ARISAEMA-L Digest - 12 May 2004 to 13 May 2004 (#2004-40)

[Bonaventure W Magrys]

Hi Linda,
which are the males, the ringens or the griffithii? I made the cross last
year (but only got 1 seedling) by taking a drying out male griffithii
inflorescence, removing most of the spathe except for a "cup" at the bottom
on a short stem holding some shed, fallen pollen and also removing the
spadix appendage above the pollen bearing florets on the bottom part of the
spadix and leaving this remnant still in the cup. This was done carefully
and upright, without tipping over so as  not to lose any loose pollen until
the last step.

Then I chose a large female ringens inflorescence not yet opened and tore
the top of the spathe off, leaving a taller "cup" . It was female. The last
step was tipping the  griffithii spadix and cup into the ringens cup and
onto the pistils, leaving it there to let gravity do the rest, and then
covering with an emptied tea bag with the bottom tied with the string just
below the bloom.  Waiting till a female spathe has open takes a chance that
visiting beetles, gnats, or whatever (I can imagine a real funky scarab
being attracted to the ringens flower - look up my story several years ago
of how my Mom called me to tell me there was a large beetle sitting in the
plant that I had planted under her shrubs) can have access after visiting a
male  bloom and pollinate the female before you can get to it. (There are
some suggestions in plant breeding literature that immature stigmas may be
more receptive of foreign species pollen in many plant families.) The
Arisaema prophylactic gets messy after the first rain but by then can be
removed as pollination would probably be well under way. Other ways of
transfering pollen are by paintbrush or by flushing with an eyedropper,
probably a lot in the archives about that.

Ringens fruit develops s-l-o-w-l-y and by end of summer I could see that
only a few scattered ovaries on the "cob" were developing to any
appreciable extent. At first light frost (around October here) the stem
collapsed but the cob was ok and I rescued it and placed it on a partially
sunny windowsill with occasional turning over where it took 2 more months
until the 6 berries reddened. I suppose a straight ringens pollination will
take as long for you, such are the labors of parenthood.  I have heard
sikokianum takes just as long, and the ringens fertilized with sikokianum
and 2 others with triphyllum, one very dark and one alba, this year, will
for me take just as long. BTW I removed all the small male inflorescences
on my 3 clumps of ringens and stored all but one in loosely closed plastic
vials in my refridgerator. The remaining one I treated as I had the
griffithii last year and tapped it into a monstrous apple-green female
triphyllum about to open and shrouded it. This I hope should ripen as
quickly as normal triphyllums.

The 6 berries that developed on the ringens cob had 6 small seeds easily
removed and immediately planted under lights indoors. Only 1 sprouted,
stayed in leaf a few months, and is now tucked away in my refridgerator. I
hope to get more seeds of the other crosses this year.

Bonaventure Magrys
Cliffwood Beach, NJ
USA zone 6

PS - The busier it is in the garden with more going on, the less time I
have to post messages. Best left for daydreaming during winter of springs
and summers to come.



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05/13/2004 06:01
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There is one message totalling 18 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. Thanks to all

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 12 May 2004 18:31:23 -0700
From:    Tina Lalonde <Plantnut at TELUS.NET>
Subject: Thanks to all

Thank you to everyone who kindly contributed their knowledge.Mr.
McClements,according to my records I have 4 females and 2 males.All have
been
blooming for the 3 yrs I have had them.Please don't worry about insulting
my
intelligence as I have joined this group to learn and any information is
greatly appreciated.I do have Gusman's book and I have been going through
the
archives(there is a substantial amount to wade through).As my plants are in
bloom now I thought it might be expedient to inquire if anyone had any
suggestions.Thank youT

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End of ARISAEMA-L Digest - 12 May 2004 to 13 May 2004 (#2004-40)
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