Nottoogoodnoozaboutseeds

From: Wilbert Hetterscheid <hetter at vkc.nl> on 1999.07.12 at 04:11:21(3490) Aroiders, I receive news from several of you that seeds that were sent from the Leiden Botanical garden of Amorphophallus species arrived damaged. I am very sorry about this. I will notify the responsable people for this, which is all I can do right now. The seed harvest of Am. titanum was a disappointment. About 80% of the berries turned out to be void. So it is not inconceivable that you get one seed only (or none..........). However, germination rate of titanum is 100% (unless the seed is crushed............). Let's hope that the Selbie plants yield enough seed for all of you. Cheers, Wilbert

From: SelbyHort at aol.com on 1999.07.14 at 21:37:45(3501) About Selby's Amorphophallus titanum: Wilbert mentioned that they had disappointing seed set in their Am. titanum. I can't say for sure how ours will come out. The berries are now very plump and bright orange...swelling up nicely. Part of the spadix did not develop berries. We did not cut off the spathe as Wilbert recommended, and pollination is very difficult if you leave the spathe on. A portion of the back side of the inflores. was difficult for Harry to reach when applying pollen, so this area (approx. 15% of the total female area) is void of any fruits. Harry Luther did open one of the berries yesterday and found a developing embryo, so this is positive news. Donna Atwood Selby Gardens +More In a message dated 99-07-12 00:11:23 EDT, you write: << The seed harvest of Am. titanum was a disappointment. About 80% of the berries turned out to be void. So it is not inconceivable that you get one seed only (or none..........). However, germination rate of titanum is 100% (unless the seed is crushed............). Let's hope that the Selbie plants yield enough seed for all of you. >>

From: "Bonaventure W Magrys" <magrysbo at shu.edu> on 1999.07.15 at 04:50:49(3506) Do you try to put the titanum pollen on any other Amorphs? I'm interested in hybrid potential and vigor. Bonaventure Magrys +More New Jersey

From: SelbyHort at aol.com on 1999.07.17 at 13:31:22(3523) No, we had no other Amorphophallus in flower at the time, and an Amorphophallus titanum hybrid might be pretty scary indeed! Shades of " The Little Shop of Horrors". Donna Atwood Selby Gardens +More In a message dated 99-07-15 00:50:43 EDT, you write: << Do you try to put the titanum pollen on any other Amorphs? I'm interested in hybrid potential and vigor. Bonaventure Magrys New Jersey >>

From: Wilbert Hetterscheid <hetter at vkc.nl> on 1999.07.20 at 14:51:20(3528) > We did not cut off the spathe as Wilbert recommended > How DARE you........... +More > , and > pollination is very difficult if you leave the spathe on. A portion of > the > back side of the inflores. was difficult for Harry to reach when > applying > pollen, so this area (approx. 15% of the total female area) is void of > any > fruits. > The danger of this is that the entire infructescence collapses because of this void spot. The axis of the infructescence swells up enormously at places where seeds are developing. In void places, this may not happen, which means the axis will develop very unequally and might collapse of this. I've noticed this several times. Maybe 15% though is too little to result in this. Let's hope.......... Then again, that's what you get when you ignore well-meant advice.......... :-) Cheers, Wilbert

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.