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Cephalotus: A Few Days From Flowering . . .

  • #21
cephs are so cool, hope you get lots of viable seed :)

Thanks -- so too do I . . .

There are currently four stalks in varying degrees of development; and the greater challenge will be to ensure that they don't snapped off by the wind before seed-set . . .


12 AUGUST

CEPHCLOSEUP.jpg
 
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  • #22
Here is a shot of the pollination of the tiny Cephalotus flowers. It is done on an almost daily basis, until the ovules begin to visibly swell and/or the flowers close.
This is what I did my 1st year. Every day I was out there with my brush pretending to be a bee. The end result: some flowers were pollinated & some weren't (& some had a few seeds develop - not a full set). Some of the time my brush just got gunked up with flower nectar. The next several years I allowed the native bees to do all the work and I got just as many or more seeds.

This year I 'tried' to pay attention and notice what the flowers were doing. When the flowers open & the pollen 1st becomes visible, the stamen is not open & receptive (it's hardly visible). My 1st two stalks were almost 100% synchronized so that 1st wave of pollen had no receptive stigma. :blush:

Later when the stigma's opened & became receptive, there were no flowers with nicely-colored fresh pollen. :censor:

Over here on Matt's page (about 2/3 of the way down), there are two flower pics. The pic on the left clearly shows ripe pollen (click on pic to see larger view). The pic on the right shows a receptive stigma as well as the now dull pollen (and several developing seeds from older flowers - as the pollinated seeds develop, they stick out the end of the capsule). I don't know if this older, brown/gray pollen is still effective.

Although not visible in any of these pics, when the stigma on my flowers 1st 'matured', the pool of nectar at the base of the stigma & stamens almost overflowed. When I tried to use a paintbrush to pollinate, it regularly got covered in sticky nectar. :censor: However, if I didn't get the brush below the surface, I didn't get any pollen since the pollen is on the lower inside of each stamen head. This year, when I wanted to help the bees, I would pluck a stamen that had colorful pollen with fine tweezers and then dab that on flowers with receptive stigmas. It seemed to work very well - as long as I had flowers in different stages of development...
 
  • #23
worth growing just for the flowers
 
  • #24
This is what I did my 1st year. Every day I was out there with my brush pretending to be a bee. The end result: some flowers were pollinated & some weren't (& some had a few seeds develop - not a full set). Some of the time my brush just got gunked up with flower nectar. The next several years I allowed the native bees to do all the work and I got just as many or more seeds . . .

I would have left it to the bees, were it not that so many were entrapped by the neighboring Sarracenia; and most of what I have seen on the Cephalotus flowers have been spiders and the occasional ladybird beetle -- so it was either me in my killer bee outfit (http://rutube.ru/tracks/1695191.html) or catch-as-catch-can.
Thankfully, it has worked in the past . . .
 
  • #25
I'm currently harvesting seeds from mine. Thankully, I have flowers in different stages of development, so I don't have too many issues getting them pollinated. One issue I have is collecting the seeds.....it tends to blow away of you aren't there to harvest it in time....soon I'll find little ceph seedlings coming up in my nep pots. :lol:
 
  • #26
One issue I have is collecting the seeds.....it tends to blow away of you aren't there to harvest it in time....
I agree - it is a pain. If I try to harvest them early, sometimes they stay stuck in the capsule. If I wait until the pod goes 'Starfish', a tiny breeze can take them away before I get there.
 
  • #27
This is what I did my 1st year. Every day I was out there with my brush pretending to be a bee. The end result: some flowers were pollinated & some weren't (& some had a few seeds develop - not a full set). Some of the time my brush just got gunked up with flower nectar. The next several years I allowed the native bees to do all the work and I got just as many or more seeds . . .


Within a few hours of my evicting some spiders from the area (which may or may not have found their way to flytraps; who's to say?), a few tiny syrphrid flies began to show up and spent some. eh, quality time with the flowers. I could almost hear the Barry White . . .

Cephalotus follicularis cv. "Hummer's Giant"
HGWASP-copy.jpg
 
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  • #28
looks more like a fly to me. a flower fly syrphrid fly. Group is interesting. larvae are voracious aphid predators. Adults are hymenopteran mimics. also pollinate flowers.
 
  • #29
looks more like a fly to me. a flower fly syrphrid fly. Group is interesting. larvae are voracious aphid predators. Adults are hymenopteran mimics. also pollinate flowers.

Yeah, thanks, Kula, I thought that was probably so -- a mimic . . .
 
  • #30
A mesh bag over the flowers before the seeds ripen will catch any stray seeds. Try a arts and crafts stores usually in the wedding/bridal section. The come in a variety of sizes and colors.
 
  • #31
A mesh bag over the flowers before the seeds ripen will catch any stray seeds. Try a arts and crafts stores usually in the wedding/bridal section. The come in a variety of sizes and colors.

Thanks Warren. I am trying to recall what I used last time . . .
 
  • #32
A mesh bag over the flowers before the seeds ripen will catch any stray seeds. Try a arts and crafts stores usually in the wedding/bridal section. The come in a variety of sizes and colors.
A few years ago, I tried to use a mesh that Phil from Meadowview recommended (he uses to bag Sarr flowers) and the reduction in air circulation caused the flowers to get moldy (although I believe a finer one would probably work). Also the mesh would be a double-edged sword. While it would catch the 1st seeds, it would keep the next ones in line from being pollinated since there is a steady progression ...
 
  • #33
Finally, a few of the plants are blooming at the same time. In the past, they were often separated by months . . .

Cephalotus follicularis cv. "Hummer's Giant"

HG-6.jpg
 
  • #34
My reservation has failed me...
WHY!!?!?!?
 
  • #35
dang.. and not a single pic of the plant. What's that bad boy look like!?!?
 
  • #37
He's random like that Ron. Don't try to figure him out, it's impossible. :rolleyes:
 
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