Rookie question! Last year I grew a sunflower from seed that I had saved from the previous year. The first blooms were stunning. So, I covered the following blooms before they were mature with an organza bag. I shook the bag every so often thinking that the bloom would pollinate itself. I harvested the seeds when the bloom was dry. I planted the seeds in the greenhouse six weeks ago and none of them germinated. What did I do wrong? Thanks for your time!
They might have not been fertile seed. Some hybrids don’t produce fertile offspring. One thing that might have gone wrong is in pollination, you need an even number of chromosomes. Depending on the genetics of the parent some hybrids end up with an odd number of copies of chromosomes (google polyploidy and triploidy if you’re curious). I’m not saying this is what happened but I did some crosses that resulted in nonviable seeds and I think that’s what went wrong. Polyploidy or duplicate chromosomes is how we get giant fruit including corn and wheat and even strawberries which used to be small. Interestingly strawberries are octoploids which means they have 8 sets of chromosomes. Seedless bananas and watermelon have an odd number of chromosomes. Let me know if that helps.
Thanks so much for your helpful response! Interesting that we were just talking about planting a field of strawberries! I’m going to give these fellows another shot in the greenhouse and see what happens. If not… I will assume that they are not genetically complete and unable to bear. Hope you are well and have a wonderful day.
Thanks for the video. I appreciate the info. If I want a complete cross-pollination without pollinating the same variety to avoid getting no visual changes, I should only use the paper towel once per flower I'm pollinating? Correct? Once a flower is pollinated by the paper towel, the paper towel picked up pollen from that flower ultimately collecting both pollens? So collect pollen from my flower of choice and only transfer it once then discard the paper towel? Does the pollen affect all the seeds if it reaches just one stigmas or do each seeds contain their own individual stigma? Are each seeds technically a different flower/stigma?
The objective is to gather a significant amount of pollen from one flower and attempt to transfer that pollen to the stigma of another flower before it’s pollinated by its own anthers. I speculate that there is a lag period of when flowers are receptive to pollen before they produce viable pollen on the same flower. Also within a single flower it’s possible to have receptive stigma before there are mature anthers. If you look closely at the flowers you’ll see what I’m talking about. The tiny flower stigma change color as they become receptive and also the anthers change color when they are producing “ripe” anthers/pollen. Either way it’s fun to see the results of future generations. I try to write down the parentage so I can keep track so I can try to predict phenotypes
I always get nervous when touching the disc florets because I'm worried I'll break them especially when rubbing the inside of the flower because I grow dwarf sunflowers varieties, and also when it does self pollinate, is that bad?
@@thechaosgardener That is “normal” cycle of things. But....in the 5-7 years we’ve seen some very brief but cold dips. Last February it dipped to 16!! And stayed in the mid to low 20’s for almost a week. I thought for a moment I was still living in Idaho!! Lol. My lemon & fig trees paid for that dearly. Some broccoli & mustards survived but the onions, cauliflower and cabbage “yielded up the ghost”. Also the garlic took it in stride and came through nicely.
All sunflower flowers are both male and female. Check 1:29 in the video I show the anatomy of one of the flowerettes in the sunflower. Each sunflower has hundreds of hermaphroditic flowerettes.
@@thechaosgardener I had read they were but I could have swore you said you rubbed pollen off of a male flower. But that's better I'll just rub the pollen on all of them
@@thechaosgardener I went out last night to pollinate them the first ones bloomed 4 days ago and they are already pollinated. I had to laugh I had no idea bees liked them so much. But I am going to cross pollinate my mammoths with the wild sunflowers in the feild behind me that haven't bloomed yet. I am so excited. Thank you for this video it literally explains everything I needed to know.
Thanks Michael. Interesting! You’ve given me ideas. I have all kinds of tomatoes especially come up from my composting.
awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
Am I don't understand what u are doing
You're the one with a cartoon picture child. Calling someone a Am right off the back here speaks to your age. Life grows for a reason Amateur.
Cool vid.
How did you avoid self-fertilization? As you rubbed the pollen on the flower, won't its own pollen get into the mix and stick to the stigma?
Sorry just saw your question. I think I answered it above. It’s not perfectly scientific but let me know if you have any questions.
