Titanopsis calcarea - The Red One
My blog of May 21, 2013 was about two titanopsis seedlings I found with red coloration in their leaves. The seed came from my own plants but the pollination was uncontrolled. Basically, one of my titanopsis plants formed a fruit with no pollination help from me. I have no idea what the father plant was, but it was likely another titanopsis. I collected the fruit and planted the seed. This resulted in about a group of seedlings, including several that were a reddish color. I potted them up, placing the two red seedlings in a single pot. It was my guess that the red color came from stress, because I placed the original pot of seedlings in my over-wintering frames and they were in a lot of sun and didn't get watered regularly.
After I rediscovered them last spring I gave them better care, basically more water, and they grew well over the summer. They went back into the over-wintering frames for the past winter. Once again this spring the red color is still there and the plant is quite attractive. This could still be due to stress as life in the over-wintering frames this past winter was very dry, but with a lot of sun. It's a pretty Titanopsis calcarea and I thought I would show it off again. Perhaps I can do some pollinating when it flowers this year and see if I can find something interesting in the resulting seedlings.
Lovely colour. Definitely should try some pollination.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alain. I just hope something worthwhile is flowering at the same time. Do you have any experience, ideas, on saving pollen? I have heard that refrigerated pollen can last for several weeks or more, but I've never tried it. I am currently pollinating a group of my haworthias. I have had some luck with this and have a couple nice hybrids. I need to obtain some new parent stock. Maybe Ebay.
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting for you to show these guys :) They look even more beautiful this year, the color is more established and it is as if the plants feel comfortable with themselves being different now. "Hey look how pretty we are!"
ReplyDeleteYou simply have to cultivate this feature :) You sure there are no seeds in those seed capsules? Sometimes I find several even though the capsules look like there's nothing inside.
Thanks Rika. Actually, I'm not sure about whether there are a few seed hiding somewhere. I'll look more thoroughly today. Thanks for the tip. It is a really pretty plant, but I want to watch it through the summer and see how much the color may fade with the hot weather. It has been nice to have the frames open nearly everyday for the past week but I'm still busy with lectures for the university. I've got one today on Integrated Pest Management, and as you know, there's a lot of preparation time for each class. Hope you are enjoying your plants and the extra sunlight of spring.
ReplyDeleteI have never tried to keep pollen. Steve Hammer says pollen can be stored brush and all in a tightly sealed jar in a freezer.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I though I had read about storing it cold, but didn't remember whether it was in the fridge or freezer.
ReplyDeleteAgain this is only what I have read and not personal experience but if 'selfing' this should be carried out for a few days in a row and sometimes 'selfing' can be induced by foreign pollen.
ReplyDeleteWonderfull plant,
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