FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello,
My S. purpurea is growing a flower, and I would like to try and grow sarracenia from seed. Unfortunately, my other sarracenia, S. flava is not flowering. I have read that self pollination in sarracenia will result in weak, less hardy plants, as well as a bad seed set and that it is not a good idea. Has anyone self pollinated sarracenia before? If so, what were the results?

Thanks!

I have self-pollinated sarracenia 3 or 4 times, though I had no luck. The self pollinated included purpurea, rubra ssp rubra, flava and something else. The only times I have gotten seed from my sarrs were from when multiple were flowering and I hand pollinated. This didn't stop me from self pollinating when I only had one flowering and I think you should do it anyway, but harvest some pollen to use later on your flava if it flowers. The pollen should last a month or two depending on many factors if you store it in the fridge.

Self pollinated plants aren't all weak and certainly not necessarily less hardy. I have dozens of self pollinated plants some are indeed weak whilst others are as good growers as the parents. by doing this sometimes you get some very different offspring, reflecting the genes from previous plants that have crossed to make the parent plant that you are now selfing. So you can see some of the plants history.
If you have no other flowers out, give it a go you wont be dissapointed. And as has been said save the spare pollen in the fridge, it will keep for a few weeks, and if you flava flowers make yourself a catesbaei.
Cheers
Steve

andynorth wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 3:48 pm What is SNW? Do you have a link by chance?

Sarracenia NorthWest. The site is https://www.growcarnivorousplants.com. You should be able to search for the videos on YouTube.

Alright, thanks for the resource!