John Yates
Carnivorous Plant Addict
Many people sell cephalotus seed not knowing if there viable or not, just cause you have seed scaps really don't mean you have actual viable seed inside, a quick easy trick to see is soak the scape in rain water or distilled water till the scape becomes translucent and your able to see the actual seed inside it,it needs to be large not small ,the smaller it is less likely its viable , viable seed can be kept in paper packets in air tight container in fridge for many years ,have had them up to 5 years and still germinated them, will go into that in another post .
The make up of the cephalotus , we looking at the flower , it has a very distinct shape and formation,the seed scape here is not quite to shape for me but you can see the shape of the actual seed here that's important.
looking at the flower you see it has all the same attributes as most flowers to although the receptors are different to most flowers we see .
There is a conception that all you need do is have a open ceph flower wiggle a art brush in it and your done , well that's were its all gone terribly wrong and many seed is nonviable and never germinates, over the years have see this so many times and people receiving this seed getting very frustrated with no germination other than not properly knowing how to germinate Cephalotus seed, ,again you need to get a few things right for continued success.
here is some one that is going to unsuccessful, why you ask , if you look carefully at the flowers the pollen buds are white ,immature ,not ripe ,no pollen visible, this will never work .but the person may think there been successful and not try again , the flower will ripen shut and fatten to have non viable seed .
Key to success is be very vigilant and watch for the pollen pods to ripen and the receptors to be receptive, for me that means using a magnified visual aid ,I like the head worn ones with variable lenses for my old eyes and your hand are free to use.
In this image you can see the anthers having ripening pollen very distinctly , the white buds are now filling out with yellow yes yellow pollen but you can all so see the receptor is not open here as the pollen is not full y ripe,this will vary from plant to plant too, , you need to be very observant and get your time right ,ceph flower are viable for only a few days then shut off . there pollinators are ants beetles and fly's mainly .
If your not going to pollinate your ceph flower cut the spikes off very early as the drain your plant energy is a lot and they take time to recover ,I have tried feeding them and fertilizing them before and during flowering that did help but still the drain was a lot for them and they did look shabby for months after .
Can you collect Cephalotus pollen, yes you can its fiddly time consuming and difficult and you dont get a lot, steady hands and small tools are needed and very good eyes , my hands shake to much now days no good for such delicate processes .
crossing a ceph flower, can do it right way or lazy way , right way is to cut off all the anthers of the flower you want to cross with and apply the pollen from a different plant to make the hybrid ,will it look totally different, probably not but you all ways get some variations for sure ,colour pitcher shape ,pitcher size, may be growth rates, lid variation ect, but basically you can not make it into a different cephalotus as we don't have other cepalotus from different parts of Australia there only one , and it grows and no where else to make it different like we do with neps, sarras, vft's ect . so we get variants only .
the quick way is to just take the art brush and put in into the pollen of a flower and apply to other flowers you may have if there receptive,that's when the pollen is ripe,this give you a hybrid of sorts , well kind of ,have got many variants this way
this is a really go photo ,you can see the anther, and the receptor are very clearly, the receptor is almost ready but no ripe pollen ,the flower to the left top is showing signs of pollen starting to ripen, the pollen must be placed in the central area and will close off quickly when pollinated , self pollination is easy to do and most satisfying ,have watched ant and fly's pollinating these flowers at my home ,interesting to watch them, not seem them in the wild yet must go a the right times for this.
Your flowers should be keep dry for pollination and need a very fine tipped soft art brush , I found for best results any thing to stiff or hard will damage the flower and pollination may not be achieved,be gentle like the insects take your time, don't rush it ,and look look look ,your pollination success depends on your visual assessment of the flower , the flower spike and flowers now are susceptible to white fungus or mold, they must be very well ventilated from now on ,any sign of mold or the white fungus must be treated on the spot with fungicide or washed off gently with soapy water ,if the fungal attack is not noticed or dealt with your flower spike will be lost in a few days or so , its very noticeable as it covers the spike quickly ,may be because of some sort of dew or nectar on the spike to attract pollinators ,so adequate ventilation is essential.
now you have pollinated your flowers its time to watch them mature , in AU the flowers are pollinated in November and are harvested in February ,this will change from your country's season , our November is in spring early summer , the pods will burst open and have up to 5 seed fluffy scapes jutting out when ready to harvest , do not take them early or you may end up with sterile seed ,let them mature at there own rate, this may require strong light and dry weather to ripen as they do in the wild .
