Heli pollination 101?

[Av8tor1]

Under Re-construction

 

[jimscott]

That's a really good tutorial!

 

[vraev]

beautiful record mate. I love that you took the time to actually record the stages that the flower matures in. You seriously have to publish this as a article in the ICPS. It will definitely be useful to people in the future.

 

[Av8tor1]

3.24.2010
H. pulchella observations:

Pollen release much later than that of H. tatei v. tatei.
Anthers to the point of being very ripe, darker in color with a much drier appearance.
Flowers #1 and #2 releasing pollen at the same time.
I believe flower #3 is receptive, pollinated with pollen from flower #1

Reduced humidity about a week ago when I was unable to harvest pollen from pulchella #1
I thought maybe the humidity was excessive. It would only make sense that a relationship would exist.
More research needs done..

H. tatei v. tatei
Flowers #2 and #3 ovary size seems to have stabilized. Both are an estimated 150% of flower #1

Av

 

[Ant]

Cool, be sure to update when the seeds are ripe! How many seeds are usually in a flower?

 

[Av8tor1]

Ant,

I've read reports of anywhere from 4 to 100 (6 is commonly cited)... with some references stating that seed number is highly dependent on the age of the plant.
Older plants reportedly produce a significantly higher number of seed

However, I don't know of any controlled studies on the subject.

Av

 

[Av8tor1]

Update:

The unpollinated tatei var. tatei ovary appeared ready to harvest. Upon opening only undeveloped ovules were found (as expected).
Timeline appears to be about 12 weeks +/- a week or two

Av