FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

D.Dreamsicle x Self from Seed Bank. Why do the seedlings resemble each parent and not a cultivar? I thought the seedlings would be the same orange color. Maybe the red one will grow into orange cultivar. Does the self pollination have something to do with this question? Hmmmm

Thank you for your feedback

StaatS+17+

Drosera 'Dreamsicle' is a cultivar, a cultivated variety.
It is a hybrid between D. filiformis var. floridana and D. tracyii.
It has a unique arrangement of genes.
Imagine rolling 500 dice and they all come up 6.
That combo is 'Dreamsicle'.
When you self pollinate it, you are rolling those 500 dice again.
The odds are very low you will ever get the same combo again.
(I know, there aren't 500 6 sided genes but for explanatory purposes, the analogy is adequate.)

Thank you for feedback. Your analogy makes perfect sense. Ok, in order for best chances of 100% dreamsicle, then all parents need to be crossed again, leaf or root cutting?

Nope. Doesn't work that way. Selfing the same plant again is simply another roll of the dice ... to use Mike's analogy. You might get lucky, you might not. If you really want a 100% Dreamcicle, you need to clone it.

To second what Dragonseye just said, to get an exact copy of a 'Dreamsicle', you have to take a leaf cutting from an official Drosera 'Dreamsicle' clone and grow a new copy from that leaf cutting.

Or an offshoot from the parent plant. 'Dreamsicle' buds just as readily as its parents.