RED ALATAS, pheno hunting!
Aug 14, 2021 15:12:48 GMT -5
stevebooth, kirkauburn, and 4 more like this
Post by meizzwang on Aug 14, 2021 15:12:48 GMT -5
Figured it's time to start a thread on the red alatas! They're not very common in cultivation yet, but they will be more accessible in the near future after this project is complete!
For those of you who have ventured to breed vigorous, non-inbred red alatas, I've at least had a damn hard time doing so! The red coloration appears to be recessive, so anytime you outcross, you lower the chance of finding very red individuals. Selfing can get you there much quicker, but at the expense of inbreeding depression (ie. higher susceptibility to disease, higher rate of runts, and lower vigor overall).
That said, I did a massive population increase of genetically diverse alata clones in the collection, and I did outcrossing only to increase the chances of finding more horticulturally friendly, vigorous clones. I started thousands of seeds from various populations, did some tough selection early on and and grew out hundreds. The tricky part about pheno hunting for alata color forms is that a lot of alatas can turn red during the fall, but are plain jane green in the spring! Even the blackest alatas can be on the greenish side under certain environmental conditions, so you have to be less judgemental color/selection-wise and observe the clones for a few seasons before selecting out the red ones:
there are quite a few red genotypes in this picture, but it's not entirely obvious during the time of the year this photo was taken (may-ish). That said, there were a few that colored up all the way in may, and they were selected out:
A more recent photo of the populations, taken 8/12/21. It's still sorta hard to find the red ones, but they're there and a little more obvious in person:
And now a tour of the red/potentially red individuals:
Red spots on the body of the plant during the summer suggest this clone can turn solid red in the fall:
Don't be quick to call this an ornata, it has since colored up a lot more since this pic was taken:
Same clone:
clearly at least a red clone, pic taken july 6th:
This clone from Harrison Co, MS is very special: it turns solid red even during the spring and summer! It colors up easier than all the other clones, this might very well be the holy grail and will almost certainly be used to breed the next generation of easy to color up alatas. Pic taken 7/6:
Another pic of the same clone, taken 8/12/21. Maybe this one is a black clone?
Some very exciting red genetics, the hard work is paying off:
Besides the reds, I'm also after the black alatas. Out of hundreds of pre-selected clones, it looks like maybe one will be black, it's not easy to find this type, which explains their rarity:
Will keep this thread updated as these color up more, so stay tuned!
For those of you who have ventured to breed vigorous, non-inbred red alatas, I've at least had a damn hard time doing so! The red coloration appears to be recessive, so anytime you outcross, you lower the chance of finding very red individuals. Selfing can get you there much quicker, but at the expense of inbreeding depression (ie. higher susceptibility to disease, higher rate of runts, and lower vigor overall).
That said, I did a massive population increase of genetically diverse alata clones in the collection, and I did outcrossing only to increase the chances of finding more horticulturally friendly, vigorous clones. I started thousands of seeds from various populations, did some tough selection early on and and grew out hundreds. The tricky part about pheno hunting for alata color forms is that a lot of alatas can turn red during the fall, but are plain jane green in the spring! Even the blackest alatas can be on the greenish side under certain environmental conditions, so you have to be less judgemental color/selection-wise and observe the clones for a few seasons before selecting out the red ones:
there are quite a few red genotypes in this picture, but it's not entirely obvious during the time of the year this photo was taken (may-ish). That said, there were a few that colored up all the way in may, and they were selected out:
A more recent photo of the populations, taken 8/12/21. It's still sorta hard to find the red ones, but they're there and a little more obvious in person:
And now a tour of the red/potentially red individuals:
Red spots on the body of the plant during the summer suggest this clone can turn solid red in the fall:
Don't be quick to call this an ornata, it has since colored up a lot more since this pic was taken:
Same clone:
clearly at least a red clone, pic taken july 6th:
This clone from Harrison Co, MS is very special: it turns solid red even during the spring and summer! It colors up easier than all the other clones, this might very well be the holy grail and will almost certainly be used to breed the next generation of easy to color up alatas. Pic taken 7/6:
Another pic of the same clone, taken 8/12/21. Maybe this one is a black clone?
Some very exciting red genetics, the hard work is paying off:
Besides the reds, I'm also after the black alatas. Out of hundreds of pre-selected clones, it looks like maybe one will be black, it's not easy to find this type, which explains their rarity:
Will keep this thread updated as these color up more, so stay tuned!