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| Kohleria 'Ruby' |
Kohlerias
from seed --- revolutionary!
Millions of annuals are grown from
seed produced by large international seed companies. Seed is the propagation method of choice because
it’s the cheapest.
Then what happened when some hybrid
seed got expensive? This allowed vegetative
cuttings to be produces by the millions.
Off-shore farms can ship unrooted cuttings into commercial horticulture
at a reasonable cost. This allowed for
selection of the best clones to be maintained vegetatively.
What if Kohleria, an unknown
flowering houseplant, could be produced by seed like annuals?
The very few Kohlerias maintained by
Gesneriad hobbyists and specialty retail mail order greenhouses are select named
varieties. Vegetative reproduction is
time consuming and costly.
Let’s get good seed lines, grow thousands
of a new flowering houseplant and make people happy.
By crossing the best Kohleria
hybrids together, the seedlings can make very good crops. They will be variable, but that’s a good
thing --- More variety.
Can Kohlerias grown from seed bring
them out of the woods into garden centers for all to see?
It is worth a try. The named selections will be the standard,
but seed crops will introduce a hidden gem to indoor gardeners.
Sounds like a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThe Kohleria seed idea comes from the world-class Kohleria hybridizer. I am willing to try it. We may find some exceptional clones deserving of a name.
DeleteIt is a very good plan. But Kohleria is not that easy to set seeds, there are only very few of the Kohleria can produce pollen and some Kohleriahybrids refuse to accept pollen.
ReplyDeleteYes, I 've heard that some Kohlerias are sterile. We will have to work around this by finding those that can make seed. Seed production is untested, but we hope to make it work. Thanks.
Delete