I am interested in hybridizing a few of my alocasia and colocasia. With what little I know, it is fairly difficult. Are there any good articles for a non-science obsessed alocasia, colocasia and xanthosoma growers?
Barbara
Question for Lari Ann or anyone who knows
Barbara,
My experience is in hybridizing Alocasia amongst themselves. If you are wanting info on hybridizing Alocasia with Colocasia, I have not tried that and think that it is very unlikely to be successful. If you are interested in hybridizing Colocasia amongst themselves, Brian Williams has the experience in this area as I do not do any work in Colocasia hybridizing.
Let me know a little more on what you need to know, and I'll do my best to help.
LariAnn
Laui Ann, I was interested in the alocasia in particular.
This message was edited Jul 31, 2009 8:37 PM
Generally, Alocasia blooms are receptive to pollen (called female anthesis) when they first open. In warm weather, the day or two after female anthesis, the pollen drops (called male anthesis). At this point, the pistils are no longer receptive. So if you are planning to cross two Alocasia plants, your best situation is when, in the morning, one of them is receptive to pollen and the other is shedding pollen. I use a small soft artist's brush to get some pollen, which I then dab onto the receptive pistils (located on the bottom portion of the spadix; to access them you need to cut away a piece of the spathe that covers them. Be careful with tis so you don't damage the pistils.).
Different groups of Alocasias behave slightly differently. The macrorrhizos types are much more strict in their timing than the odora types are, and the jewel types will often not drop pollen until two or three days after female anthesis.
LariAnn, Mostly a lurker here, but I have experimented with storing pollen for other plant groups. Can aroid pollen be stored for any length of time? If so, how is it done? This might be helpful to others. None of my alocasia or colocasia have ever bloomed (in zone 5)
LariAnn-thanks. I almost understand. It will take trying it to understand. The alocasia in the greenhouse bloom frequently so think I will at least give it a try. I have hybridized brugmansia but they are easy. I stored the pollen in the freezer. Can it be done with the alocasia pollen?
barbara
I've stored Alocasia pollen in the fridge and found that it is only good for about a week. Before putting it in there, I placed it in little vials with the caps loose,t hen placed these in an airtight container over silica gel to keep the pollen dry. I have read research that indicates the possibility of storing some aroid pollen in the freezer for longer periods, but I haven't tried it yet. The ultimate, if I had the lab facilities, is to store the pollen over liquid nitrogen. Some pollen types have retained viability for years with that kind of storage.
For me, though, the ideal is to try to have enough plants of blooming size so that I can have a ready female when the pollen drops. That's the very best situation, IMHO.
LariAnn
That almost sounds like a perfect world situation, LariAnn. I like it. Can I quote you to DHJim when he needs to know why I want another greenhouse? grin
Jean
Jean,
By all means, go ahead! It IS the perfect reason for needing another greenhouse.
LariAnn
It sounds so very logical here.....gonna put this theory into practice....grin