Crazy Lil Ping (AW clone)

First one to open this year...














dvg

This is a flower from a seed grown heterophylla, produced from selfing the flowers from the AW clones.



i.ibb.co/0sCt2T3/20210813-102357.jpg









dvg

Didn't notice the tiny flying insect captured on the flower until after the shot was processed...













dvg

A side-skewed corkscrewed new leaf rollout














dvg

A shot of a pot of seed grown heterophylla clones created from pollinating my AW clone's flowers.



They are tricky to get to this size, gained over multiple growing seasons, with the bulbs getting incrementally larger with each passing season.

In contrast, a pot made from clone leaf pulls, more consistent in growth habit, and much easier to keep alive each year, with fewer losses than the seed grown clones encountered.














dvg

Hi Corky, the reason growing this species from seed is more difficult than taking leaf pulls, is that these seedlings are so tiny and make a very tiny bulb by the time their first growing season is finished.

The leaf pulls in comparison end up making larger plants and hence their bulbs are also considerably larger than the seedling bulbs are, before they enter their first dormancy.

The larger the bulb is entering dormancy, the greater the odds of it not drying out/desiccating away before it reemerges for the next season of growth.

The bigger the "onion", the better the odds of success of keeping it alive long enough to add a few more "layers" in size.

The bulbs are energy storage devices, so the bigger the bulb, the more reserves the plant will have to draw on, and not succumb to drying out.

With regards to growing pings from seeds, some species are easier than other, such as the ones that don't go into a hard dormancy - ie. agnata or gigantea.

It's ideal to plant many, and reap a few.

Losses will be inevitable, but the robust clones or  the clones with interesting traits should be selected.

If seedlings are kept in too humid of an enclosure and fed solid food there is a greater risk of fungal problems overtaking them, as well as moss overgrowing them.

It's a fine balance gained through experience.

Cheers,
Doug











dvg

You're welcome Corky.

I failed to mention that if the dormant bulbs are kept wet, inside a humidity dome they will rot - they must be kept bone dry for the duration of dormancy.

And if fungus gnats get at the newly hatched ping seedlings, their larva will lay waste to them better than if you took a weed-whacker to them yourself...buncha munchin' monsters they are! 










dvg