I've been sowing fern spores. Spores were from the American Fern Society Spore exchange ($20 AFS membership, 50 cents/packet):
www.amerfernsoc.org
One of them, Drynaria rigidula, germinated far, far too well! These were sown March 10th. So I needed to act, and thin them out a bit.
Pictures of Drynaria rigidula:
www.shutterstock.com
It even has its own video, which suggests it makes a fantastic, and overlooked house plant. This is about a specific cultivar with crinkly leaves. I have no reason to believe mine are of that cultivar.
I thinned out the gametophyte (haploid) ferns today and transplanted some to new containers:
I also started some more spores in two more dishes.
And, while doing that, I saved some more gametophytes and a few spores (I'm assuming the spores are highly viable, so even a few could give results).
I put some spores in a couple of the coin cases which I've been looking at to send small plant material and seeds in regular first class envelopes. I use q-tips to sow the spores: To do this, I pick up spores with the cotton tip, the tap the q-tip over media--I do not touch the media. After using the q-tips to pick up the spores, I put the tip of the q-tip inside a ziploc bag. There were not many spores to begin with (anywhere). You can probably notice an orange spot on the left q-tip. Presumably the spores will end up mostly scattered inside the bag in transit. I'm hoping that spores can be dislodged from the q-tip and/or the ziploc bag, over suitable media at their destination. I have no idea if this will work, but I figured it was worth a try.
The media for growing these may be as simple as moist, sterilized peat, although other additives are possible. Assuming they arrive alive, the gametophtes (haploid spore cultures) would be sprinkled, or perhaps inserted or lightly pressed onto the top of sterile moist media. I don't know what the best approach would be. Then they would be incubated under lights, grow in size and the process of waiting for fertilization and the formation of diploid sporophytes would begin. This would take months. I have no clue whether these gametophytes would survive the trip, and not all cultures end up making "adult" ferns. But I figured it would be fun to try.
Obviously, I really want to get these in the mail now. If someone has something interesting to send back in the coin case, that would be great. I'll give potential trades first priority, although I'm not going to wait long, probably a day. Either post here or message me.
A couple things that I'm looking for that may or may not fit in the very flat coin case. A Pinguicula leaf or two, possibly cut down to fit the case (they would have to be very small and/or really thin at the base...). Obviously, send the part which would produce plantlets... I'm looking for P. 'Tina', laueana, moctezumae, gypsicola, possibly others. Utricularia longifolia, sandersonii. Drosera alicieae (Alice is my mom's name, and she used to have one). I'd never refuse fresh Nepenthes seeds. Maybe others. I really don't know offhand which of those might be small enough to fit.
I don't know how much temperature tolerance the gametophytes have, so I would try not to let them be exposed to any cold, if it can be avoided. So having the envelope sent to an office instead of outside mailbox would be wise. The plant is listed as maybe zone 11.
Anyway, I would emphasize that I have no idea whether any of this would work.
The Exotic Rainforest article linked near the top says: "If you're lucky enough to find a specimen be prepared to pay dearly. Small specimens of this plant have sold in the United States for prices as high as $200! ". I don't know whether that's true, but it is a striking plant.
Ordering information — American Fern Society
www.amerfernsoc.org
One of them, Drynaria rigidula, germinated far, far too well! These were sown March 10th. So I needed to act, and thin them out a bit.
Pictures of Drynaria rigidula:
16 Drynaria Rigidula Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock
Find Drynaria Rigidula stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day.
www.shutterstock.com
It even has its own video, which suggests it makes a fantastic, and overlooked house plant. This is about a specific cultivar with crinkly leaves. I have no reason to believe mine are of that cultivar.
I thinned out the gametophyte (haploid) ferns today and transplanted some to new containers:
I also started some more spores in two more dishes.
And, while doing that, I saved some more gametophytes and a few spores (I'm assuming the spores are highly viable, so even a few could give results).
I put some spores in a couple of the coin cases which I've been looking at to send small plant material and seeds in regular first class envelopes. I use q-tips to sow the spores: To do this, I pick up spores with the cotton tip, the tap the q-tip over media--I do not touch the media. After using the q-tips to pick up the spores, I put the tip of the q-tip inside a ziploc bag. There were not many spores to begin with (anywhere). You can probably notice an orange spot on the left q-tip. Presumably the spores will end up mostly scattered inside the bag in transit. I'm hoping that spores can be dislodged from the q-tip and/or the ziploc bag, over suitable media at their destination. I have no idea if this will work, but I figured it was worth a try.
The media for growing these may be as simple as moist, sterilized peat, although other additives are possible. Assuming they arrive alive, the gametophtes (haploid spore cultures) would be sprinkled, or perhaps inserted or lightly pressed onto the top of sterile moist media. I don't know what the best approach would be. Then they would be incubated under lights, grow in size and the process of waiting for fertilization and the formation of diploid sporophytes would begin. This would take months. I have no clue whether these gametophytes would survive the trip, and not all cultures end up making "adult" ferns. But I figured it would be fun to try.
Obviously, I really want to get these in the mail now. If someone has something interesting to send back in the coin case, that would be great. I'll give potential trades first priority, although I'm not going to wait long, probably a day. Either post here or message me.
A couple things that I'm looking for that may or may not fit in the very flat coin case. A Pinguicula leaf or two, possibly cut down to fit the case (they would have to be very small and/or really thin at the base...). Obviously, send the part which would produce plantlets... I'm looking for P. 'Tina', laueana, moctezumae, gypsicola, possibly others. Utricularia longifolia, sandersonii. Drosera alicieae (Alice is my mom's name, and she used to have one). I'd never refuse fresh Nepenthes seeds. Maybe others. I really don't know offhand which of those might be small enough to fit.
I don't know how much temperature tolerance the gametophytes have, so I would try not to let them be exposed to any cold, if it can be avoided. So having the envelope sent to an office instead of outside mailbox would be wise. The plant is listed as maybe zone 11.
Anyway, I would emphasize that I have no idea whether any of this would work.
The Exotic Rainforest article linked near the top says: "If you're lucky enough to find a specimen be prepared to pay dearly. Small specimens of this plant have sold in the United States for prices as high as $200! ". I don't know whether that's true, but it is a striking plant.
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