Sprekelia howardii
sussli@netscape.com (Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:40:10 PDT)

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your response. I was obviously confused by this issue, but understand now what you are doing. I still don't comprehend the forces that are at work here. However, that is really immaterial and I am simply going to try it. I am mainly hybridizing gesneriads and I am looking for a way to quicker and more reliably stabilize the plants grown from seeds to consistently represent the qualities I found attractive in the best hybrids in the first place. I have been selfing the best plants back to itself for 3 generations, but still get too much variability in the offsprings, while species selfed back just about always give me the same plants back from seeds.

So, thanks again for this new idea.

Gene Sussli/San Francisco.

--- jshields@indy.net wrote:

From: "J.E. Shields" <jshields@indy.net>
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [pbs] Sprekelia howardii
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:12:49 -0400

I think I may detect a trace of confusion here.

The microwaved pollen is surely dead and completely infertile. However,
the dead pollen's surface proteins or polysaccharides are still there, and
they are what one hopes will trigger the proper responses in the stigma to
allow fertilization by other pollen, not microwaved, that is then applied
to the stigma.

You mix compatible but dead pollen with live pollen that would otherwise be
rejected by the stigma. This way you get no unwanted hybrids mixed in with
your seeds.

Clear as mud?

Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)

At 08:25 AM 6/29/2006 -0700, you wrote:

*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA

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