Vft seeds?

[jlui83]

Quick question, If i let my VFT flower, and it blooms, How do I go about getting seeds from it? and does anyone have pictures of VFT seeds?

 

[BobZ]

Look under " Flower types, parts, and seeds" and "Growing Tips" at
http://www.humboldt.edu/~rrz7001/Dionaea.html

 

[Goldslinger]

You need two blooms at the same time or within hours, as the pollen becomes infertile after 24 hours (or is it the stigma?) can't remember, anyway; you may notice that the flowers won't open all at once.  This is how it keeps from pollenating itself.

If you have two blooms, take an artists brush and pollenate each bloom with the other; but it has to be done within hours of the bloom opening.

 

[uglypho]

Now here is a big question, can VFT pollen be kept viable by keeping it in the fridge? Has anyone tried it?

 

[firewired]

I have heard if you use pollen from different flowers on the same plant the seeds will produce weaker plants. Is this correct?

 

[Goldslinger]

I haven't tried it Uglypho,

I need to read up on it again; it's unclear because it's been awhile since I've sowed seeds. I think now it's the stigma that is only receptive for a day; it'll be kinda hairy looking, but the little cilia hairs will soon pucker up rendering it finished. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure the pollen has a life span too, unless you put it in a liquid nitrogen tank or something; again; I'm not sure. I've stopped the seed thing; been there, done it; and probably won't do it again. Something like it taking 5 years to mature doesn't turn me on. It's good to experience it once, though.

Firewired; I've heard it too, but I don't think doing one generation from the same plant will hurt too bad; it's the repetitiveness after that before the genetic code goes a little awry.

 

[jlui83]

darn.. I thought it was easy to get seeds from the VFT flowers... Seems a bit to much trouble to go through when I can just get leaf cuttings.... hmm gotta think about this one.

 

[jhaluska]

Its not incredibly difficult to get seeds.  Once they flower I try to just pollinate once to twice a day.  Then a couple weeks later you bust the pods open and get seeds.

Here's some pics from last year:

 

[jlui83]

I guess I have to read up more on flowering and pollinating.

 

[firewired]

Cool, thanks for the pics!

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Soon after the flowers open the pollen is viable and is released (which means it can be used to pollinate receptive stigma's). Often the stigma are receptive in the next day or two (when they are receptive they will open (you will be able to tell if the stigma is receptive when they go from looking like a stick with a knob on its end to looking like a stick with a pom-pom). Contrary to some other reports, I have had no difficulty using pollen several days old to pollinate receptive stigma, and pollen from the same plant will fertilize and produce viable seed just as easily as pollen from different clones.

Vigor of seedlings is usually more a matter of how old the seed is, rather than who the parents are.

 

[jlui83]

Thanks for the excellent replies.. I will keep this in mind once my VFTs start to flower... and then Ill ask more questions.

 

[firewired]

Mine is flowering also for the first time since I have had it. I'm sure I'll have questions as well.

 

[FlytrapGurl]

I've done it before.. the pollinating is the easy part. It's growing the seeds that can get delicate.

 

[dewy]

How many seeds do you typically get from the whole flower scape? I have one dente left that is sending up a flower stalk(2 of them dried up when we went on vacation about a month ago and have showed no signs of growth,so I am going to try and continue growing this plant from seed in case it does not make it through dormancy next year or something bad happens to it.)

 

[FlytrapGurl]

I'm not sure exactly how many you can normally get, but the one time I did it (in late 2002, I think), I got over 100 seeds from just two plants (1 scape each).