FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Ofcourse you did!

Well, I have tried doing it last year, and I did a mistake by not removing all the anthers, so I can not be sure if any of the seeds were their cross or self pollinated. Well, I did another crossing today, this time I removed the anthers from both plants and created back cross. I will try it on a couple more flowers when they open simultaneously.

Well, I have sown last year's seeds and there are some that seem a bit different than last year's Alba seedlings. One of them is showing minor red color in it's tentacles, one is showing brownish sun tan (bronze colour),.. I am now giving them stronger light, which means they should now start looking pink and if there's anything in them from typical variety, it should become more evident.

My questions, for anyone that tried pollinating them, are.. is red coloration dominant or recessive? Did you get more vigorous seedlings than plain ol' seedlings from both parents? Some of my seedlings are quite aggressive, not to mention they move tentacles when fed fast, really fast.

Since I haven't done the pollination the proper way, I can not tell if my seedlings wee crossed successfully. I'll have better idea about it later this year, when I get the seeds and plant them. I'd like to know if any of you have any info he/she would like to share. We can compare the results later.

Here's an example. There are likely to be many more in a container with mixed seeds. These are from grown up typical Drosera capensis container. I threw some seeds from the flowers I crossed into the pot to check what I'll get. I have not expected anything, because Like I said, I haven't removed the anthers.

For comparison, you can see the colour on typical D. capensis leaf on one of the photo and a majority of most likely self pollinated D. capensis 'Alba' seedlings. Some have much more colour.

You must of had some steady Azz hands

My hands are shaking constantly, but I can control it somewhat.
I don't know if this process was a success. I had just read a post with some pictures about taking regular Drosera seed pod and not an Alba pod. I'm not certain now if I took Alba seed pod with it or not, but if I did not screw it up in the end by mixing seeds, then the offspring of regular and white Drosera capensis are white. If I'd have to guess, I'd say white color is work of recessive gene, not the dominant one.. I don't know, it doesn't seem right...

I am in the process of repeating the project, this time I'll do a lot more work. I'm cutting off the stamens early, washing the flowers to remove any pollen and then cross pollinating both mother plants. I'll take the seeds from white and purple plants separately. That's how I'll be able to see if there are self pollination results among them.

Question still stands, anyone did this before? Any observations? Perhaps those a bit more colored seedlings are just that, reacting a little more to the light than most of the seedlings. I guess I'll know more in around 4 months when I get new seeds and start seedlings. I'll keep you posted.