A lovely surprise

[schmiggle]

I'd avoid Drosera derbyensis until you have some experience with other plants. D capensis also likes a terrarium, although you could probably do fine with just artificial lighting.
@keks which Nepenthes species do you have?

 

[keks]

I'd avoid Drosera derbyensis until you have some experience with other plants. D capensis also likes a terrarium, although you could probably do fine with just artificial lighting.
@keks which Nepenthes species do you have?

It is a DIY-market-no-name-hybrid-one for a few Euros, nothing special. I need hardy plants ^^.

 

[keks]

Ah ah, we had here, in one of the most (hystorically) colder regions of Italy, almost 45°C like in El Alamein desert and weather-pundits keep saying we should get used to that

Praise the climate mess, what can I say... if nothing, my T's will be able to thrive outside straight in the garden. Enclosure, you say? Which enclosure?

I've heard of this heat in Italy, I am sure I would die with this temperatures .
"Have you seen your tarantulas today?" "No, I still wasn't in my garden today."
On the other side .... with this temperatures you can keep Drosera derbyensis and some scorpions too in your garden .

 

[schmiggle]

Today's update (sorry for missing yesterday's, @spotropaicsav)

Today's flower is also a mutant--as you can see, it has six petals, and I confirmed that it also has six stamens and six sepals. However, every single flower has had exactly six pistils, so I assume their development is disconnected from that of the rest of the flower.
I'm much more fond of today's flower than I was of the four-petalled one, but sadly I don't know of a way to preserve the characteristic.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Today's update (sorry for missing yesterday's, @spotropaicsav)

Today's flower is also a mutant--as you can see, it has six petals, and I confirmed that it also has six stamens and six sepals. However, every single flower has had exactly six pistils, so I assume their development is disconnected from that of the rest of the flower.
I'm much more fond of today's flower than I was of the four-petalled one, but sadly I don't know of a way to preserve the characteristic.

Well AB Was down after all... this pic is rivalaing my daily botany photo, mind if I save? Perhaps your specimen is just evolved... are you wanting to preserve this bloom is that it? Or just preserve the way it is flowering?

 

[schmiggle]

Well AB Was down after all... this pic is rivalaing my daily botany photo, mind if I save? Perhaps your specimen is just evolved... are you wanting to preserve this bloom is that it? Or just preserve the way it is flowering?

Go ahead and save if you like. This is a thing plants do--make mutated bits. It's like a benign tumor in origin, kind of.
What I'd like to preserve is the characteristic, so that I could have a plant that reliably flowered with six petals (or four, in the case of the other one). I could probably do it with tissue culture, but I have neither the equipment nor experience to use it. My assumption is that both changes were mutations in the bud tissue around when they were formed, so the entire odd flower ought to have the mutation. I can't root it, according to those more experienced than I, because it's too small and it would die.

 

[keks]

Go ahead and save if you like. This is a thing plants do--make mutated bits. It's like a benign tumor in origin, kind of.
What I'd like to preserve is the characteristic, so that I could have a plant that reliably flowered with six petals (or four, in the case of the other one). I could probably do it with tissue culture, but I have neither the equipment nor experience to use it. My assumption is that both changes were mutations in the bud tissue around when they were formed, so the entire odd flower ought to have the mutation. I can't root it, according to those more experienced than I, because it's too small and it would die.

Is this a self-fertile plant? Maybe you can try to pollinate with its own pollen??? Maybe you can secure this mutation (in ... generation)?

 

[schmiggle]

Is this a self-fertile plant? Maybe you can try to pollinate with its own pollen??? Maybe you can secure this mutation (in ... generation)?

It's very self-fertile, its primary mode of reproduction is self-pollination (the flowers open just so they can close and force the pollen against the pistils). But the flower characteristic is somatic (asexual)--it has nothing to do with the pollen and ovary DNA, which are germline (sexual). That's why you'd have to use the seed pod/bud/mutant flower--it should have the odd characteristic, so if you grew a plant out of it there's a good chance it would make mostly six-petaled flowers. If I were going to selectively breed I'd have to do it with the offspring, and I would have to time it pretty exactly to the hour or two in a day when they were open (and it could be harder still, because I don't know if they open simultaneously).

