Picture Update

Paid a visit to the greenhouse this past weekend and was amazed at what I saw. First, I noticed the first seeds are beginning to sprout. S. oreophila x "Toadmaster" is the first out of the gate:


Second, many of the one year old plants have sent up new growth, even ones that appeared to be dead:


There are definitely many that I'm about to give up on. It seems the ones that suffered most were the second "batch" that sprouted last year. I had basically 2 batches of seeds that were sown. The first batch sprouted around Christmas of 2009, and the second batch sprouted in early spring of 2010. I will definitely be more careful with this year's batch of seedlings.

Third, I noticed a flower on a seed-grown plant, 3 years and 1 month after it germinated. It is an open-pollinated S. oreophila x willisii:


Lastly, I noticed a bunch of flowers emerging on some older plants, including many that I purchased at Oudean's Willow Creek Nursery last May, including 'Doreen's Colossus' and 'Tapestry' (what a nice cross that would make):



One last shot, of an unknown S. purpurea hybrid that kind of sums up how things are looking in the greenhouse. It shows a new pitcher emerging, as well as some Drosera filiformis waking up, as well as some weedy white violets, that I've given up on trying to eliminate:

Mid-January Update

Paid a visit to the greenhouse this morning, where all of my younger plants were moved recently. I also dropped off the rest of my seeds that were in cold stratification. I obseverd a lot of new growth on seedlings from last year, although there are still a good number that pretty much look dead. I'll keep them in there and hope for the best, but I don't feel too confident they are still alive. There are enough showing new growth that I don't feel too upset about it, but I definitely learned a lesson on seedlings this year. Some of the older (2-3 year old) seedlings are also waking up, and I even observed a flower bud, about 2" tall now, on a 3-year-old open-pollinated oreophila x willisii. Unfortunately, there will be nothing to cross it with, other than itself. So maybe someday I'll have some self-pollinated open-pollinated oreophila x willisii. Something to look forward to years from now.
I also checked on the seeds I had moved in there a little while ago. I don't remember the date off hand, but I did observe some germination! The first to sprout this year are a cross of S. oreophila x 'Toadmaster', which I got off Ebay. They just very recently sprouted, as there are no cotyledons visible yet, just the root shoots curved into the soil. I also observed one seed of S. flava x 'Medusa' just beginning to sprout. Hopefully, the rest of its siblings soon follow suit. The other two sets of seeds that were brought into the greenhouse with them show no signs of anything yet, but I will definitely be increasing the frequency of my visits now.
I still am meaning to get in there and divide some of the older seedlings that have multiple growth points, but life has just been too busy with the holidays, plus a death in the family, so I haven't really had much time to do anything. Hopefully things settle down now.

2011

2011 has begun, although this is generally a slow time of year. A long stretch of bitter cold froze everything in the garage, although some milder weather moved in over the past week and a half and thawed everything out. I finally moved 3 trays of first-year seedlings into the greenhouse about a week before Christmas. I moved another two trays today, and noticed a few of the ones that got moved in before Christmas starting to send up new pitchers. I probably should've moved everything in sooner, as I don't think first-year seedlings can take freezing too well, but so far, just about everything at least looks like it's still alive. A few seedlings look like they may have perished, but I'm not counting them out yet. One of the seedlings showing some new growth looked like it was dead to me, but low-and-behold, there's a new shoot. I also moved some seeds from stratification into the greenhouse, they were put into stratification around the 20th of November. I'll be moving more into the greenhouse, in batches, during the coming weeks, as they were put into stratification in batches up to about mid-December. I also have another couple of trays of younger plants that will go into the greenhouse soon.
During the past week I finished trimming off the rest of my plants and noticed several 3-year-old plants that can definitely be divided. I was actually amazed how well-developed the rhizomes are on some of them. I will be watching closely over the next few weeks, as they get moved into the greenhouse, to see if any flowers develop on these youngsters, as I had one plant from this cohort bloom this past fall.

