Purp'a 'Smurf' seedlings.

[Nevermore]

Well I got two blooms on my Purp(a) 'Smurf' last year. This is what i did with them...

Purp 'Smurf' F2 (selfed) ---- 5 seeds... 2 are minute
Purp 'Smurf' x flava ----- 10-15 seeds
Flava x Purp 'Smurf" ----- 10-15 seeds

I have never crossed or collected any seed from any of plants.. so this is all new to me... but the number of seeds seems quite low compared to photos i see of seed heads just bursting with seeds. I don't know if it's from the 'Smurf' genes... or my lack of knowledge on the process and timing of it.

So far there is one selfed seed germinating.... and the crossed seeds are all germinating well so far. I can't wait to see if any of the funky 'Smurf' genes carry through to the offspring! I haven't found anyone that has tested this so far. Who wouldn't want an ugly mutated flava in their collection? I have them under a standard seed starting setup... heat pad... next to a tray of VFTs seedlings from last year... and then a 1/2 tray of more vfts seedlings that just came up a week or two back.

As a side... what's the typical pollinator for sarracenia? I don't think I have ever seen a bee or other pollinator flying between blooms over the years.

 

[Dragoness]

I think I heard that Bumblebees were the typical pollinators.

Check this out:

http://thepitcherplantproject.com/blog/2013/03/19/smurfs-six-petals/

 

[Nevermore]

Yup... They both had the six petals and chambers in the seed pod. They definitely weren't perfectly evenly sized petals... Though all the required parts were there.

I will have to watch blooms next year to check for bees. The 'smurf' and flavas where some of the earliest to open... So maybe the bees weren't out in full swing yet

 

[hcarlton]

Bumblebees are the known pollinators right now (queens for the larger flowers, workers for the smaller species).
It will be interesting to see if the 'Smurf' genes pull through, though I wouldn't hold my breath. Either way though anything crossed with rosea turns out nice.

 

[Nevermore]

Well they are coming along. The Flava x "Smurf" seed germinated the quickest and are well on their way. They are in the third section. The pitchers are still small so I am hoping that some "smurf" genes pull through. On the parent "smurf"... the pitchers typically don't get too distorted until they are decently developed... so lets hope that same thing would happen on the offspring. They are looking quite flava'ish... so who knows if i crossed them correctly. The other two sets of seeds with the "Smurf" seed parent are very young... so the pitchers are still to small to see anything.

Once i finish up germinating some VFT's seeds on the other side of the tray and shared heating mat, i will move the sarracenia down to a lower shelf and start of 24/7 lighting to speed these guys up a bit.

Purp 'Smurf' F2 (selfed) ---- 2 germinated
Purp 'Smurf' x flava ----- 6+ germinated
Flava x Purp 'Smurf" ----- all germinated (I had more seed then i originally thought/posted)

 

[Goodkoalie]

I also have heard that Pollinators not in the range of sarracenia might not know how to work the flowers. I have seen many bees flying around my flowers, but have never seen any actually enter.

 

[dionae]

Congratulations!! I'm anxious to see what you find.

 

[dozer1028]

Keep us updated. .very interested