Friday, August 17, 2012

How To Pollinate Anthuriums

It is relatively easy to propagate your potted anthuriums by taking cuttings, but it is also just a little boring, simply because the brand new plants are going to be precise copies of their parent plants. If you wish to generate fresh types of anthurium flowers, you'll need to grow them through seed. The hardest aspect of growing them through seed is getting seeds to develop in the first place. To get this done, you'll need to learn how to pollinate anthuriums.

Anthurium blossoms are perfect, meaning that they include both male and female parts. Yet, they typically do not self pollinate, because pollen is not produced until after the stigma stops being responsive to pollination. This ensures that wild plants are cross pollinated as frequently as possible to increase the genetic diversity of the species. Therefore, unless you have two plants, you will need to store pollen until your plant is ready for pollination.


To pollinate your plant, the first action to take is to collect pollen. Wait until pollen is formed and then use a small paint brush to get pollen and put it inside a tiny vial. If you are self pollinating a plant, keep this vial in the freezer until the next blossom is available for pollination. Or you can use this pollen immediately if you are cross pollinating two plants.

Next, you need to pollinate at the appropriate moment. After a flower blooms, watch for the stigmas, which are found on the spadix, to secrete nectar. When this happens, they are all set for pollination. Use your paint brush to spread pollen liberally over the stigmas. Once you have done this, all you need to do is sit back and wait. If your work was effective, the spadix will begin to swell as it begins to produce berries, which hold the seeds.

You may have to wait up to a year until the seeds are fully developed. You will know that the seeds are finished growing once the berries fall off of the spadix. At this stage, you can squeeze the berries to extract the seeds from the inside of the berries. You will need to plant these seeds right away or else they may die. After several weeks, the seeds will begin to sprout and you'll be well on your way to generating new types of anthurium plants. Learn more about anthurium flowers at my anthurium care blog. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zeke_Morganstern Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5561345

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