I found to almost let them fall out them-self then you know there ripe for the picking , they should be light fluffy and of a whitish colour .
as per the natural habitat they will need some cold stratification up to 3 months or so at fridge temps as it dont get much colder in Albany in winter time than your fridge , seed germination in the wild is very low as it is with most other CP seed in the wild with a few exceptions , in all the sites i have been to have seen very few seedling from seed ,mainly from runners forming new groups of plants , Coal mine beach was probably the best place to see some natural seedling growing most other places seed get washed away to unsuitable areas or picked up by birds or other insects ect ,a few have flatter areas like French Mans Bay and Gull Rock Road and a few place at Two Peoples Bay that some seed take but not many, so your seed will be more protected and should be easier to germinate as its not faced with the harsh natural climate.
once your seed has been stratified for the min 3 month time, in a dry container in the fridge , it should be per-soaked in rain water for min 48 hrs , then sown on top of you preferred media and this should be very early spring and keep moist at all times, with very good light and ventilation , check Albany weather for spring time temps rainfall and sun light times, this is November here . if your seed is viable you should get germination in about 1 to 2 months ,if you dont , dont worry you have 3 years to see if they will as long as you look after the media and do not allow the seed to rot or get infected with fungal infections, this is not easy as it is here we just leave them out side in home land temps and climate,you may need to make the adjustments to match it .if the seed turns black its not good so try keep it a lighter colour as possible , sphagnum is possible the best for this as it is for doing stem pulling's .
I do most of my ceph seed on peat sand or perlite mix with good success , germination under lights is great too and works well just make sure your ventilation is good or you will get slime or fungal over the pot or media and there done !
ok hope that mite help ,this is just my personal experience ,there are many other ways to do this ,just found this process works for me , some will say you dont need stratification , well nature says you do and thats what i go with ,good luck
cheers john
The make up of the cephalotus , we looking at the flower , it has a very distinct shape and formation,the seed scape here is not quite to shape for me but you can see the shape of the actual seed here that's important.
looking at the flower you see it has all the same attributes as most flowers to although the receptors are different to most flowers we see .
There is a conception that all you need do is have a open ceph flower wiggle a art brush in it and your done , well that's were its all gone terribly wrong and many seed is nonviable and never germinates, over the years have see this so many times and people receiving this seed getting very frustrated with no germination other than not properly knowing how to germinate Cephalotus seed, ,again you need to get a few things right for continued success.
here is some one that is going to unsuccessful, why you ask , if you look carefully at the flowers the pollen buds are white ,immature ,not ripe ,no pollen visible, this will never work .but the person may think there been successful and not try again , the flower will ripen shut and fatten to have non viable seed .
Key to success is be very vigilant and watch for the pollen pods to ripen and the receptors to be receptive, for me that means using a magnified visual aid ,I like the head worn ones with variable lenses for my old eyes and your hand are free to use.
In this image you can see the anthers having ripening pollen very distinctly , the white buds are now filling out with yellow yes yellow pollen but you can all so see the receptor is not open here as the pollen is not full y ripe,this will vary from plant to plant too, , you need to be very observant and get your time right ,ceph flower are viable for only a few days then shut off . there pollinators are ants beetles and fly's mainly .
If your not going to pollinate your ceph flower cut the spikes off very early as the drain your plant energy is a lot and they take time to recover ,I have tried feeding them and fertilizing them before and during flowering that did help but still the drain was a lot for them and they did look shabby for months after .
