Karin,

I think someone was pulling your leg. To obtain a mingled offspring there must be a rearrangement of genes which is obtained through sexual reproduction. Gluing together leaves would no more produce a different offspring than gluing together a poodle and a labrador and obtaining a labradoodle.
That's probably why nothing came up on your research.

Linda

too good to be true eh...

lol @ grafted labradoodle!

most posts mention using tape, not superglue, and another says you use bees wax (wouldn't that be too hot?), and still most of the "outcomes" i've been able to track down were just clones of either one of the "parents".

still, i'm going to try and track down some of those "sources" at the local library....

once i am done packing that is. i'm probably just trying to find suff to occupy my mind because I don't want to be moving... ah well.

HI Karin,
I saw an interesting short video on You Tube showing a display by George MacDonald of 12 or more very different flower blooms that were produced from one cross. If interested, search on You Tube for a video entitled "Central Jersey AVS Show." It was posted by M3rma1d. (It shows that even the "experts" probably cannot predict what they are going to get once they try to create a hybrid.) At this stage of over-hybridization, perhaps many newer generations should be considered "mutts."

Moving is challenging. For my last move, I found that once the plants were packed and provided for, I felt better. They were the only things I needed to take care of myself.

Joanne

What George is describing is a 'cross'-sexual reproduction to obtain new varieties. And, you're right, you can't predict what you will get. Even educated guesses are just guesses. There are so many recessive genes that can expressive themselves as is the case with people. My daughter is tall, blond, blue-eyed and fair. I'm short, brunette, brown-eyed and olive skinned and her father is close to the same. She is a bundle of recessive genes expressing themselves!

Karin,

Grafting is a common procedure in Horticulture. It is used to bond one part of a desirable plant to another part of a different plant. Most people are familiar with roses that are top-grafted onto a different root-stock although there are many instances where grafting is used.

Tape is usually used although I have heard of bees wax being utilized. Is this what you are reading about?

There is a joining of the two plants but the two parts remain distinct, genetically. There is no mixing of genetic material and therefore, no new varieties. That is why the result from the leaves have been clones.

Good luck moving. It's no fun.

Linda

Hi Linda,
fascinating description of your daughter and yourself. When I saw your daughter's wedding photo, i just imagined that you were a tall, blond, Viking type, especially with the landscaping career and chasing down bees!!

My daughter in law fits the description of your daughter, however, my grand-daughter fits the description of yourself. She takes after grand parents on her Dad's side more than either parent.

I have also heard it said that children might resemble aunts more than a parent.

Years ago, I stopped trying to raise violets because of the bewildering number of hybrids. How many pink fantasies with purple streaks must one have? Especially when they don't bloom true. Now I am back in the game.

Joanne

Lol no need to tell me about recessive genes, both my parents are brown haired and brown eyed, my two sisters and my twin brother are all blue eyed blondes, I am sort of blonde and have brown eyes (not jealous there, at least I got more brains ;-p or so I tell myself) plus I am the only leftie in generations...

I originally found reference to leaf grafting on the 'thou shalt not kill African violets' - blog.
Then some further googling turned up an article by someone using a different thechnique and claiming to be successful. They make a slit in one leaf's petiole and insert the end of the second leaf in it (kind of like they were planning to root it inside the other leaf stem), sealing around the lower edges with bees wax, and supposedly the 'hybrid' grows out of the top, where the two petioles meet. I'd post the link, but I can't find the original article just now, only mention of it in yapooh groups, which I can't link to.
I'm sceptical, since apparently only one cell is needed to create an entire new plant-clone... My theory is that the tape, glue, or wax probably poisoned the original DNA to he point of sporting. Gah, now I need a biology degree and access to a DNA test lab ;-p

Anyhow, I'll get my move done, then I'll probably try it and rot a few perfectly good leaves ;-)

As jeff smith has said, most of the varieties we now have - if you want to call them that - date back to one or two rescued from the foot of kilmanjaro and brought here years ago. No wonder the species is so unstable. No new material. If there is even something left in "the old country" would it even resemble what we have today? Probably not. And then again, probably too much Doctor Who 50th anniversary to even begin to make sense.

dave

Tall, Viking type! MOI???? LOL!!! I'm a short Irish/German! (And I don't like beer. This seems astonishing to my friends...)

Genetics are fascinating. Even more fascinating, I think, is all the variety we have gotten from one or two species. Talk about recessive genes expressing themselves!

A sport is the only thing that I can think of that would have come from any sort of grafting. I have read the 'Thou shalt not kill' blog. Interesting items on there...not always factual but interesting.

When are you moving?

Linda

Thursday, probably, else the weekend, depends on the weather.... And I have 6 boxes packed so far - DH is still in denial, even though it was his employer who asked us to move.... No more balcony, a place 2/3 the size of the current one, but a raise instead of a dismissal... What can we say.

If someone in the GTA wants to inherit a small lilac tree, potted grapes and strawberries - just let me know.

Use of the grafting in hybridizing.

Interspecific hybrids - species in one genus - not always cross - and even if they cross they often produce sterile progeny - so your hybridization program will come to a screeching stop after getting just one generation. Intergeneric hybrids - are very rare and hard to achieve. (Some of them are great - but mostly ... big leaves, small flowers).
So anything that helps is used by persistent hybridizers.
Sometimes - if you put the pollen of another plant tothe pistil of your potential mama - mama immediately aborts the flower. There is a reaction to the foreign genes. If you manage to graft - lets say apple tree to the pear - with roots of pear - and top of the pear - there is a much better chance to bring pollen from pear and get viable seeds - because the reaction is subdued.
Russian biologist Ruslan Mishustin successfully grafted AV 'Ness Orange Pekoe" and Episcia 'Suomi' - showing possibilities in Gesneriad family. You do not graft leaves - you graft suckers - so the combined plant has growth point on a graft.

Ok, another experiment coming up :-)
I guess chopping a crown or two would be the most reliable way to grow suckers?
I'll have to put that on the to-do list.
First thing up is getting the AVs I have to bloom again, grow some plantlets from leaves, then maybe order some 'nice' varieties.
The NOIDS should be great for experimentation though :-)

Irina,

Is there an article about this grafting of Mishutin"s? I'd be interested in reading about it.

Linda

Nope, he was sending stuff to be posted on Gesneriphiles chat.
Irina