PBS Forum

Hi all!

I have a few plants of Strelitzia reginae. They are all from the same clone, except one who started to flower a few days ago. The original plant used to flower every winter around december to february (as I live in northern Sweden they are kept inside in big pots). I managed to get a few seeds some years ago but only one survived  and it is this plant that now is flowering. After splitting the big plant (three years ago) into four new plants they newer flowered again but they seem to do well and I expect that they will flower next year again.
So, my questions are:
 1. Is there a problem with self pollination of Strelitzia (I know it worked, but perhaps cross pollination works better?)
 2. Being bird pollinated I think they are using a rather unusual way, with pollen sticking to the feet instead of the
     feathers and I think I managed to imitate this rather well, but perhaps someone know a way to improve this?
 3. I had a very low germination rate from the first and only seeds I got, only one of 16 germinated. I think they 
     perhaps needed cold stratifiction, which I realized too late? So, any idea how tho get this work better are welcome.

All the best from Åke

I have several Arisaema flovering while the snow is still deep outside. No pollinating insects anywhere. I trapped some flies and tossed them into the flowers and covered the entrance so they couldn't escape. My question is: are the Arisaemas self fertile or do I have to move the damned fly to the next flower? Or do anyone have a better idea about the pollination? It's actually not a big problem, they produce a lot of offsets, but it would be nice with some seeds. / Åke