Can you collect Cephalotus pollen, yes you can its fiddly time consuming and difficult and you dont get a lot, steady hands and small tools are needed and very good eyes , my hands shake to much now days no good for such delicate processes .
crossing a ceph flower, can do it right way or lazy way , right way is to cut off all the anthers of the flower you want to cross with and apply the pollen from a different plant to make the hybrid ,will it look totally different, probably not but you all ways get some variations for sure ,colour pitcher shape ,pitcher size, may be growth rates, lid variation ect, but basically you can not make it into a different cephalotus as we don't have other cepalotus from different parts of Australia there only one , and it grows and no where else to make it different like we do with neps, sarras, vft's ect . so we get variants only .
the quick way is to just take the art brush and put in into the pollen of a flower and apply to other flowers you may have if there receptive,that's when the pollen is ripe,this give you a hybrid of sorts , well kind of ,have got many variants this way
this is a really go photo ,you can see the anther, and the receptor are very clearly, the receptor is almost ready but no ripe pollen ,the flower to the left top is showing signs of pollen starting to ripen, the pollen must be placed in the central area and will close off quickly when pollinated , self pollination is easy to do and most satisfying ,have watched ant and fly's pollinating these flowers at my home ,interesting to watch them, not seem them in the wild yet must go a the right times for this.
Your flowers should be keep dry for pollination and need a very fine tipped soft art brush , I found for best results any thing to stiff or hard will damage the flower and pollination may not be achieved,be gentle like the insects take your time, don't rush it ,and look look look ,your pollination success depends on your visual assessment of the flower , the flower spike and flowers now are susceptible to white fungus or mold, they must be very well ventilated from now on ,any sign of mold or the white fungus must be treated on the spot with fungicide or washed off gently with soapy water ,if the fungal attack is not noticed or dealt with your flower spike will be lost in a few days or so , its very noticeable as it covers the spike quickly ,may be because of some sort of dew or nectar on the spike to attract pollinators ,so adequate ventilation is essential.
now you have pollinated your flowers its time to watch them mature , in AU the flowers are pollinated in November and are harvested in February ,this will change from your country's season , our November is in spring early summer , the pods will burst open and have up to 5 seed fluffy scapes jutting out when ready to harvest , do not take them early or you may end up with sterile seed ,let them mature at there own rate, this may require strong light and dry weather to ripen as they do in the wild .
I found to almost let them fall out them-self then you know there ripe for the picking , they should be light fluffy and of a whitish colour .
as per the natural habitat they will need some cold stratification up to 3 months or so at fridge temps as it dont get much colder in Albany in winter time than your fridge , seed germination in the wild is very low as it is with most other CP seed in the wild with a few exceptions , in all the sites i have been to have seen very few seedling from seed ,mainly from runners forming new groups of plants , Coal mine beach was probably the best place to see some natural seedling growing most other places seed get washed away to unsuitable areas or picked up by birds or other insects ect ,a few have flatter areas like French Mans Bay and Gull Rock Road and a few place at Two Peoples Bay that some seed take but not many, so your seed will be more protected and should be easier to germinate as its not faced with the harsh natural climate.
once your seed has been stratified for the min 3 month time, in a dry container in the fridge , it should be per-soaked in rain water for min 48 hrs , then sown on top of you preferred media and this should be very early spring and keep moist at all times, with very good light and ventilation , check Albany weather for spring time temps rainfall and sun light times, this is November here . if your seed is viable you should get germination in about 1 to 2 months ,if you dont , dont worry you have 3 years to see if they will as long as you look after the media and do not allow the seed to rot or get infected with fungal infections, this is not easy as it is here we just leave them out side in home land temps and climate,you may need to make the adjustments to match it .if the seed turns black its not good so try keep it a lighter colour as possible , sphagnum is possible the best for this as it is for doing stem pulling's .
I do most of my ceph seed on peat sand or perlite mix with good success , germination under lights is great too and works well just make sure your ventilation is good or you will get slime or fungal over the pot or media and there done !
ok hope that mite help ,this is just my personal experience ,there are many other ways to do this ,just found this process works for me , some will say you dont need stratification , well nature says you do and thats what i go with ,good luck
cheers john
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