For those of you who do your own breeding...

[Ray]

A study completed last year showed that when exposed Kelpak (sold here as KelpMax), pollen grain germination was enhanced by 60%, and the pollen tubes grew to 4x the length of untreated controls.

Makes me wonder if some of the recalcitrant cultivars we occasionally see might be coaxed into better seed production, or if this might be a way to help overcome size inconsistencies when attempting crosses of drastically different sizes - pollen from small plant put on one with a very large/long ovary.

 

[gonewild]

The idea is good.
I would be interesting to see the actual complete trial results.
Did kelp max actually cause the tubes to grow to a longer final length or just make them grow longer faster in a one hour time span?

 

[cnycharles]

Cool

 

[Stone]

Good stuff Ray. I always thought the reason (or part of the reason) for selfing not working, empty capsuals, unviable seed etc etc was due to incorrect or incomplete nutrition. (amoung other reasons of course). I'm sure I read the addition of silica also enhanced pollen tube growth in some cases.

 

[Ray]

That particular publication also pointed out that making sure your plants don't have a boron deficiency was also important.

 

[JAB]

I am pretty sure a teacher called me 'recalcitrant' back in the day, LMAO!

The more I read/learn the more it seems to me the key to healthy plants is in the micro's! Trace minerals and the mycho really seem to be key in plant health and vigor. It should be noted that silica does wonders for building the plants immunity to pests and fungal issues.

Thanks for sharing Ray! I just got the package of Inocucor today and will start using this weekend!

 

[naoki]

Mike, during the growth of pollen tube, majority of nutrients are supplied from the mother, so it is true that nutrition can influence the pollination success. But if it is nutritional, then it should influence both selfing and outcrossing, right? For example, Ca is important for pollen tube elongation in some species.

There wasn't a detail in the link, but this effect is most likely due to plant hormones. Auxins, Gibberellins, and cytokinins (all of these are in Kelpak) do influence the pollen tube growth. In some plant, hormones can be used to over-come genetic self-incompatibility. I asked Marni if this works for Dendrobium (fair number of SI species). She said that she tried hormones, but she didn't have success. But it might be interesting to try to overcome incompatibility across species (quite different mechanisms from self-incompatibility).

 

[Linus_Cello]

Oh... you're referring to orchids...