How to pollinate snowdrops

[Brian Ellis]

Anne you have made a lot of people happy, but I would have loved to have heard the commentary

[annew]

Well, Classic FM was on in the background so the first part had some scary music. Then there was a lot of:
Can I start now? Yes, I started 30 seconds ago… Now your hand's in the way. Cut, CUT!!! Go, no hang on a minute..now go! No you went too soon - *****///***! etc etc

[Brian Ellis]

 

[Leena]

In many plants hybrids are sterile. How is this in Galanthus?
Are 'S.Arnott' and 'Merlin' fertile, I had them flower for the first time last spring, but don't remember if they produced seeds.
How about 'Primorse Warburg', is it fertile? I remember seeing somewhere in the forum pictures of seedlings where one parent was 'Wendy's Gold', so it must be a fertile yellow, which goes to my list.

[annew]

Hi Leena,
I haven't used S Arnott or Merlin, so am not sure, but there are many snowdrops that look like Merlin, so I think it will be fertile. All the yellows that I have tried are fertile - Wendy's Gold, Spindlestone Surprise, Primrose Warburg, Lutescens, Lady Elphinstone.

[Leena]

Thank you Anne.
I think I will have to practise with common G.nivalis, which I have plenty,
or G.plicatus, and keep better eye on my other snowdrops to see if they are fertile:)

[Martin Baxendale]

In many plants hybrids are sterile. How is this in Galanthus?
Are 'S.Arnott' and 'Merlin' fertile, I had them flower for the first time last spring, but don't remember if they produced seeds.
How about 'Primorse Warburg', is it fertile? I remember seeing somewhere in the forum pictures of seedlings where one parent was 'Wendy's Gold', so it must be a fertile yellow, which goes to my list.

The situation in galanthus is quite variable - some hybrids are reasonably fertile while others are sterile or almost completely sterile.

I have tried pollinating Merlin (a diploid hybrid, probably plicatus x elwesii) in the past and never got any seed set.  S. Arnott (a triploid hybrid, presumably nivalis x plicatus, which should be highly sterile due to the combination of its hybrid nature and its triploid nature) does sometimes set a few viable seeds if a lot of flowers are pollinated - but the seedlings tend to be uninteresting small snowdrops, like poor versions of S. Arnott or ordinary nivalis types.

Primrose Warburg (presumably plicatus x sandersii) will set a few seeds if lots of flowers are pollinated, but only a few and you do have to pollinate a lot of flowers to get any seed in my experience - although that might be due to the kinds of crosses I've been trying and it might set seed more easily if different pollen was used. It needs to be crossed with another yellow to get yellow seedlings.

It's very much a question of, as you say, trying different crosses and seeing which cultivars are fertile and which are not.

[Martin Baxendale]

Anne, the proliferation of Merlin type cultivars is more likely to arise from repeats in gardens of the type of (presumably) plicatus x elwesii cross that produced Merlin rather than seedlings from Merlin, which has never set seed for me despite repeated attempts to use it in crosses.

[annew]

Thanks, Martin, I thought we could rely on you.

[daveyp1970]

Martin can you tell me if the green tips in viridipice is recessive?

[Martin Baxendale]

Martin can you tell me if the green tips in viridipice is recessive?

I'm not sure what's going on with inheritance of green tips and virescens because I haven't done enough in those areas in the past to get any definite clues. It's looking to me like virescens may be recessive but that green tips may not necessarily be recessive as green tips seems to be quite easily passed on to seedlings (though not always!    And the fact that green tips can come and go from season to season doesn't help either!)

What is known is that Viridapice (and at least some other green tips) are triploids so are not very fertile, although they will sometimes give a seed or two. I've never got any seed from Viridapice, which fits with its low-fertility triploid nature, so the best bet if you want to use Viridapice is to use its pollen on other snowdrops (green tips preferably but perhaps also non-green-tips as an experiment).

Sorry not to be more helpful, but the drops aren't very helpful a lot of the time!

[daveyp1970]

I'm not sure what's going on with inheritance of green tips and virescens because I haven't done enough in those areas in the past to get any definite clues. It's looking to me like virescens may be recessive but that green tips may not necessarily be recessive as green tips seems to be quite easily passed on to seedlings (though not always!    And the fact that green tips can come and go from season to season doesn't help either!)

What is known is that Viridapice (and at least some other green tips) are triploids so are not very fertile, although they will sometimes give a seed or two. I've never got any seed from Viridapice, which fits with its low-fertility triploid nature, so the best bet if you want to use Viridapice is to use its pollen on other snowdrops (green tips preferably but perhaps also non-green-tips as an experiment).

Sorry not to be more helpful, but the drops aren't very helpful a lot of the time!

Martin that is very helpful...Thank you.I have done the backcross using viridipice as the pod parent and pollen donor.

[Leena]

The situation in galanthus is quite variable - some hybrids are reasonably fertile while others are sterile or almost completely sterile.

Thank you.
Also for the information about 'Merlin', I was afraid it couldn't be so easy.
Can you name some reasonable fertile hybrids?

[Martin Baxendale]

Leena, the hybrid cultivars tend not to be very fertile. The best bet is to use really good selected, named forms of the species, good elwesii, plicatus and gracilis especially and use these to cross and create hybrids, with the resultant hybrid vigour.

[Leena]

Thank you.