Winter

Probably the most boring period of time has begun. All plants were moved into my garage the week of Thanksgiving. I have yet to insulate the garage, which I had hoped would've happened by now. I did set out an electrical heating mat. Supposedly it warms to 10 degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature. I haven't plugged it in yet. I may never use it. I don't know what the temp is inside the garage, but the plants that are on the floor are unfrozen as of today. I do have one tray of large pots that is sitting on a table, and at least the surface moss on those is frozen. I guess I'll have to move it to the floor. Sometime over the Christmas break, I will move all of the 1-year-old seedlings into a greenhouse, so they can get started up again. I'm looking forward to that, as it seems they really start showing their adult characteristics after the first year, although some already were this past fall.
I also have a bunch of seeds stratifying, mostly from my own crosses I did this year, as well as a couple I got in giveaways on the terraforums.com website, and a couple of Ebay purchases. I also have to give a shout out to Rob Co for a bunch of seeds from some very exciting-sounding crosses he did. I just received those in the mail this week, so they will get into stratification this weekend.
My wife is a botany professor and is about to undertake a research project involving Sarracenia. I will add details as they get sorted out, but it will involve tissue-culturing. We've already started a trial run using seed. Still awaiting germination, but there are no signs of contamination. She used a bunch of older, open-pollinated seeds I've been collecting from my collection over the past several years.
Anyways, there's probably not a whole lot to write about anymore until stuff starts growing in the greenhouse, and hopefully everything that remains in the garage pulls through the winter again. I can't wait 'til April!

Sarracenia purpurea in the wild

Sarracenia purpurea
Originally uploaded by aarongunnar

Went hiking yesterday, at a place called the Hunt Hill Audubon Sanctuary. The main reason I wanted to go was the presence of a high-quality sphagnum bog. I wasn't disappointed. Pitcher plants were everywhere, and you could definitely see a color gradient from the tree ring to the open lake shore - the ones in the open were nearly pure red, whereas the ones in the shade were pretty much all green. We definitely plan on coming back next summer, as it's only about a 90-minute drive from my house, and I'd like to see them in full bloom, as well as the several bog orchids that are reportedly present.

Sarracenia 'Boob Tube' x open-pollinated

Sarracenia 'Boob Tube' x open-pollinated, at 8.5 months old
Originally uploaded by aarongunnar

Here is a shot of a first-year seedling, at about 8.5 months old, to be exact. It is an open-pollinated 'Boob Tube', from a batch of seeds I got from Wes Buckner. I have probably a dozen seedlings from this batch of seeds. I also have approx. 8 plants from my own open-pollinated 'Boob Tube'. They are all 3 years old, so it has been interesting comparing the ones I got from Wes to my own. For the most part, my set of plants are more upright-growing than the ones I got from Wes. Most of the ones I got from Wes are prostrate and resemble S. psittacina. At this point, this particular seedling is my favorite because it looks very close to S. psittacina. Regardless of pitcher shape, every other seedling of Wes' or my my own seeds has an open lid, however, this one's lid remains closed with just a small, tubular opening, just like S. psittacina. I don't know what the parents of 'Boob Tube' are, or if anyone even knows, but it looks to have S. minor and S. psittacina as parents, and probably something else too, perhaps S. purpurea.

Winding Down

Sadly, the end of summer is fast approaching. Being in WI, means that the first frost is probably not that far away. I don't know when our earliest frost date is, the record is probably some time around now, average is probably another month or so. I know last year we had a big snow sometime around Oct. 7th, although it warmed up again after that. It's been a good year for the Sarracenia this year. I should be able to divide a bunch of my first cohort of "seedlings" (those in their 3rd year), next spring, for trading or I may try a few on Ebay just to see how much they go for, for curiosity's sake. I have too many seedlings to count from those that I started at the beginning of the year. Many are starting to show their true colors - I will try and get some pics up of the best of them here at some point. I also have started harvesting seeds - 3 pods so far with the rest at least a couple of weeks away. I can't wait to get them stratifying, as I only have 1 plant right now that is my own cross - everything else is either open-pollinated, or other people's crosses. I still hope to get my hands on some other people's seeds too.

As of now, the plants are still sending up their late summer pitchers, although the amount of daylight really goes downhill this time of year, so they don't get as much coloration as they would in the summer. That's kind of a bummer, there's a few plants that are sending up their first large pitchers, and I'm curious to see how they look, color-wise. One of my 'Abnorma' plants has recently sent up a very tall pitcher, too bad it will probably stay mostly green.

I'm also starting to think about what I will do with all of them this winter. As I've posted earlier, the mature ones I've been keeping in my garage, while the youngsters I move into a greenhouse after a little taste of the cold. While this has largely been successful, I'm always paranoid about losing a bunch. I've been contemplating the fridge method, but first I have to buy a fridge. I've also contemplated building some kind of insulated enclosure in the garage, with some lighting inside it to keep the temps up. Federal funding for the lab I work in is in jeopardy after this fiscal year, so now is not the time for any costly projects. I may be unemployed by next summer!