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Mutant in paradise... Mutant in paradise...

Mutant in paradise...

Last season I ramped up my brugmansia hybridizing efforts using brugmansias with mutant and deeply serrated foliage.  The results of those...

Fred's Garden Blog

After a nearly five year hiatus, Fred's Garden Blog is back! Now you can enjoy and experience the gardening exploits and adventures of Fred in his quest to hybridize brugmansia and keep his jungle and nursery under control.

Sommer Gardens / Friday, July 8, 2011 / Categories: Hybridizing

Now its time for Seedapalooza

Now that Podapalooza is winding down its time for Seedapalooza!  My back is already aching just thinking about the future work these little seeds will create. Here's a recent batch ready to be topped off with a layer of soil.
seeds-2.jpgEach one of the pots below represent a unique Brugmansia seed cross.  As you can easily see, lots of crosses are in various stages of germination below. I believe I have one of the most aggressive brugmansia hybridizing programs on the planet in place.  By the time I finishing harvesting seed pods next month i will have sown seeds from at least 200 unique brugmansia seed crosses this year. 

seedpots.jpgThis time of year fresh Angel Trumpet seeds typically germinate in 10-14 days, but may take as long as two months.  I try to sow seeds as soon as possible after harvesting the pods. Once the seedlings show their second set of leaves I transplant them into cell pack trays. Approximately 6-8 weeks later they will be moved up to gallon size pots where they will remain until next spring. 

A couple of weeks after they are transplanted into the cell trays I will start treating them with a growth regulator to attempt to keep the seedlings more compact.  I'm still experimenting with using a growth regulator, but the last time I used it the treated plants on average were about 2 feet shorter than the non-treated ones.  Without treatment many of the seedlings could be 4-5 feet tall by fall and that size plant in a gallon size pot is very hard to manage.

germinatingseeds.jpgIt is exciting to see the seeds germinate knowing that there could be some exciting new beauties in the mix.  Of course these little babies will soon be 4-6 feet tall.  When you start thinking about the 3,000-4,000 new seedlings I expect to pot up this summer, you can see why my back will soon be aching!

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