Dan,

Your seedlings look good, be careful of direct sunlight whilst they are young - I have killed some of mine with too much sunlight.

Let us know how your Sphagnum moss goes.

Cheers,

Rick

I assume they are hybrid seeds and there fore even at this small stage they will show the difference due to mixed parentage ,but even if they are species ,you can not expect 100% even growth ,dont worry its all natural ,If you worry this much at this stage Dan ,you'll give yourself a heartattack by the time they flower ,its a ok !
Jack

LOL, you can always tell the first time parents. I can't remember the last time I examined every little seedling! They look perfectly normal to me too. The only thing I see is that it looks like your moss wants to start growing, so you may have to deal with that soon.

As to seedling variations, Jack's right. Nature is not a cookie cutter. Variations in size, shape, growth rate, and even coloration are all to be expected, even in a species, but especially in hybrids. Every grex will have some that are healthier than others too. That's why we select and cull. I wouldn't worry about it at this point, though.

Lisa's right, you need to have a bunch of grexes going so that you don't care about any one of them all that much. But, if you want, you can start working on that grex right now and thin it out. Some of those are way too close together and will stunt each others growth. You can transplant at this stage if you really want, but I think it's good practice to start culling now. Just cut them off at the base with some clippers, don't try and pull them out or they may disturb the ones you want to keep.

Hello Dan, I live just west of Brisbane and have about 30 lots of seed growing on sphagnum in clear closed yoghurt
containers with dark lids. You may have variegated seedlings - I recently had a batch of over a hundred carcharodon x come up and over 50% were totally white - of course they died. A few of the remaining plants are variegated. If you have just started with seeds keep them all and follow their progress, this is the best way to learn and form your own ideas about propagation and hybridising. I have had batches as thick as grass (A. tillandsiodes) and they continue to grow just fine. All are grown at the outer edge of a covered verandah facing east, even with the recent day when it was still 34% at 6pm they are fine. The main thing I have found is check that they have some (minimal) condensation on the inside of the container, and check for mould growth and treat if necessary. The first seed I grew, A. leudemanniana, have just produced their first flowers, their 20 siblings which never got as far as the garden are together in a 20cm x 15cm meat tray in 2cm of dry spagnum and are 20cm high and just fine if somewhat red from stress. The three that never got to the meat tray are 8 cm high and sitting in an open bag of sphagnum which is occasionally sprayed. Its a great way of having a staggered planting !!! From the above I would say dont cull any, its not as if your over run by plants and you will learn so much by just observing and seeing what changes happen and how they develop. Good luck

Okay, I have to ask. Which carcharodon gave you variegates, plantsplus?

I honestly dont know. I have only Rainbow and Tiger but did not polinate either. The birds or something haved been busy and when I noticed berries in them I collected and planted the seed. Unfortunately the berries were not separated. I have not been trying to hybridise - just plant seed which develops if I think it may be worthwhile.

So the only two possible seed parents were carcharodon Rainbow and Tiger???? You didn't perhaps collect berries from some other Neo and get those mixed in with the others? Something's wrong with this picture.

Either something is seriously wrong or Lisa is going to be seriously jealous (along with others)! He he. Wouldn't this be the second person on the forum to plant Charc seeds and get variegated on the first attempt? Ok, I'm done teasing before I get in trouble...
-andy

It's not so much jealousy as trying to put together a plausible, working, scientific theory, Andy. My own experiences and those of others have helped to provide missing pieces of the puzzle, but occasionally I'll hear something that seems more like a puzzle piece from from a completely different box. It's kind of like trying to fill in that patch of blue sky and having someone hand you a red piece and swearing it'll fit. Nope........ not buying it. ;-)

Ha ha, I understand Lisa (I had to at least try to tease a little). Mark me much more on the jealous side. I'm much easier to convince the red patch might fit as I don't have the base or ingrained personal knowledge of what works and what doesn't work. So random 'miraculous' chances are still possible in my mind. Ignorant or gullible, not sure which is better to claim as an excuse!
-andy

plantsplus,

Is there any chance of putting a photo up?

Thanks,

Rick

Hello,

I thought I might use this thread to keep a record of the progress the seedlings are making.

Firstly, the sphagnum moss got a bit out of hand, so I tried a few different set ups but eventually just decided to trasfer the seedlings into trays where I probably won't have to repot them again until they are almost fully grown. I was worried they were still too small but they seem to be starting to grow steadily again. They are in peat moss/perlite mix. I took the opportunity to cull down to only the most vigorous growers, or those seedlings that had nice form (even though the differences are slim at this stage).

These are my first crosses so it is nothing special. This one is DM F2 x (DM x Anoema minor):

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This one is Medowie Gift x DM F2:

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And here is a close up of a seedling startigng to get nicely shaped leaves:

{{gwi:517152}}

Sorry they are nothing special yet. Still little green bits of grass. My plan is to fertilise them until they get to a hardier size, then slowly introduce them to stonger light and stop the fertiliser.

I have a few more billbergia crosses starting up, a few involving, Hallelujah, Afterglow, and Hana Hou.

thanks

Dan

Hi Dan,

Good to hear from you again. Your plants are looking good so you must be doing things right and it looks like you are now starting the "waiting game" to see what you have created.

Hybridizing is certainly an interesting journey and although turning out a champion is a rare reward, the results are always interesting and different, and make you want to try something different "next time".

Thanks for the progress report and keep them coming.

All the best, Nev.

So my Seedlings are not growing as fast as I expected, here they are now:

{{gwi:517153}}

There are a couple of interesting things going on, this one has decided to pup already, theres 4 on there and two more buldges already:

{{gwi:517155}}

This one appears to be vareigated, but looks a bit unstable, don't know if it will make it through to maturity like this:

{{gwi:517157}}

I have started fertilising them now, previously I wasn't really doing so.

You're giving them plenty of space, so more sun and fertilizer will get them moving faster. They do look a bit small for 8 month old seedlings. Did you put slow release fertilizer pellets in the pots?

I have started using fertiliser pellets only recently, and until just a month ago they were in much smaller punetts. On top of that the potting medium was probably less than ideal. My idea was to try and get them showing colour at a much earlier stage- one has got some pink on it but they are growing tediously slow (for Billbergias I gather). But now I just want get them full size. This is my first batch and so I don't really have any prior practical experience to go off, other than what is on this forum.

It's not unusual for seedlings to tease you with pinks and reds that disappear over time.