10 replies to this topic

[loligo1964]

Some of you are probably aware of my fondness for seeds -- and, especially, for seed-grown plants; and here is a selection of Heliamphora, sown 15 June and an example of some grown in vitro from 2009. I have another batch (in the fridge, next to my Guinness) ready for culturing this coming Monday; and I will update this post next week.

It may seem contradictory to some to also be fond of tissue culture or micro-propagation; but it is not necessarily the case. Often, when I obtain "valuable" seed, I like to spread the risk (especially considering their potential age and sundry, ugly issues with Customs); some are sown conventionally; others treated with gibberellic acid; and others are germinated aseptically, only to be planted in compost within a few months. I generally don't multiply plants in flasks -- the most common use of tissue culture. So, one still has seed-grown plants; it is only that the germination of some of them have occurred in TC media; and it is then no different from those who do so with seed in wet paper towel or water.

For the few to one who happens to be interested, my preferred TC media for Heliamphora is 2/3 Knudsen C; 0.1mg/l NAA; 25 grams sucrose; 1 ml/l PPM.

Heliamphora sp.


Heliamphora pulchella: 2009

Edited by loligo1964, 09 July 2011 - 00:56 AM.

[Simon Eyre]

Great photo. It will be good to see how they develop. I'm hoping to have seed from a nutans that I have pollinated soon and it would be great to see how well they go outside of T/C

[zeeland]

Never seen heliamphora seeds!

[mobile]

What was the success rate of the 2009 in vitro seeds?

[loligo1964]

mobile, on 18 June 2011 - 08:36 AM, said:

What was the success rate of the 2009 in vitro seeds?

Germination was over ninety percent in 2009. Also, the seeds were then from my own plants and recently harvested a day or so before culturing. The shelf-life of Heliamphora seeds are notoriously brief; although there are anecdotal accounts of refrigerated seed germinating upwards of two years later . . .

Edited by loligo1964, 18 June 2011 - 08:48 AM.

[loligo1964]

Here are a few Heliamphora sprouts, probably only a day or two old, since they were all but unnoticeable on Wednesday. They were planted on 16 June; those in culture have yet to sprout.

Heliamphora sp. "Akopan"

[loligo1964]

Here's a shot of a newly-sprouted Heliamphora seed -- approximately two days old -- suspended in a wad of Knudsen-C Orchid (TC) Media. Strangely, the seed was lagging behind those which had been planted in conventional compost on 16 June; and it is usually quite the opposite.

"There's always room for Jello . . ."

Heliamphora sp. Angasima -- 18 July

Edited by loligo1964, 30 July 2011 - 02:10 AM.

[loligo1964]

Here is a photo from this afternoon of some conventionally-grown seedlings. Some species are certainly more vigorous than others when it comes to germination, considering that all of the seed was of similar freshness . . .

Heliamphora sp. "Angasima" (?)  28 July

Edited by loligo1964, 30 July 2011 - 02:10 AM.

[loligo1964]

Here's a shot of one of the several Heliamphora cultures, as of 12 August:

Heliamphora sp. "Angasima"


Here is an update thirty days out, and the cultures are producing their first true leaves, albeit juvenile for the foreseeable future. Slow growing to be sure and I am still getting germination; but we're not growing tomatoes here . . .

12 September


H. pulchella "Large Pitcher"

[Carlos Rohrbacher]

Oh, It's a umbelievable thing to me, congratulations!
How long they take to be born, on average?

[loligo1964]

Carlos Rohrbacher, on 20 October 2011 - 18:40 PM, said:

Oh, It's a umbelievable thing to me, congratulations!
How long they take to be born, on average?

Well, thanks. The cultures were -- primarily -- part of an experiment to determine whether PPM (a common biocide used in tissue culture) inhibited germination, as a number of growers seem to believe. The description of the media and methods were described in some detail at the ICPS site: http://icps.proboard...ead=5073&page=1

On average, the seed took about four weeks to germinate; though there is still late germination occurring after several months . . .


Heliamphora sp. "Angasima" -- 10 October

Edited by loligo1964, 21 October 2011 - 15:47 PM.