I am the WORST pollinator

[schloaty]

Right. So last time I tried to pollinate my campanulata I failed. Chalked it up to inexperience.

This time I tried again, and also my truncata x ventricosa. Three different pollen donors, the whole schpiel.

NONE of the flowers I pollinated are expanding.....however, two that I DIDN'T are..... WTF?!?

So I have no idea which pollen wafted up to those blooms (could have been campanulata, gublers hybrid OR spectabalis x spathulata pollen)....

I just don't get it.

 

[srduggins]

Yeah, I didn't have success this year either, but I had trouble getting enough viable pollen in the mail. Maybe campy is more particular with who she mates with. Also the more complex hybrid you get the tougher it is to get viable seed and some hybrids are sterile.

 

[philcula]

Schloaty-

I have found that if you pollinate campanulata flowers when they are 70%-80% open, you get the best success. Don't know why, it's just happened that way for me. In the many years I've grown this plant it would appear that the female blooms have a very short fertility period. I took a chance and pollinated them when they were almost fully open, maybe 75%, and the stigma was glossy green and it worked like a charm.

I always feel that at this stage in the game anything is worth a try.

Good luck.

Phil

 

[schloaty]

Hey Phil & Steve,

I guess I should have been a little more specific...the two (maybe three it looks like as of today, go figure) that are swelling are on the truncata x ventricosa, not the camp.

Here's a dumb question - I pollinated the tip of the female flowers....should I have also spread pollen all the way down the ..... er..... shaft?

 

[rlhirst]

naw, to be the worst you would have to get in line behind me

I may need a trip to the fertility clinic...hehe

 

[srduggins]

Just the tip, when it is sticky.

 

[glider14]

haha today i tried to pollinate some flowers on my moms valentines boquet

. i tried it on tulips, iris, and some other orange and yellow streaked ones. i gotta see what happens

 

[MrAga73]

I will post now a new topic with my own pics..let's see if someone come to help us!

Mr_Aga
Milan - ITALY

 

[SydneyNeps]

In relation to pods that haven't been pollinated swelling, it does happen. I've seen a ventricosa scape where a couple of the pods had been pollinated result in just about every pod developing as if pollinated. Needless to say none of the seed obtained was viable.

 

[rbjong]

Hamish,is there a general method to confirm if a pod was pollinated in relation to size and length?

Robert

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Generally, if you pollinate the pods with a generous amount of pollen and it swells but also elongates you can assume it is almost certainly pollinate correctly. Generally a seed pod will elongate 2-3 times its orginal size.

I think a big myth out there is that we must pollinate pods as soon as they are open...I've made that mistake several times and only begin to think about pollinating when the sepals fully reveal the stigma and ovary.

 

[schloaty]

Quote[/b] ]In relation to pods that haven't been pollinated swelling, it does happen. I've seen a ventricosa scape where a couple of the pods had been pollinated result in just about every pod developing as if pollinated. Needless to say none of the seed obtained was viable.

Great. Here I thought that by some fluke (sneeze or something) I had successfully pollinated at least SOME flowers....

Well, at least my tentaculata (flowers just openning) turned out to me male, so I did a direct transfer of some pollen to the camp flowers that were still receptive. Let see how THIS one turns out.....

 

[SydneyNeps]

Yep, it's really obvious when a pod swells after pollination, you can't miss it. Pods start to lengthen not long after pollination, and once fully grown, will stay that way until they start to brown from the tip which indicates they're ready to be harvested. Unfortunately as noted, sometimes they will swell exactly as if pollinated, and you only know whether the pollination was successful or not when you harvest the seed.