MG seeds for trade

Saw this over at the Seed Trading forum - have not traded with her before. Thought that anyone else looking for MGs or who lost them in recent frosts might be interested - http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/662090/

I saw that post too, and then I found her classified ad... I ordered just a couple of things, couldn't resist!

Bluespiral, I did manage to get some seeds from one of the JMG plants you brought me, the lovely hot pink one with the white edge. If the frost got yours, I'll share! Even with the tangle that the vines were in, I'm pretty sure I was able to tell these seeds from the others... there were only 2 other vines in that planter, a Brazilian MG with huge seeds and another MG with very tiny seeds, so I'm pretty sure all the mid-sized seeds belonged to your JMG! Some of them did for sure, as there were a couple of blooms remaining when I harvested the seeds.

Critter, thanks for offering to help out here with my frost disaster -

It's too soon to tell what I'll wind up with - Ron's suggestion about continuing the ripening process by putting MG stems with not-quite-ripe pods in water still seems promissing - mine have been in water about a week. Critter, I'm putting you on my MG trade list, but could you remind me with a dmail in a couple of weeks? Things have gotten a bit more hectic and disorganized around here lately.

The ones from EmmaGrace that had varying shades of blue/violet/purple in varying tones from pale to black in varying patterns in just one flower really won my heart. Your hot pink one with white edge came from a group she labeled Maisugata, and the others that came from that group in my garden were as just described - only harvested 1 pod (not ripe) from those. Another group with these characteristics was Yagurama, and only 1 unripe pod from them (this one had a lot of mildew and rust issues). And then there were her Yojiros - similar, but more solid field of color on the limb with variations more subtle but flower size larger.

If I ever have a significant number of seed of these to trade, I will, but right now I don't and hope I'm fanning the flames of appreciation out there and that whoever is hybridizing along these lines will keep it up.

bluespiral - Glad to hear that there's still hope for getting ripened seeds from some of your plants...

I noticed that you mentioned that you got a hot pink with a white edge from something labelled "Mai Sugata"...Mai Sugata is one of the relatively dark blue yojiro types as seen in the PlantFiles here
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/84350/

TTY,...

Ron

Whoops, and here I was hoping I now knew the name of that gorgeous jmg you shared with me! That's OK, there's another one in the planter that is just labeled "Hot Pink from The Box" (remember the twisted robin?)... and while I think I can tell the jmg seed pods from the others in the planter, I'm pretty sure both your pink with white edge and the other hot pink one got mixed up together... we will see what grows from those seeds next spring!

Hmmm. Perhaps the pod parent was Maisugata but open pollinated? The other 2 vines I grew from that same group of seeds that came labeled as Maisugata had those intoxicating (to me, at least) shadings from dark blue-purple to paler of same in mesmerizing patterns that swirled in and out of each other. (None of them had typical Maisugata pronounced 5-spoke patterns in white) (And Critter, we'll have to compare notes on the next generation of this picoteed hot-pink one.) (Ron, what are the odds that both the intoxicating/mesmerzing ones and the picoteed hot-pink ones came from Maisugata?? Are those pronounced white spokes recessive? All of them did have the white, outer edge.)

No seed formed on the mesmerizing ones - they were among the last to bloom, but the stems I brought in are putting out tender new green vining growth which I hope to root. I understand EmmaGrace was experimenting with hybridizing - I can't wait to see what comes from the second generation of all her seed.

Ron, I bagged 400 MG flowers this summer, and they all rotted. Why would that be? Bad bag-waggling technique to encourage pollen to scatter over the pistil? Keeping baggies on indefinitely because they deterred the woodchuck from chomping on the pod? Other? (Ansonfan covers his developing pods with pieces of torn bedsheets anchored with rubber bands to protect them from birds - that's about the state of our well-pump and furnace when we moved here - kinda homey)

bluespiral - If the pink came out of the Mai Sugata>then the Mai Sugata was probably not pure strain...the light colors are usually recessive to the darker colors...I consider the white mid-petaline band/primary fold to be a dominant characteristic in the yojiros...someone else may see this dominant in a different relative perspective...

You left the bags on 'indefinitely'(?!?)...well,that's why they rotted...the bags should be left on for no longer than a few days at most since the bags usually cause high humidity levels inside of the bag...the pedicels are tagged with some type of attached marker...a very fine mesh covering will work very well also,but these may be alittle more difficult to attach...and won't protect the bloom from any rains...

Please refer back to the thread where I shared on the specifics of doing hand pollination on morning glories here
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/533754/


Shaking the bags to 'insure' pollination is not the best way to insure pollination...and can actually cause most of the pollen to fall away from the stigma...I know the shake the flower technique is used successfully in different families of plants,but I disreccomend it for MG's...other people may have a different working perspective...

TTY,...

Ron

I'm new to MGs, and I didn't bag anything this year (*slaps wrist*)... but it seems to me I read a thread over on the seed saving forum maybe where somebody suggested isolating MG blooms by tying the actual blossom shut over its center. I guess the fertilization window is pretty short, so you don't need to protect them very long against cross-pollination.

??

So far, I like to go out in the evening about 5 or 6pm and find almost open flowers. I tie a red yarn on the stem leaving a bit of "breathing room" so as not to strangle the vine to serve to mark the future hopefully ripening pod. Then I gently tie the bloom about 3/4 the way to the top on the end just enough( and it doesn`t take much) pressure to keep it firmly shut. The next morning I come out there and do one variety at a time washing my hands and any tweezers I may have used between each variety. Each kind has its own special spot seperate from the others. I untie the bloom and if the pollen is everywhere and covering the end of the pistil all I got to do is tie it right back up and call it done. If the pollen is not covering up the end of the pistil to my liking I gently pull one of the anthers off with tweezers and turn it with the wrist and gently rub the pollen right off the anther onto the end of the pistil. Sometimes I simply pull the anthers out with my fingers and run the anthers over the pistil in a dabbing motion as I watch the little grains dissappear off the anther and stick onto the pistil. I used to work on watches and jewelry so this isn`t hard for me to do. Then I tie it back up and come back to clean up the falling yarn later on. I think this is a skill that you have to practice and learn by practicing just like riding a bicycle.

If a flower is too torn to tie back I fashion a leaf and tie over it for a cover. This serves to help disquise the flower from bees being able to find it and protect it from being pollinated by a different variety than which one you desire. One of those very small paper bags taped over it is a good idea provided you make it secure with some tape(without damaging your flower )so the wind can`t blow it away and you should come out and remove them a day or two later especially if it is raining and you don`t want to encourage rotting.





This message was edited Oct 23, 2006 2:47 PM

Thanks, that's a very clear explanation!

One more thing: If you want to cross one vine with another then you go out at 5 or 6 pm and find just about to open flowers,gently pry them open, remove the pollen anthers from the potential pod parents and tie them back up and cover them...wash hands between varieties as usual. Your pollen parents simply get tied shut so you find undisturbed clean pollen to transfer to your pod parents. You can tell the pollen parents because there is no yarn on the stem like what will be on the pod parents.

After you make a cross leave a small plastic tag with a hole cut in it with a hole puncher to I.D. your cross with permanent black marker as pod parent x pollen parent and a number. After you wash your hands record the number,the parents of the cross and date the cross was done in a small book. That way you can mark on the calender roughly when you should be checking up on the pods developing. I put an x in a box written in for one week later if the pod falls off. I put a check mark on it if the pod is taking and check on it every week when walking through the garden.


I`m happy to help out and make sugestions!

A very embarrassed thank you, all.