Jessica's African Violet Expedition

Jessica's Rosie Noid X Golden Autumn

Ok so this is only my second attempt at getting seeds but I

am really thinking that this attempt was successful!!  The

last cross I did was a Mac's Southern Springtime X Concord

and it didn't work. I got seeds but they fell off the stem

really fast and the seeds never sprouted.  Sad. On the

bright side I am pretty sure that these seeds will all be

good seeds and I have 3 nice seed pods still drying on the

parent plant.  Yea!!  I will update this page along with the

progress of my seeds, so you will get to see the whole

process from start to finish.

Click on the pics
to see a bigger pic!

 Meet the Parents!

                     Golden Autumn                                      Jessica's Rosie Noid

                                              Golden Autumn Bloom                        Jessica's Rosie Noid Bloom

                                                                          (My mom got me this violet! )

To make a cross this is what I use:

*Pollen sack

*Parent Plant

*Needle

*Tweezers

*Small paint brush

*ScotchTape, Paper, Scissors, Pen

To begin you will need a seed parent and a pollen parent.  When you are writing

down what you are using the seed parent goes first and then and X and then the

pollen parent.  So Seed Parent X Pollen Parent.  My cross is J Rosie Noid X

Golden Autumn.

You will want older pollen off the plant you have selected for your pollen parent,

so blooms that are wilting have the best pollen verses new blooms.  Pollen that is

good will be powdery and pollen that won't work will be mushy and damp.  I save

the pollen sacs off blooms I may want to use later and carefully label them. 

You will want to make sure all your equipement is sterile and clean before you

start.  I get the pollen sac I am going to use and slit it with a needle and I use my

tweezers to tap the pollen out and the needle to help get the rest out. 

You will want to go ahead and mark the bloom you are pollinating with a tag before

you pollinate it, so no pollen gets knocked off.  I use a piece of paper with a

number or the info I want in the middle of scotch tape.  Then I punch a hole in it

with a slit and attach it to the bloom stalk.

Then I use my clean paint brush and gather some of the pollen on the end and I

brush it against the stigma.  You will get the best results for pollination when the

stigma looks shiny and sticky, usually after a day or two of the bloom opening up.

You may want to brush pollen on the stigma several times during the day and even

into the next day.  The warmer parts of the day are better for pollination.

If you have successfully pollinated your violet the ovary will start to swell and you

will start to see the beginning of a seed pod.

Here are some examples: 

 Then all you do is wait.

And wait...

and wait... 

and wait some more... 

The important thing to remember is to not pinch off your seed pod bloom!!!  What

I do when the bloom starts dying off is I very carefully cut off the flower petals

around the seed pod (with scissors) so the pod doesn't get weighed down. 

Then after a few months you will have dried up seed pods!

Here are my dried up pods still attached to the violet.

Pod #2

 Pods #3 & 4

After the stem with the seed pods fall off the violet then you can put them in an

envelope to dry for about a week.  It will take around 4 months for the seed

pods to fall off.  Then you can plant your seeds or save them to plant at a later

time.  If the pod falls off early still let it dry in an envelope and plant them. 

Some of the seeds may still be viable and produce seedlings.

I pollinated pods #2,3,& 4 on November 9th 2007.  I also pollinated 4 other

blooms but those pollinations didn't take.

Well that's all for now!!  Check back for updates to my hybridizing project!!

1-25-08

Well my seeds have dried enough to plant so I gathered my supplies and

started planting!!

First I got the container I wanted to use.  Anything type of container that is clear

and covered should work well because you want it to be humid while the seeds are

growing. You may also want to go ahead and poke holed in the bottom of your

container for when your seedlings grow larger.  They will need to be bottom

watered so their roots won't be disturbed during watering.

Then I make a mix of half Peat Moss and half Vermiculite.  It needs to be very

fine and not have a lot of lumps when you are adding the soil types.  You may need

to sift the peat to get it to be very fine. 

                                               Peat                                                                                  Vermiculite

          

Mix the two together. 

Then you want to spray the mix and make it all damp.  Add the soil to your seed

container.

Here is my seed pod from J. Rosie Noid X Golden Autumn.

I take a sterilized exacto knife and carefully cut the pod in half.

I use tweezers to tap the seeds out very carefully. 

The seeds are very tiny so be careful.

I tap them onto a sheet of white paper with a crease. 

Do not cover the seeds with any dirt!  I mist the top  of the dirt again and then

close them up. 

I label the container with the cross and the date. 

Then I sit them on my shelves and the waiting begins!!! 

I will add more pics when I start having seedlings coming up!

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