u/godelescherbach69

This Redemption at work has reached next level leaves. It looks so much better then the one I planted at home 😭

I got this guy two years ago before I was serious about my philo addiction so this year I’ve been trying to get it to finally take off. Previously it would never have more than two leaves at a time. I’ve finally replaced the medium with a chunkier mix and begun fertilizing, and though it’s still tiny I’m hopeful it is beginning it’s journey to some big, serrated leaves!

I am interested in attempting some hybridization on my Alocasias/Colocasias. I used to hybridize daylilies, which is about the easiest thing in the world to do, so I’ve been a little surprised at the learning curve here. I know I will probably not have much success in the beginning and so I’m mostly just interested in getting the procedure down so I cam get better. However, I’m having trouble even getting started.

I had an Alocasia Silver Dragon sending up two inflorescences, but they came and went and I never saw any pollen. I chalked this up to it being a hybrid and possibly being sterile. Then I had a scalprum sending up an inflorescence and waited on that one, but again never saw pollen. Both of these were indoors and though the plants are very happy, the humidity is on the low side, so I began to think maybe that’s the issue.

So then my Alocasia Calidora sent up an inflorescence, I have that planted outdoors. I am in Cincinnati so the humidity outside is often quite high. I waited and waited for the spathe to open, but then the tip began to wilt without opening so I cut the spathe open, again no pollen. This time I thought maybe I was just late. I’ll admit cutting into the infloescence always gives me pause, but my understanding is at least for pollen collection it shouldn’t matter.

Now my Colocasias are sending up inflos, these are also planted outside. These never opened, so when the second inflos seemed to be mature I cut open the top of the spathe and have secured plastic bags with zipties below the spadix, as I have seen this method used in videos.

Does anyone have tips/useful tutorials for this process? I have watched some very good videos but often the collecting of pollen is not shown, or it is very hard to see exactly what is being done. I guess this could do with how small the pollen is, daylilies pollen is readily apparent to anyone with good eyesight, but I’m wondering if this pollen is exceptionally small. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I have this Redemption planted at work and it’s sending up what seems to be a leaf, but it looks very different from all other emerging leaves. It’s very tightly wrapped and has been very slow to unfurl. This is the first time the plant has pushed out two leaves at the same time from the central stalk. Anyone seen anything like this?

I’ve been using GT Silica and Foliage Focus, not sure if that’s what caused this but I thought it looked cool!