FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

The more I grow and experience in this hobby, the more I realize that my knowledge just barely scratches the surface. My latest quandary hasn't become an issue yet, but I want to address it before it becomes one.

What do you do when you have multiple pots of multiple varieties of plants (specificall Drosera), which are all flowering at the same time, from contaminating each other with seeds? I realise the obvious solution here is to separate different species so no cross-contamination can occur, but what does someone with a limited amount of space do? My only thought is to put barriers up so dropped seeds can't inadvertently land in a place where it doesn't belong. Is there something I am missing, or is this all that can be done?

Patrick

I'm probably more of a noob than you are, but look at CC. A lot of the times, their pots come with hitchhikers, so I doubt they separate each and every plant they have. At least for those plants that self pollinate, like Capensis, you know that if you never saw the flower bloom, chances are that the seeds you eventually collect will be capensis as well. As for those that dont self pollinate... I'm not sure.

It happens. My dew pots are all cross-contaminated with who knows what...really the only solution is to cut flower stalks before they seed.

I Just saw this in another post some where and I can't for the life of me remember where. But some people tie bags over the flowers? No idea how well this works or if it's just for seed collection. I think you could try to control it more this way?
This is not my picture. I did a quick google search.

tracieh wrote:I Just saw this in another post some where and I can't for the life of me remember where. But some people tie bags over the flowers? No idea how well this works or if it's just for seed collection. I think you could try to control it more this way?

Hmm...I don't think that would work particularly well with dews due to the weight, unless I could find small mesh bags??

Patrick

Cross pollination happens from time to time. I also get hitchhikers in other pots. You can either cut flower stalks or just deal with extra plants. I have a few pots of random seedlings. Either from my plants or from mixed bags of seeds. It's kind of fun to see an overflowing pot of different plants. You can always repot seedlings or donate seeds to the seedbank.

Having more plants is never a bad thing in my opinion.

thefic wrote:Cross pollination happens from time to time. I also get hitchhikers in other pots. You can either cut flower stalks or just deal with extra plants. I have a few pots of random seedlings. Either from my plants or from mixed bags of seeds. It's kind of fun to see an overflowing pot of different plants. You can always repot seedlings or donate seeds to the seedbank.

Having more plants is never a bad thing in my opinion.

I'm fine with having more plants, only I want those extra plants where they belong not in random places where the seed decides to land after falling from the flower.

Patrick

Then I would cut the flower stalks as soon as they appear and then use leaf cuttings to propogate.

Since Drosera seeds are incredibly tiny it's very difficult to keep them from falling everywhere with the slightest breeze. Most Drosera can become quite a weed under most conditions.

Sticking to leaf propagation will help contain the plants where you want them.

Let them mingle. Maybe do some cross-cultivar loving yourself. Maybe you'll come up with the next must have hybrid.
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