Wabi
This article provides an introduction to the succulent plant Wabi (Haworthia), including pollination breeding and hybridization tutorial for the genus Haworthia. Here is a comprehensive introduction.
With the popularity of succulents, many enthusiasts are attracted to the various forms of Wabi plants. Especially the overseas crosses are outstanding. According to personal interests, one can also try crossing different Wabi varieties at home. Let's introduce how to make Wabi flowers act as mothers:
Firstly, select two varieties that bloom simultaneously as the male and female parents, of course, the choice is up to the person, both hard and soft leaves are fine.
This is the Wabi spike inflorescence, with a long stem on which several inconspicuous flowers bloom every day. Although they don't have the bright colors of peonies or peony, they are very precious for hybridization!
This is a single Wabi flower that has been open for about two days, and there is a flower receptacle at the base of the flower. Look closely, Wabi flowers consist of six petals, and it is difficult to see the stamens and pistils from the appearance.
In the early stage of pollination, the flowers need to be slightly processed. Some varieties have long receptacles that can wrap around half of the flower. To facilitate pollen collection, for varieties with long receptacles, a small treatment is performed, which is to pull the receptacle down to look like the photo. For those with short receptacles, no treatment is needed.
Then remove the petals, first the lower three, then the upper ones. After removal, the stamens and pistils are exposed.
Looking closely, the arrangement of stamens is similar to the Wabi petals, six in number. The slightly enlarged one in the middle is the pistil, and the white projection on top of the pistil is the stigma, where we will apply the pollen later. Be careful not to damage the pistil, especially the stigma, during petal removal. The movement should be gentle and careful...
Remove the stamens from the two parents and store them for later use, making sure not to mix them up, otherwise the hybridization will fail.
This is a mature pistil. To determine if a pistil is mature, look at the stigma. A mature pistil stigma has opened and is arranged in three lobes. An immature pistil stigma is tightly wrapped and shorter and rounder.
Then, use forceps to apply the pollen from another flower to the pistil of this flower, with gentle movements and light pressure. Do not accidentally stab the stigma with the forceps! Then comes the waiting period...
The pistil that has been successfully pollinated will slowly develop into fruit, its color deepening and slightly swelling. Not only does it not show signs of drying out, but it seems to grow bigger day by day. Haha, it's like a woman's pregnancy.
A few days later, it gets even bigger and the color becomes deeper, and the fruit becomes longer...
About a week later, the pollinated pistil will look like this, and you can now slightly see the arrangement and protrusion of the seeds inside the fruit!
Usually, pollination is done twice, that is, after pollination on the first day, it is best to repeat it the next day to help increase the fruiting rate!
The above is the specific content of the Wabi (Haworthia) succulent plant pollination breeding and hybridization tutorial for everyone's reference and operation.