the media (I added 25 grams that would be used for 1 liter, instead of the 12.5 needed for half). The risk is that any remnant fungal spores, what-have-you will run rampant and eat Cleveland. The flip-side is that I'll be able to re-sterilize and re-plate the seeds should it become necessary.

Heliamphora sp. "Angasima" (?)
20.06.11

XANGASIMA.jpg
 
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  • #13
i have always wanted to try TC but have always been too afraid that i would screw up or get the mixes wrong, and the money for flasks and mixes and such so ya maybe one day i will give in to TC but for now i will admire and tremble in fear about screwing up mixes lol
 
  • #14
i have always wanted to try TC but have always been too afraid that i would screw up or get the mixes wrong, and the money for flasks and mixes and such so ya maybe one day i will give in to TC but for now i will admire and tremble in fear about screwing up mixes lol

It's amazingly simple to a great degree and the containers could be most anything small with an airtight lid. A friend uses cheapo Rubbermaid-style containers with a clear top from a dollar store; others use baby food bottles and many other things. When I ran short of supplies, I found empty spice jars with screw-on lids at Bed, Bath, and Beyond -- even though I swore never to step foot inside of such a place, where you can get a nasal hair trimmer/vegetable peeler for cheap. There are also a great deal of online resources and clubs that offer discounted materials for membership and teach how to do TC on a shoestring budget. The single thing I wouldn't scrimp on is a decent pH meter -- one which can be easily calibrated.

Show me someone who hasn't screwed up a mix and I'll show you a liar. As Socrates once said, "There are two types of motorcycle riders: those that have been down and those who are going down . . ."
 
  • #15
lol i bet there are plenty that screwed up mixes, i may have to give it a shot and see how things go :)
 
  • #16
lol i bet there are plenty that screwed up mixes, i may have to give it a shot and see how things go :)

Well, yeah, there are plenty of mistakes to be had; and if you read this thread from its beginning, I admitted to having screwed up the mix of this very batch -- since I had been accustomed to making it by the liter and rarely halved it. A friend forgot the gelling agent in a batch of Nepenthes seed last year and discovered, quite be accident, that she had far better results with a liquid media.

Go figure . . .
 
  • #17
suite

I know this period between the juvenil and the adult stage , but here 8 year it is too long .

probably other thing returns into account , but what?

WISTUBA tell me that some juvenils still juvenils all the time , but nothing more, it is a pitty.

not others idea ???

jeff
 
  • #18
I know this period between the juvenil and the adult stage , but here 8 year it is too long .

probably other thing returns into account , but what?

WISTUBA tell me that some juvenils still juvenils all the time , but nothing more, it is a pitty.

not others idea ???

jeff

You mean to say that you've had Heliamphora plants with juvenile leaves for eight years? I hadn't heard of that, though some growers of H. elongata and H. glabra (mine took 4.5 years) have complained of their five year old plants still sporting juvenile leaves.

Do you fertilize or feed the juvenile pitchers? Many growers in the US are aggressive about fertilizing them. If I recall correctly, you had the plants growing in straight peat moss; and you may wish to transplant them into a different, aerier media, such as a long fiber sphagnum moss / pumice-based compost or one cedar-based; oftentimes that can do wonders.

Have the plants been re-planted at all during this period? Peat degrades over time and loses a bit of its acidity with it. Perhaps your pH is too high for these acid-loving plants. A different media is the best suggestion I have without seeing the plants themselves . . .
 
  • #19
While not a product of the seed above -- and for the few interested -- here is a growing liquid culture of Heliamphora neblinae var. parva, from a tiny piece of rhizome that had broken off, when I received the plant from Wistuba . . .


Heliamphora neblinae var. parva (rhizome) 29 June 2011
HNP.jpg
 
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  • #20
That is a beautiful site to see! Awesome work Bella!
 
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