Drosera burmannii Propagation

[Sundrew]

Hello everyone,

A very interesting plant has come up in my collection from seed of a Giant Red form of Drosera burmannii. I am looking for ways to asexually propagate or clone this plant, because I have learned that self-seeding does not result in genetically identical plants. I have taken three leaf cuttings and have them sitting on a slurry of soaked live LFS. One was cut with a razor down the middle. Each cutting has as much of the petiole as I could get, as I've read that in order to be successful one must take leaf pullings. Does anyone have any experience propagating this species or any advice as to how I could make it work? I've received recommendations for chemicals like BA or cytokinins, but am looking for an easier method without the need of potentially expensive and hard-to-get substances.

Here's the plant I am trying to propagate, my coffee-flavored Drosera burmannii:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/84442298@N03/8434025734/" title="20130131_164129 by Sundrew, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8434025734_c9d993877d_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="20130131_164129"></a>

Thanks!

 

[amphirion]

it appears as if this coffee flavored burmannii was a result of a red crossed with a green burmannii? dont know if leaf cuttings are possible since the leaves tend to die before buds can form. however, worst case, i would try to purposefully self the plant. see if any coffee burmannii pop up, and use those for a future breeding program, and repeat the process until the coffee color holds true...

sorry, i cant contribute any substantial help.

 

[Morpheus]

Is that a brown d. burmannii? That plant is gorgeous.

 

[David F]

Okay, it won't make genetically identical plants if you let it go to seed BUT. If it's a hybrid, it will still have the trait distribution similar to the original parents, you will likely get many similar colored plants; however, if it is just a seed grown from a red form, it is less likely to portray this color again. Keep in mind it could still happen, especially if you yield a lot of seed.

I would feed this plant a lot and get it plenty of light so you can have multiple flower stalks to experiment with in the future. I've never heard of a leaf pulling or flower stalk of drosera burmanii striking, good luck.

Hope this helps

-Dave

 

[jimscott]

Nice looking plants!

 

[Sundrew]

Thanks everyone, it was really neat finding something like this among the seedlings. This plant was more vigorous than its siblings by far (you can see a few of the others in that pic). I'm thinking this is not pure burmannii 'Giant Red,' but whatever it is, I like it a lot. I'll try my leaf cuttings and make sure to collect and sow a ton of seeds.

 

[David F]

I'm willing to experiment, throw a packet my way when you send the "Humpty-doo australia"

 

[Homedawg76]

You got your burmannii humpty doo to flower? Did you have to do anything special? Mine never flowers :'(

 

[Sundrew]

No, it hasn't flowered yet. It's being a pain atm.

 

[David F]

All good Sundrew! Your seeds will be on their way shortly ! Thanks for the glorious pictures!

 

[bluemax]

D. burmannii has the reputation of being difficult or impossible to reproduce by leaf cuttings but we've certainly seen those kinds of ideas dispelled in the past. I wish you success. Maybe it would be possible to carefully excavate some root cuttings from one corner of the plant without disturbing the rest of it. Root cuttings sometimes succeed where leaf cuttings don't. 'Just a thought.

I really like that plant.