Rookie question! Last year I grew a sunflower from seed that I had saved from the previous year. The first blooms were stunning. So, I covered the following blooms before they were mature with an organza bag. I shook the bag every so often thinking that the bloom would pollinate itself. I harvested the seeds when the bloom was dry. I planted the seeds in the greenhouse six weeks ago and none of them germinated. What did I do wrong? Thanks for your time!
They might have not been fertile seed. Some hybrids don’t produce fertile offspring. One thing that might have gone wrong is in pollination, you need an even number of chromosomes. Depending on the genetics of the parent some hybrids end up with an odd number of copies of chromosomes (google polyploidy and triploidy if you’re curious). I’m not saying this is what happened but I did some crosses that resulted in nonviable seeds and I think that’s what went wrong. Polyploidy or duplicate chromosomes is how we get giant fruit including corn and wheat and even strawberries which used to be small. Interestingly strawberries are octoploids which means they have 8 sets of chromosomes. Seedless bananas and watermelon have an odd number of chromosomes. Let me know if that helps.
Thanks so much for your helpful response! Interesting that we were just talking about planting a field of strawberries! I’m going to give these fellows another shot in the greenhouse and see what happens. If not… I will assume that they are not genetically complete and unable to bear. Hope you are well and have a wonderful day.
Thanks for the video. I appreciate the info.
If I want a complete cross-pollination without pollinating the same variety to avoid getting no visual changes, I should only use the paper towel once per flower I'm pollinating? Correct? Once a flower is pollinated by the paper towel, the paper towel picked up pollen from that flower ultimately collecting both pollens?
So collect pollen from my flower of choice and only transfer it once then discard the paper towel?
Does the pollen affect all the seeds if it reaches just one stigmas or do each seeds contain their own individual stigma? Are each seeds technically a different flower/stigma?
The objective is to gather a significant amount of pollen from one flower and attempt to transfer that pollen to the stigma of another flower before it’s pollinated by its own anthers. I speculate that there is a lag period of when flowers are receptive to pollen before they produce viable pollen on the same flower. Also within a single flower it’s possible to have receptive stigma before there are mature anthers. If you look closely at the flowers you’ll see what I’m talking about. The tiny flower stigma change color as they become receptive and also the anthers change color when they are producing “ripe” anthers/pollen. Either way it’s fun to see the results of future generations. I try to write down the parentage so I can keep track so I can try to predict phenotypes
Wow!
I know!
I always get nervous when touching the disc florets because I'm worried I'll break them especially when rubbing the inside of the flower because I grow dwarf sunflowers varieties, and also when it does self pollinate, is that bad?
There’s a high possibility of self pollination that’s why you have to grow the offspring to see if you got a hybrid that you like
@@thechaosgardener ohhhhhh ok thank you
Will seeds harvest from a particular sunflower, grow to be the same as the parent?
Similar but not the same
Wish I’d seen this about 8-10 weeks ago.
There might be time for another set of sunflowers this year before fall. What zone are you in?
@@thechaosgardener Zone 9....S. E. Louisiana.
Nice! I bet you could get another crop there. I bet you don’t get close to freezing temps until late December just like here.
@@casualobserver3145 I think you’re close enough to the ocean that you might not even hit freezing temps every year.
@@thechaosgardener That is “normal” cycle of things. But....in the 5-7 years we’ve seen some very brief but cold dips. Last February it dipped to 16!! And stayed in the mid to low 20’s for almost a week. I thought for a moment I was still living in Idaho!! Lol. My lemon & fig trees paid for that dearly. Some broccoli & mustards survived but the onions, cauliflower and cabbage “yielded up the ghost”. Also the garlic took it in stride and came through nicely.
That’s what baylee do
How do you know which is male and which is female?
All sunflower flowers are both male and female. Check 1:29 in the video I show the anatomy of one of the flowerettes in the sunflower. Each sunflower has hundreds of hermaphroditic flowerettes.
@@thechaosgardener I had read they were but I could have swore you said you rubbed pollen off of a male flower. But that's better I'll just rub the pollen on all of them
Yeah sorry that was redundant and ambiguous of me. The pollen is male and can be applied to the flower of your choice.
@@thechaosgardener I went out last night to pollinate them the first ones bloomed 4 days ago and they are already pollinated. I had to laugh I had no idea bees liked them so much. But I am going to cross pollinate my mammoths with the wild sunflowers in the feild behind me that haven't bloomed yet. I am so excited. Thank you for this video it literally explains everything I needed to know.