Morning Glories: Pollen-less blooms ..., 1 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
I was going to bring this issue up on my cross thread, but I think it might be a good thread for a topic on MG pollination.

I had this same problem last season with my Yagumura Blizzard vine. Tons and tons of blooms, but few seed pods forming. When I tried to self-pollinate it, there was NO pollen on most of the blooms. I am now thinking that this particular vine might be lacking in the pollen producing department. My new crossed vine was crossed with pollen from YB and Lady Laura Pink Form from this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/830252/
I apparently DID get enough pollen from YB to create this cross because the seed came from LLPF.

I am seeing the same problem with my new cross. I am sure it is the Yaguruma gene that is causing this. I hope I am using the right terminology. I believe it is the anthers that produce the pollen, correct? And it is the stigma that has to be fertilized to produce seeds?

I see a stigma on all my blooms. The stigma appears to look properly developed. On the otherhand, the anthers seem underdeveloped with NO pollen whatsoever. This is not just a random bloom or two ... it is ALL the blooms. And when I dust each bloom with a fine soft paint brush, I get NO pollen at all.

I remember dusting other blooms from other vines and crossing it with the Yaguruma Blizzard last year. So for all of you who got YB seeds from me, be aware that you may come up with some very unusual crosses from those seeds!

I did get pollen from a few blooms about a week ago from my cross. Which I did use to self-pollinate the vine. But I didn't mark them thinking there was going to be a future problem. I just thought the vine was slow to produce pollen. But there has been no pollen since.

Does weather, temps, etc. affect pollen production? The pollen is NOT clumping together in the case of it being wet. I see NO pollen on the anthers at all!! The anthers look tiny, not the size they should be to be producing pollen.

Right now I only have the Kawaii and other mounding MGs growing and blooming. So I have been crossing my NOID cross stigmas with the pollen from the Kawaii blooms. The Kawaii blooms are producing LOTS of pollen. You can see it on the paint brush. So I have been dusting my NOID cross with pollen from the Kawaii blooms. So that should make for an interesting cross... Vining Yaguruma with a mounding Kawaii. So you will either be able to grow it in hanging containers or use a trellis! My Kawaii are pink, white, and purple. So the colors should blend nicely to with the NOID cross.

Here is the best close-up photo I could get of the NOID cross throat showing the anthers and the stigma. Can you see how underdeveloped the anthers are?


This message was edited May 4, 2008 10:17 AM