FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I attempted to hybridize Drosera capensis "Typical" and Drosera aliciae this morning. This is something I never tried before.

I waited until flowers from both plants were wide open. Then I took some tiny cuticle scissors and cut off one of the anthers from the D. aliciae flower. The pollen looked fully developed and fluffy.

After cleaning the scissors, I removed all 5 anthers from the D. capensis flower so it couldn't pollinate itself.

I took a toothpick and scraped off the stigmas of the capensis flower to remove any residual pollen even though I couldn't see any present.

I scraped all the pollen off the D. aliciae anther, put it on the tip of a dental pick and applied it to the stigmas of the D. capensis flower. I repeated this for all 5 stigmas of the capensis.

I tied a piece of sewing thread around the D. capensis flower. This way, I know which seed pod to watch for swelling and possible seed development. In 3 or 4 weeks, I hope to harvest my first hybrid Drosera seeds.

Tomorrow or Tuesday, I will try to cross pollinate my Drosera capensis "Broad Leaf" and Drosera aliciae. The Broad Leaf flower was not cooperating today.

Wish me luck everybody.

Good growing,
Mike

Good luck Mike... Now you're getting creative.... Hopefully you are successful in the experiment... After the seeds grow out it will be interesting to see what this cross will look like. I am picturing a rosette capensis which would be the coolest... I know cool is so 70's

Today, I crossed, (Hopefully) or at least tried to, my Drosera capensis "Wide Leaf" with my Drosera aliciae. The flowers were both wide open at the same time. Now the waiting begins.

Good growing,
Mike

Good luck for you shadowtski.i hope u can share what does your hybridize drosera look like.

Here is a follow-up for anyone who's interested.

My D. capensis "Typical" x D. aliciae produced some nice looking seed.

I put half of them in a distilled water-filled test tube for germination.

13 days later about a dozen seeds are sending out a green and white shoot. I have a dozen baby hybrid Sundews.

I'm 59 years old and I feel like jumping up and down like a little kid.

Now to get them planted, grow them up, and look for that one plant with special characteristics that will deserve named cultivar status.

Good growing,
Mike

Good job buddy keep us posted on the results cant wait to see the pictures of these plants

Just Fuzzy

Good luck! I've been meaning to mess around with hybridization for years now, but it seems I always end up forgetting about my plans.

I am very interested in seeing your results! Sounds fun

I have tried and as far as I know failed so far with hybrids, that is unless they took after their mother totally. I think to be extra safe the chance of insects pollinating needs to be ruled out ie bagging the flowers in some way, but I wish you luck and it would be great to see success

That's awesome Shadowtski! Can't wait to see them all grown up.

That's great Mike!! I can't wait to see what they look like as they grow. Your post inspired me to try a cross so I went basic and did capensis Alba X capensis Wide Leaf. It is really time consuming so I only did one flower from each. I was very successful. The seeds produced from a single flower was 150-200 on the Alba mother plant. The Wide leaf mother plant still needs a few more days but that pod is huge too.

Sounds good. I'm curious to see the range of difference in the offspring. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm thinking you'll find some looking like mom, some looking like dad, and some filling in the whole spectrum in-between.

Good luck with them and good growing,
Mike

Here's an update on my hybridization project. The seeds germinated and are growing nicely. They are finally big enough to photograph, or at least close to that size. They don't look like much so far. They look like GBDs, Generic Baby Droseras. They are developing a nice Red color. That's always nice to see.

As they grow, I'll post updates from time to time. I have a dozen or two seedlings, so I hope at least one of them will turn out to be a worthy candidate for CV status.

Good growing,
Mike

I had the opportunity to assist Mike to grow out a few of his hybrid seeds. Here's a photo of a few of mine. One is really showing the wider leafs. Mine are not as red maybe because I have them under T5HO light.