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By luxiloid
Posts:  100
Joined:  Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:02 am
#185425
Hi guys,
It has been long time since I have not posted any. Hope you are all doing well.
Today, I want to intoduce you to my recent results on my new giant cultivar project.

This is my pot of bunch of giant cultivars that were bought from FTS as tissue cultures.
They are Green Dragon, Big Moth, DC XL, A2 and B52 all together in one large pot.
Mother plants, April
Mother plants, April
20130430_134439.jpg (52.14 KiB) Viewed 10301 times
I have cut-off all the flower stalks except the ones from DC XL and A2.
People ask me why I chose A2 instead of B52. It is because I personally think A2 is a better plant than B52 in a way that it can grow really fast to become an adult from a young plant. B52 is somehow senstive to environments expecially transpotting. The A2 shows its unique fast growing characteristic in pH 6~7 cocopeat soil and the root system is also stronger against nutrients in the soil. When I fertilize a young A2 with orchid fertilizer, it becomes matured quickly about in a year. When I do the same to other flytraps, the roots melt.
The DC XL is just a supreme breed. It has very hard and thick leaves, the root system gets so large very easily.
I concluded that by cross pollinating these two plants, I can earn a flytrap that grows strongly as a DC XL but also has the stability and nutrient-absorbing features of the A2.

Anyway, here is the flower of an A2:
A2 flower
A2 flower
20130518_102034.jpg (29.12 KiB) Viewed 10301 times
Here are the mother plants. I left flower stalks for two A2s and one DC XL.
Mother plants, May
Mother plants, May
20130518_102050.jpg (57.88 KiB) Viewed 10301 times
Finally, I earned seeds mostly from DC XL. Somehow, the flowers of A2 just rotted.
Seeds
Seeds
20130625_195150.jpg (27.07 KiB) Viewed 10301 times
I planted them in LFS on 25th June:
Planted
Planted
20130625_203538.jpg (42.51 KiB) Viewed 10301 times

They later got transpotted into two pots because the LFS did not seem fresh.
And now.....
Here are the A2 x DC XL seedlings, the first pot:
The mix of A2 and DC XL has led to so many varieties than I expected. Some even look like a cupped-trap seedling.
A2 x DC XL Pot 1
A2 x DC XL Pot 1
20130825_230751a.jpg (103.29 KiB) Viewed 10301 times
Here is the second pot:
A2 x DC XL Pot 2
A2 x DC XL Pot 2
20130825_230857a.jpg (106.02 KiB) Viewed 10301 times
If you see the one that I circled in red, it is so large!
I have germinated more than 2000 flytrap seeds to date and the largest trap I have ever seen at this stage was only around 3.2~3.5mm.
The largest trap on this seedling is currently 4.38mm. There are also some seedlings that are still very large compared to other normal seedlings.
Last edited by luxiloid on Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
luxiloid, luxiloid, luxiloid and 1 others liked this
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By Matt
Location: 
Posts:  22523
Joined:  Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:28 pm
#185427
Wonderful! What a great cross. I agree that A2 is superior to B52 in some ways. And DC XL also seems to be superior to B52 as well. You should get some really great flytraps from that cross. The one you circled in the last photo looks like it's going to be a monster :)
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By ironjaws
Posts:  574
Joined:  Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:28 am
#185433
Oh man, I think I just drooled a little... You've got some awesome plants there! What a great idea crossing the A2 and DC XL. I can't wait to see how they look later!
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By happiness
#185471
Sounds like a lot of fun! Can't wait till I can do this :-)!

Would love to see the future results.
By Snap Traps
Posts:  402
Joined:  Sat Oct 01, 2011 3:15 pm
#185526
Think you should do fused tooth x green dragon as well ;) . Great seedlings though.
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By luxiloid
Posts:  100
Joined:  Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:02 am
#185605
happiness wrote:Sounds like a lot of fun! Can't wait till I can do this :-)!

Would love to see the future results.
Kevonicus wrote:Bad Ass cross! Looking forward to an update!
ironjaws wrote:Oh man, I think I just drooled a little... You've got some awesome plants there! What a great idea crossing the A2 and DC XL. I can't wait to see how they look later!
Thanks.
I will update the progress.
By BrunoL
Posts:  242
Joined:  Fri Aug 09, 2013 4:23 pm
#186053
Wow, what a great cross!!!! What would happen if you crossed all of the giant cultivars one-by-one? Ex:
A2 x DC-Xl crossed with B52 x Jaws and continued on. Would a giant cultivar be the result of all these crosses?
By Mike_M
Posts:  58
Joined:  Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:13 am
#186380
Sounds like you could some great traps, I'm looking forward to your updates :D
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By Goodkoalie
Posts:  1451
Joined:  Sun Jul 01, 2012 3:48 am
#186389
I never reallly thought of hybrudizing venus flytraps before, i never thought it was possbile. I mostly think of sarrs though :)
By luxiloid
Posts:  100
Joined:  Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:02 am
#186393
BrunoL wrote:Wow, what a great cross!!!! What would happen if you crossed all of the giant cultivars one-by-one? Ex:
A2 x DC-Xl crossed with B52 x Jaws and continued on. Would a giant cultivar be the result of all these crosses?
Hi Bruno,
Thanks for your interest on this topic.
I don't know how many pairs of chromosomes do flytraps have. However, I think there are about 6 pairs since every 1 out of 50~60 looks similar if you germinate a lot of seeds. This is calculated from '2 to the sixth is equal to 64.'
If the giant trait of A2 is in a location of a chromosome and the giant trait of DC XL has it in the same location of its own, we would not earn a greater descendant with just crosses.
We need to analyze the source of each cultivars one by one. Say, crossing A2 and B52 will not likely yield a much greater cultivar since they are siblings.
We also need to cross plants with unique strength. For example, if one plant has stronger root and the other have stronger photosynthesis function, two are very different functions and locations and may yield a better descendant.
Sometimes, a genetic information can rule more than two traits then, we can even improve only one trait but lose the other. Like how the flower of a Wacky is related to the shape of its traps.
Very rarely, a trait that did not even exist can appear by mutation. However, this happens one out of many thousands and millions.
Wish I could understand the function of all the genetic codes to make a flytrap by myself.
All in all, Mixing many traits into one plant is not easy.
luxiloid liked this
By sbrooks
Posts:  748
Joined:  Tue May 22, 2012 3:33 pm
#186397
BrunoL wrote:Wow, what a great cross!!!! What would happen if you crossed all of the giant cultivars one-by-one? Ex:
A2 x DC-Xl crossed with B52 x Jaws and continued on. Would a giant cultivar be the result of all these crosses?
Image
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By Outcast
Posts:  64
Joined:  Sun Feb 17, 2013 1:47 am
#186413
That is an awesome cross. I hope to one day get to do some crosses of my own. I definitely look forward to seeing the progression of these guys.
By Idontkno23
Posts:  203
Joined:  Thu May 20, 2010 2:47 am
#186424
An I the only one who can't see the seedlings pic? :s

Anyways your plants look awesome and I'm sure whatever comes of this will be awesome as well.

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