Selecting for dark red S. leucophylla (photos)

[meizzwang]

What do you get when you cross 2 very nice dark red S. leucophyllas? Well, I'm not totally sure yet, but some of these seedlings below look very promising. Interestingly enough, if you're selecting for a dark red or amazingly-colored plant, you can't judge seedlings by the color of their traps because even the best, dark red clone can produce "regular" colored traps: sarracenia.proboards.com/thread/861/leucophylla-wilkersons-red-rocket

Same thing happened with the seed batch below: I took this photo 3 days ago, and can you guess which one I have my eye on? these pitchers had all just opened a day or two before the photo was snapped:



No more guessing needed, this is the one I thought might be the winner:





However, looking at every trap and knowing what we know, the "dark red" plant that I have my eye on may in fact not be the best one. I looked at these seedlings last night, and many of the other ones are darkening up to the point that I'm torn as to which one to keep. Moral of the story is, you won't know which one is the best until you grow it out to maturity. Will post more photos in a bit, so stay tuned!

[ocpaddict]

What Leuco clones did you use Mike?

[kiwiearl]

Sept 15, 2014 12:58:51 GMT -5 meizzwang said:

However, looking at every trap and knowing what we know, the "dark red" plant that I have my eye on may in fact not be the best one.....

[meizzwang]

ocpaddict, these are S. leucophylla RED ( wilkerson's red rocket x franklin Co, FL clone B)

The more these seedlings develop, the more lost I'm becoming: how do you choose when the vast majority look promising?





I think there's only 2 that I'll cull because they didn't produce dark red pigments. The rest are very promising:

[sunbelle]

Definitely see some darker than others...but only time will reveal how consistently. Nice crop! Also, what's the story on the alata seedlings behind them?

[meizzwang]

Thanks Sunbelle! Gosh, it's really hard to judge seedlings. This grow season, one individual may be less red than the others, but next year, it could be the darkest, most beautiful clone. Same can be said for vigor: I've had one S. flava var. rugelii seedling in a batch that was twice the size of everything else 2 years after germinating. 4 years later, they all grew at about the same rate, and were all equally large.

Those are actually S. jonesii seedlings in the background, although it's hard to tell at this young stage. Strange how similar S. alata and S. jonesii look when they're small...almost indistinguishable.

[meizzwang]

these turned out to be amazing! I might have distributed the best one, but most of them are stunning. Here's one that I ended up keeping:

[greenthumb]

Nice Mike! I love the defined white spots on that one. I ended up getting a pretty beautiful clone from you, but it seems like they were all fabulous!





IM

[meizzwang]

Here's S. leucophylla RED (Franklin Co, FL clone B x Wilkerson's red rocket) 'Select clone'. The main growth point flowered, by the side shoots produced traps. Photos taken 3/29/16. Totally missed taking fall pitcher traps, it was quite spectacular a few months ago:


Look at how red that thing is!!!



Speaking of red, stay tuned, in a few weeks I should be able to photograph the BADDEST, REDDEST leucophylla EVER!

[eric]

That's ok...not that red at all though;).


Spectacular Mr. Weezy!

[sunbelle]

Very nice! Keep posting Mike! Quick question: Was the "mom" the Franklin county B?

[meizzwang]

Thanks guys! Yes, the mama was franklin Co, FL clone B. I did the reversal as well where Wilkerson's red rocket was the mother plant, and the results were almost identical. However, the same can't be said for all crosses.

[sunbelle]

Thanks for the answer. Interesting how the reciprocal turned out almost the same. Those are some RED leucos.

[hungry_plants]

Is it typical for the mother plant to be more expressed in the offspring than the pollen donor?

[hcarlton]

Maternal genes also show up from mitochondria and chloroplasts, so a lot more of the mother's genetics get passed on naturally, and with how genes get switched on or off when paired away in the seeds it's no surprise this effect would be seen commonly. It doesn't always seem to happen, but perhaps a majority of the time...