 

[keks]

It's very self-fertile, its primary mode of reproduction is self-pollination (the flowers open just so they can close and force the pollen against the pistils). But the flower characteristic is somatic (asexual)--it has nothing to do with the pollen and ovary DNA, which are germline (sexual). That's why you'd have to use the seed pod/bud/mutant flower--it should have the odd characteristic, so if you grew a plant out of it there's a good chance it would make mostly six-petaled flowers. If I were going to selectively breed I'd have to do it with the offspring, and I would have to time it pretty exactly to the hour or two in a day when they were open (and it could be harder still, because I don't know if they open simultaneously).

That sounds very time-consuming and tedious.

 

[spotropaicsav]

It's very self-fertile, its primary mode of reproduction is self-pollination (the flowers open just so they can close and force the pollen against the pistils). But the flower characteristic is somatic (asexual)--it has nothing to do with the pollen and ovary DNA, which are germline (sexual). That's why you'd have to use the seed pod/bud/mutant flower--it should have the odd characteristic, so if you grew a plant out of it there's a good chance it would make mostly six-petaled flowers. If I were going to selectively breed I'd have to do it with the offspring, and I would have to time it pretty exactly to the hour or two in a day when they were open (and it could be harder still, because I don't know if they open simultaneously).

You mean you don't have time to sit and watch a plant for 24hours??:wideyed:

 

[spotropaicsav]

Maybe you will have good luck catching it at the right time. Btw my snails Ive been keeping are going strong and very easy to keep

 

[schmiggle]

The flowers seem to just keep getting weirder...

This one is a full double flower (I actually suspected it might be from the bud, which appeared to be double). Unlike previous flowers, I can see 11 pistils in this image, and would not be surprised if there were a 12th (2x6--each previous flower had six pistils). It has ten petals. In the picture it kind of looks like seven, but the top "petal" is actually three petals set one directly behind the other, and there is a small, deformed petal on the bottom (my guess is the bud itself was too crowded for the double flower to fully develop). There are ten stamens and sepals. So this is a full double flower, without a doubt.

 

[keks]

The flowers seem to just keep getting weirder...

This one is a full double flower (I actually suspected it might be from the bud, which appeared to be double). Unlike previous flowers, I can see 11 pistils in this image, and would not be surprised if there were a 12th (2x6--each previous flower had six pistils). It has ten petals. In the picture it kind of looks like seven, but the top "petal" is actually three petals set one directly behind the other, and there is a small, deformed petal on the bottom (my guess is the bud itself was too crowded for the double flower to fully develop). There are ten stamens and sepals. So this is a full double flower, without a doubt.

Will be interesting how the flowers look like next year. From orchids I know that malformed blooms can be normal formed in the next year.

 

[schmiggle]

Will be interesting how the flowers look like next year. From orchids I know that malformed blooms can be normal formed in the next year.

Too bad...I was hoping I had a plant with a high somatic mutation rate

 

[keks]

Too bad...I was hoping I had a plant with a high somatic mutation rate

Who knows, maybe next year you have 18 petals on one bloom . But then I would start to be careful. It is a carnivore plant, so look out for something that looks similar to a mouth or teeth and tentacles .... .

 

[schmiggle]

Who knows, maybe next year you have 18 petals on one bloom . But then I would start to be careful. It is a carnivore plant, so look out for something that looks similar to a mouth or teeth and tentacles .... .

Are you kidding? That would make my day. "Feed me, Seymour!"

 

[spotropaicsav]

Are you kidding? That would make my day. "Feed me, Seymour!"

You mean "Feed me, Scmiggle!"

 

[The Snark]

Or "Feed me... a Schmiggle!"