- Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:25 am
#34210
I will talk you through fertalising heliamphora flowers as explained in Deter D,amatos book.
The flowers open on the scape one at a time over a course of several weeks.
When the flowers open the female stigma is receptive for only a few days. once the stigma looses its receptivity, the pollen ripens from the anthers. for this reason one flower may not be pollinated wit its own pollen. I am not quite how sure how long you could keep the pollen fresh for in the fridge.
If you have succesfully pollinated the flower it will swell, turn brown and release seeds in around two to four months.
I am still a novice grower, but some other very expirienced members of the Australian Carnivorous Plant Society, who can grow their heliamphora plants to have pitchers reaching heights of over one ft do not atempt to pollinate their Heli flowers. Saying this, go ahead and try, the only way to know it to give it a shot!