Propagation: Pitcher Plant Pods/Flowers Propagation (Sarracenia)

Discussion in 'Outdoor Gardening in the Pacific Northwest' started by Yo_Jo, May 25, 2020.

  1. Yo_Jo

    Yo_Jo Active Member

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    We bought these pitcher plants from the Van Dusen Garden sale 3 years ago and this year we have a bumper crop of flower pods. We believe we have two species of Sarracenia and we were thinking of propagating them. The flowers pods look pretty cool - when they first came out the pods looks like little bug eyed aliens.

    Does anyone have any information on how it would work with these Sarracenia flowers? I am hoping the bees and bugs would do the work for me but I could do it manually with a Q-Tip - if I had a step by step manual?

    If I manually pollinate them would you keep it Green with Green or cross pollinate Green with Brown?

    First image was from April 23rd - the last two are from May 22nd so it took about a month for them to shoot up and droop down.

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  2. Yo_Jo

    Yo_Jo Active Member

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    I am definitely not a botanist - I can see the pollen and I think the anthers are the hanging middle bits but I am still trying to figure out where is the stigma.
    Is it the forked tongue leaf peddle that curves upwards? Where does the pollen go to complete the cycle that creates the seeds?
    In any case while I was q-tipping around the flower I spotted some ants rolling around inside so I am hopping they are getting the job done.

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  3. Yo_Jo

    Yo_Jo Active Member

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    The pitcher plant flowers pedals are starting to wilt now and inside the main flower I can see a bulbous green middle stem right below the main flower with tiny yellow pieces inside - I am thinking the middle bulbous stem contains the seeds. So I’m am keeping my fingers crossed that with my 25 flower heads this season, the two different types of pitcher plants will be producing lots of seeds.

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  4. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I'm sorry nobody's answering your question, which is very interesting, and thank you for continuing to contribute to your thread. I hope you will continue to let us know how it goes for you. I have found some drawings.
    This one just talks about pollination in Sarracenia flava, how an insect does it, but doesn't really name the flower parts.
    Pollination in Sarracenia | Harvard Forest

    This has a drawing with named flower parts for Sarracenia leucophylla.
    Sarracenia leucophylla

    There seem to be lots of videos on other methods of reproducing these plants, like root division.
     
  5. Yo_Jo

    Yo_Jo Active Member

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    Thanks Wendy for the information. The Harvard article had a good drawing of the position of the petals and a good description of how pollination works although I have a still no clue what a stigma looks like in a pitcher plant.
    I am hoping by the end of the growing season I will be collecting some seeds. This weekend I bought a gigantic bag of dried peat moss in preparation for my fun with growing pitcher plants from seeds.
     

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