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Subject : [Aroid-l] Anthurium pallidiflorum
Dear Mike,
First off, I am NOT an expert on Anthurium, so I can only make suggestions
on what I would try with your plant.
Congrats of providing the conditions that were necessary to 'convince' the
plant to bloom! What I would try (maybe the next time/season if it has
finished blooming this season) is collect pollen from the first bloom to
open, BUT---once the spathe begins to open, I`d also check on the female
stigmas of this FIRST bloom EVERY day using a hand-held lense, and observe
and make notes, you SHOULD be able to see when the stigmas are most mature
OR may be producing even TINY drops of liquid. If it is a species that
perhaps does NOT produce liquid, at the very least the tips of the stigmas
SHOULD give you some indication of their 'readiness' to be pollinated on a
certain day, nice shiny , maybe flattened or rounded tip, etc. Another
sure sign of when they were ready would be that soon after this readiness
has passed (the next day or so??) the tips will appear dry and begin to dry
off and/or go brown. TAKE NOTE of what day the female anthesis occurs!
OK!!!!-------so now you have HOPEFULLY determined ON THIS FIRST BLOOM the
time when the female flowers are at anthesis/receptive! (you did not give
the aprox: time between the possible female anthesis and the production of
pollen) Then wait and collect all the pollen you can from this first bloom
into a test tube, and store it in the fridge until the second bloom is at
the 'female recptive' period, and then apply the pollen with a moist camel
hair brush!. Continue this with any other blooms that may be produced!
A friend who has great sucess in pollinating the genus Philodendron tells me
that he adds a little water to the pollen, and the resulting 'soup' is
easier to apply, you might try this.
I just looked up an article in Aroideana Vol. 26 of 2003 where, an
excellent article on the use of stored pollen (M. Kiehlmann, D.
Kiehlmann--"Propagation of Some Aroids by Hand Pollination with Stored
Pollen", pgs. 56-65. I would recomend that when you try storing collected
pollen either in the fridge (for a shorter period of time) or in the freezer
(for an extended period of time), you place a small packet of silica gel (a
drying agent) pinched between the test tube stopper at the top of the test
tube away from direct contact with the pollen to keep the collected pollen
as dry as possible during storage, you can then re-hydrate the pollen when
you are ready to apply it. Another suggestion would to be to wrap the
entire now-pollinated infloresence/bloom LOOSELY in plastic wrap (OUT OF
DIRECT SUN!!!) or place a plastic bag over the bloom for a couple of days,
then afterward remove the plastic, this would/might replicate the high
humidity in the wild, and promote the development/germination of the pollen.
I hope this helps.
Julius
WPB, FLORIDA
I have an Anthurium pallidiflorum which had never bloomed since I got it.
I shocked it this winter by placing it in a very cold window- too cold
really- but it produced 4 inflorescences in the following 2 months. BUT
the female flowers never produced any droplets along the spadices,
although the inflorescences did produce scent and turn yellow, while
producing lots of pollen. As a result, I got no berries. Does anyone
know why the plant wouldn't produce the droplets, (like maybe I let it
warm up too much when the blooms were active) or if this is what is
supposed to happen with this species? Or is it an obligate out-crosser or
something?
Thanks,
Mike Kerlin<<
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