For adult eyes only...making hoya babies...

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

So, you are like me and wanna make some hybrids.

How do you do it?

Here is my step-by-step guide...with pictures!

First, a look at a pretty hoya flower and the important bits (this beautiful pic is not mine, full credit goes to Doug Chamberlain, aka vermonthoyas):

And, a look at the "baby factory"(image is of milkweed and not mine, credit goes to owner of image (www.waynesworld.palomar.edu):

And the pollinarium, up close (image credit to www.klipslabs.com):

Now, a list of what you will need:

*Read this link first:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3472449/for-the-information-sponges-who-plan-to-try-pollinationsections

* two hoyas in the same section that are close to opening their flowers. Make sure they will open within a day or two, at the most, apart from each other. Also, make sure each type has blooms that stay on for more than 2 days, lol.

*a jeweler's loupe, good magnifying glass, or a stereo microscope

*a very fine metal wire, cat's whisker, or, if you are a glass-blower, make somethin!

*needle tip tweezers (very fine tipped)

*a small piece of brillo or something kind of rough to place your pollina while waiting to transfer it. It should be a kind of rough surface due to the fact that pollina are super small and will easily be knocked off or blown off smooth surfaces. I use a paper towel with the "cushions". It seems to work for me, but then again, I don't work in drafty areas, lol!

*a plant tag

*pantyhose, a small muslin baggie, or something meshlike that will allow the plant to breathe but won't allow the escape of tiny seeds.

*PATIENCE and expectation of multiple fails.

How to do it:

Wait until both plants are blooming and producing nectar. If you don't notice the nectar, wait until early morning or later in the evening.

2. Choose your pod parent (mother) flower (the one that will receive the pollina and make the seeds). Write that plant name down on the plant tag. Follow it with an X. Choose your pollen parent (father) flower (the one you will take pollina from) and write that name down after the 'X'.

Example:

I want to cross hoya deykeae with hoya cinnamomifolia (hey, it could work! They are in the same section!). I want cinnamomifolia to be the pod parent and deykeae to be the pollen parent. So, I write down:

H. cinnamomifolia X H. deykeae

Write down the date they were pollinated.

3. Shape your tool! Your cat whisker should be attached to a pencil or paintbrush handle. Same with your fine metal wire. Glass-blowers, make somethin, lol! If you are using a fine metal wire, shape it into a very tight, tiny hook.

4. Locate the pollinarium on your pollen parent flower. Have your brillo pad or catch cloth ready. Using the fine wire, cat whisker, or spun glass, lift the pollinarium out of the flower. (See image)

The boxes represent where slits (one of which is the stigmatic lock) are. You put the whisker or hooked wire in one of the slits (the slit that goes toward the center of the flower down to the pollinarium is the easiest one...going the route of the stigmatic lock is harder) very close to the pollinarium (make sure the hook faces the pollinarium), gently push down and toward the pollinarium, then lift up.

ALTERNATIVELY...if you are like me, you could just gently take apart the pollen flower and remove the pollinarium that way. Gently do it, though. No one knows the effect sap or nectar has on polliarium. Place pollinarium on brillo pad or catch cloth.

5. Using the jeweler's loupe, magnifying glass, or stereo microscope, locate the pollinarium. Using your very fine tweezers, pick it up by the corpusculum (see image of pollinarium above). Rotate it so that the convex side by of the pollina will face the outside surface of the stigmatic lock of the pod parent. Grab pod parent and gently ease the pollinarium, correctly rotated, into the stigmatic lock (AKA staminal slit) of your preferred bloom. Place label on plant.

6. PATIENCE. If a pod develops, loosely wrap muslin bag or pantyhose over the peduncle, leaving room for the pod to grow. Fasten loosely with masking tape or velcro.

If pod does not develop, try, try again!

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