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Have a Zamia floridana (wide leaf, "Palatka Giant") coning, does anyone know how to tell when the cone will be receptive to pollen?
(and does anyone have any pollen?








Steve

Well done, Steve! Gorgeous cycad.

Sounds like a drop of liquid is the clue to readiness:
second paragraph here:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Cqor3as ... ve&f=false

By the way, can pollen survive sub-freezing shipping temperatures?
Barb

Barb,
Thanks for the link! I have about 20 packages of Zamia vazquezii pollen in my deep freeze.
Here's the article that explains the procedure http://www.plantapalm.com/vce/horticulture/pollen.htm

Not sure if I can cross them, but good practice if nothing else


Steve

Hi Steve,

You might want to try posting this one on PalmTalk, I believe there is a small group of people on there who have/exchange cycad pollen!

Cameron.

Also, recall reading on RPS that they buy pollen...

Cameron, Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

Barb, These are common, probably not much of a market.
One of my goals has been to get a couple of small breeding colonies going. A couple more new plants this season and I should be just about there

Steve

In order to keep cross-pollination and hybridization occurring, do you have to isolate cycad species in separate areas?

Knnn wrote:Have a Zamia floridana (wide leaf, "Palatka Giant") coning, does anyone know how to tell when the cone will be receptive to pollen?
(and does anyone have any pollen?

Steve

Steve, my Palatka Giants are coning now as well. One of my males has two elongating cones that should be dropping pollen in the next day or two.



I would be happy to collect some pollen, dry it, and send it to you. Sending fresh pollen to a cold climate this time of year would not be good, but if it is dried the cold will not affect it.

As for determining when the cone is receptive, the macrosporophylls (cone scales) will crack open revealing spaces betwteen them -- like in the photo below.



I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. I took them with my iPhone in the dark just now. If you want better photos of a receptive cone I'll try to get a better one tomorrow.

Jody

Knnn wrote:Cameron, Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

Barb, These are common, probably not much of a market.
One of my goals has been to get a couple of small breeding colonies going. A couple more new plants this season and I should be just about there

Steve

Actually, the true Palatka Giant coonties are not that common. I am happy to hear that you are building some breeding colonies.

Jody

lucky1 wrote:In order to keep cross-pollination and hybridization occurring, do you have to isolate cycad species in separate areas?

You would only need to isolate plants in areas that have natural pollinators, and even then you would have to go to pretty extreme lengths to prevent the natural pollinators from getting to the female cones. Here in south Florida we have the natural pollinator of the coontie that is native to here as well as the pollinator of Zamia furfuracea from Mexico that came in on wild-collected plants many years ago. Thus, it would not be a good idea to try to build breeding colonies of Caribbean or Mexican zamias in this area. People in South Africa have similar problems with cross-pollination in various Enephalartos species.

As a side note, the Zamia pollinator from Mexico also pollinates cones of Dioon spinulosum on occasion here in south Florida.

Jody

So the pollinator would likely create a hybrid between Dioons and Zamia? or not between species.

I can imagine a whole bunch of eye-popping hybrids...tall Z. spinulosum ?

Barb

lucky1 wrote:So the pollinator would likely create a hybrid between Dioons and Zamia? or not between species.

I can imagine a whole bunch of eye-popping hybrids...tall Z. spinulosum ?

Barb

Hybrids between species, yes, but not between genera... sorry!

Jody

Well, I tried
Thanks Jody.

Jody, Great info and photos, now I know what to look for!
Thanks too for the pollen offer, sent you a PM.

Steve

Steve
Keep the camera nearby for the process please.
Barb

Here are a couple new photos from today. I harvested these two male cones.





Jody

Spectacular photos, Steve.
They look like they're glowing

Jody, Great looking male/female cones

Barb, I'll get some photos as I attempt this....
(Think I've reached my upload limit on Flickr, need to wait until it resets



Steve

Sorry! Great pics Jody.

Steve, there's no limit on a paid Flickr "pro" account (unless that's changed since Yahoo bought them).
Flickr had some burps recently, might be that.

Barb

Barb, I'm back to the "free" account
Jody's photos are a great comparison of the characteristics between male/female cones.


Steve

The picture makes the cones resemble garden lights...

great comparison of the characteristics between male/female cones.

Certainly is...now if you two could get those plants in the same area...harvest of viable seeds.

Barb

Barb, I think I mentioned in a previous post that my female sets seeds naturally almost every year. The native coontie pollinator does the work for me, and since I don't have any other Caribbean zamias in my yard that cone at the same time and there aren't any other zamias anywhere in my neighborhood that I know of, I am pretty confident that the seeds are pure Palatka Giant even though they are open pollinated. If anyone is interested in seeds from the female cones in the photo, feel free to contact me toward the end of this year and I'll let you know about this year's seed set.

Jody

I'm certain there's a ready market for those, Jody.
RPS is likely waiting at your door...

Good luck with them.
Barb

Just a follow up...................

The weather turned cold after the cone emerged, and it was at least another 6-8 weeks before it became receptive.





Thanks to Jody for sending me pollen! Applied 3 times using a brush every other day.





The cone has since closed and seems to be growing in size, so hopefully success?






Steve

Wow, Steve, congratulations.

A swelling cone probably means gestation? (or whatever it's called)

It'll be neat to see what happens next and when.

Barb

Steve, I wish you luck with your pollination. However, without the pollen being injected into the inside of the cone, the chances are pretty slim. I use the wet method on all zamias, simply suspending the pollen in a small amount of purified water and injecting the liquid into the spaces between scales with a curved-ended syringe. Hopefully there was enough air movement (or possibly insect movement) to carry some of the pollen into the cone.

Jody

Barb, This is all new to me too, I think something is happening, not sure what


Jody, I noticed as the cone became fully receptive it opened on the top and bottom. Seemed like an open invitation for pollinators to crawl through.
Had a little bit of pollen left over that I did mix with water and inject into the top of the cone.
Whether successful or not, this has been a great learning experience


Steve

Intricate details.
Mother Nature's got it all figured out.

Good that you're hedging your bets Steve.
One of the two methods will surely succeed.

Looking forward to updates.
Barb

Here's a recent photo,




Also noticed a cone emerging on a Zamia sp. "Mexico", started these from seed about 4 years ago.






Steve

Good to see yours respond, Steve, with all your heat (and water).

Mine are croaking.

Barb

Not too much longer now, seeds are just about ready







Steve

Incredible beauty that Mother Nature creates!

At first glance, Steve, those cones always remind me of lava erupting from a volcano.

How's your pollen storage project going?

Barb

Hi Barb,


I'm happy to see the results!
Have plenty of Zamia vazquezii pollen in the freezer, now all I need is a female plant


Steve

Here's the results, 30 seeds from the single cone












Steve

Beautiful seeds, Steve.

Since I didn't pay much attention in Botany (or Biology for that matter), the progeny would be F1 hybrids?
And how would you "write" the name of the seedlings?

Barb

Looks familiar.