Didn't you see the pod I linked ? :) OK, they are long and skinny and stand straight up, like string beans. Around the pod you will see the twisting seam. The pods take a few months to ripen, when they turn brown and dry, whereupon the seam opens up and the seeds scatter slowly. The seeds are tiny, as are all gesneriad seed. Almost dust like but distinct. Most pods will have hundreds of seeds but some hybrids are almost sterile and may only have a few seeds. You can plant the seed as soon as it is harvested. Usually seed germinates very quickly (3 weeks or less) but sometimes old seed can take several months to sprout (be patient).

Most streps make seed pods without human intervention. If the plants are outside the bugs, birds or whatever will pollinate. But, you can do your own pollinating very easy. Some varieties will make seed pods from just about every flower, and really you should just cut them off so they don't slow down the flowering, unless you want the seed. In which case, you can leave on one or two pods for that purpose. Once the pods start to crack open you can collect the seeds on a sheet of paper with a fold down the center to collect the seeds. I know some growers will time the pods just right so that they pick them before the seam opens up, leaving the pod in an open envelope to dry and crack.

Jon

Oooh, exciting. I just tried it this morning. I hope it didn't self pollinate because when I looked inside the flower, even though it had just opened (actually it's still not open all the way) the anthers seemed to be touching the stigma (hope i got this terminology correct). The stigma itself still looked, well, fresh and like it didn't have anything on it though. So I cut off the pollen sacks of that flower so it wouldn't self-pollinate and then cut out 1/2 the sacks of another flower, then scooped out that pollen and touched it to the lightly moist stigma of the first flower. So some gray powder is now sticking there. In a couple of days I will take the other half of sacks from the 2nd flower and do it again, just to be sure. How long do I have to wait for seed? 2 months? 7 months? And how do I know when it's ripe? I mean, I've seen the picture, but is it like a narrow window when I can collect, like if I don't catch it in time it will open itself and spill all the seed into the wind? Or if I open it too early it won't be ripe yet? I don't really have a lot of space to do this, so I have to do it right and efficiently. I just want to end up with another plant that smells good.

I have seed pods on what I would call and "ordinary" mid blue one. Are the seedlings likely to be like the parent (they will have been self pollinated) or will they be variable?

I also have a Black Panther in another room (no seeds yet). If this has pods are they likely to be Black Panthers too or will they be like Black panther's ancestors?

How long after you plant them will they be big enough to handle and pot up singly, and how long before they flower?

Well I don't know about the 2nd and 3rd questions, but as for the first, this is what I read. The genes for the color blue are dominant, so a blue-flowered plant may be carrying recessive genes for red or other colors. So crossing blue-flowered plants can yield variable colors, assuming they're carrying genes for other colors that just don't show.

I'm totally confused now. :-) If I collect seeds from a strep...they will be the same as the mother plant, right? This is all very very interesting. I really like Jon's pod link...what a hoot. :)

Barb

No, hybrid seeds make new varieties. Some may look a lot like the parent but are not the same. They should never be labeled as the parent even if they look similar. So, for example, they might be called 'Black Panther' x self, or "Unnamed blue" x self. Then, when they flower the individual seedlings will almost always show an array of flower colors, shapes, patterns, flower count per inflorescense, plant size, vigor, etc. That's when you get to decide if you should keep them, give them away, name and propagate one or several of them, or whatever. If you keep them all and say you raise 150 seedlings, they will have an amazing way of taking over all your space, all your greenhouse, all your light stands, your friend's lightstands, your nieghbors windows, etc. One must at that point be sort of ruthless or suffer the consequences of your "catastrophic success" (where did I hear that phrase??....).

The seed pods are easy to deal with. They grow straight up and hang around for about 2 months. They start to show signs of ripening, by turning purple, and then drying up a bit. Then you can see the seam begin to widen. At this point the insides are all still solid and seeminglu unripe. But, I think the pods, if harvested too soon can be left to dry and split, with viable seeds inside. Other wise do as I do, and wait for them to crack open and then within a few days collect the seeds. It takes about a fairly long time for all the seeds to fall from a pod. You have plenty of time to get the seeds. Sometimes I find very old open pods, which by then have completely unwound. But, often a few seeds are still in the crevices or stuck to the dry sides, and I can sometimes get somethings to germinate. Don't worry, Nikki, you will soon be swimming in seeds.

Remember that the stigma exerts itself after the pollen sacks have withered and dried. There is a bit of overlap, but it is a good practice to pollinate by taking pollen from a younger flower and transferring it to an older flower. Indoors you can emasculate the flowers to prevent self pollination but I usually have the right results by not bothering with this step. Outside, the birds and bees often get in there before me, so I may take more precautions.

....So are you saying that even if a flower is self pollinated all the seedlings could be different colours and vigour from ONE SEED POD?

Will just poking a paint brush down the tube do the job of pollination? I have just been having a look and the pollen doesn't seem very dusty. Does this mean thet some plants are sterile?

HI, I decided to go look at some strep flowers before I answered your question. Right now my streps are not at their best but I still have lots of flowers. Many of them were old though, as opposed to new flowers just opening up. Remember that the pollen is best on young flowers. It should be present even before the bud begins to open, and surely is present when the flower is just opening. The anthers are fused together, meaning that the filements come together at the tip to make one holder for the pollen. This is usually not sticking out of the opening flower but is right near where the tube begins to flare out. The fused anthers present a shape that is sort of folded with the open side facing down. The pollen is in there on the underside of this fused anther thingie. One way to get pollen without disturbing the flower is to stick a tooth pick or (my favorite tool) a narrow tipped steak knife. I gently draw it across the underside of the anthers. On the shiny metal surface any white grains of pollen are easily seen. On some flowers my finger can fit in to collect pollen. After the flowers are open for a few days the stigma grows out and is easily visable with its flared tip.

But, here is a really good tip for all gesneriads: On a gesneriad flower the petals are all connected to each other. Thus, they are fused petals. We call this colorful part of the flower, the corolla. You know how older flowers come loose and fall off, just when you want to take the plant to a show or a meeting? Well, that which falls off is the corolla. So, one thing that all gesneriads have in common is that the anthers are attached to the corolla while the stima is not. So, when you pull or tear off the corolla you remove the anthers but leave the stigma. If you do this on a young flower the stigma will be short and not ready. But, it will grow longer and flare at the tip, just as if the corolla were still attached. This process takes a few days, MOL.

But, since the anthers come off with the corolla, one way to collect pollen is to take off the corolla and then open it up to really get a good look at the anthers to scrape the pollen off the underside. On young flowers the corolla doesn't pop off easily so I sometimes will gently squeeze the base that tucks into the calyx and then give a gentle tug. Or you can just tear open the corolla to see what's what.

Once you get comfortable with finding the pollen and setting seed, it all becomes second nature. One of our best and most creative hybridizers of streps is Chris Rose in Bristol England (no relation to Bristol streps, which are Rob's hybrids). He does amazing things with a few windows and a small little leanto greenhouse. At a past AGGS convention we were treated to a slide program on his streps. He wrote the presentation and one of our members read it as he showed the slides. In his small area he has done hundreds of crosses and raised many many plants, just keeping a few for futher breeding and introducing.

I hope this helps--I should have looked at the flowers before, it really helps me to describe how to go about it.