Iboga reproduction

[kadakuda]

I have had one plant flowering for about 6 months, but it has been unusually cold since it started, so i figured flower drop was temp related. Now another plant, different stock, is in flower next to it. I have seen nothing but flower drop, so i doubt they are getting pollinated, but should i hand pollinate them or rub them, leave them? is flower drop common? I also have some different Tabernaemontana flowering near them, be best to remove them?

thanks

[poisonshroom]

I would also like to know this - my iboga has just started flowering for the first time. Where the flowers drop is a little yellowish ball (smaller than the flower), which i assume is the fruit (if so - then they are self fertile). How cold are you talking Kada?

[kadakuda]

12-15C This year we got real cold, 9-12 for 8 days, and i got leaf drop in the potted plants.

I have this ball too, its the ovary (fruit) but they are not fertilized as they fall off soon after as well.

pics

here are 2 plants in pots. one was in the open (less leaves) one was against a south facing wall. neat.

the sex organs

Edited May 4, 2011 by kadakuda

[poisonshroom]

Ah - thats a bit cooler than here (at night), it was 15c out here last night. Id say its to do with the temperature then - mine dropped their leaves after I got them last year at the end of winter - Id say night time temps were about the same as what you said.

As for pollinating, Im not sure how you would do that manually - tiny flowers (I was surprised at how small they actually were) that are trumpet shaped with a really tiny opening. The ovaries havnt fallen off on mine (but theyve only been there for a week or two). Im not sure if the tabernaemontana flowering close by would make a difference. I also have a taberneamontana flowering a few meters away from mine, but its T. corymbosa, which doesnt appear to produce seeds at all (flowers constantly though).

Hopefully someone who has some more experience can chime in soon =]

[kadakuda]

teh tabernae seem to be self sterile, at least the few i grow. mine flower a lot as well, but nothing pollinates them so only seed when i hand pollinate them. though some species do get pollinated here. i moved mine to another house anyway, just in case.

- tiny flowers (I was surprised at how small they actually were)

you can say that again, i was shocked as well.

I can understand the temps being the cause, but the thing is that temps for the last 2 months have been over 30C and over 25 at night, which i would think are ok. and those are weather forecast temps, my roof next to the wall, where the pictured plants reside, are far warmer.

i read a few places iboga is self fertile. those 2 plants above are from different seeds, so i am guessing lack of pollinators...? can they self without being touched?

[poisonshroom]

I noticed ants in the flowers on mine - maybe they are the pollinators? then again, some of the plants around it have some mealies on them (which the ants 'farm'), so hopefully they arent just there to spread mealies to my iboga

[Torsten]

The will fruit in FNQ usually in the second year of flowering.

Kada, you are a little warmer than where I am , but little cooler than the tropics. I think yours will fruit eventually too, but might take a bit longer. Mine don't, but fruiting is common just 150km north of here where the minimum winter temps are about 4C higher.

[kadakuda]

very good to know, thanks Torsten. I will just let them go and plant some in ground as well for fun.

If it doesnt work out there are a few places about 40km from here that almost never see under 20C, and when they do 18 is the min. So should be ok there i would think. I have friends with land there.

Hoping for seeds cause i am failing miserably with cuttings...only layering i am having success with lol.

[poisonshroom]

Thanks for the info T =]

Its funny how slight variations in temperature can affect plants like these, but then again, iboga comes from rainforests in gabon, where Im lead to believe the temperature is similar to cairns or cooktown, so for them to even grow at all in places like NNSW is a bit surprising.

Kada I think if you found an appropriate microclimate to plant them in the ground they probably wont have any trouble - pots leave the roots pretty exposed to sudden temperature change (just from lack of insulation). I wish I had land to plant all mine out - putting things in pots always makes me feel like im defying nature (except cacti - which can happily live in pots for decades and are adapted to diminished root space), and the plants could do much better in a more natural situation with almost unlimited room to stretch

[kadakuda]

indeed, I agree. I prefer in ground, but new things i stick to pots cause its just easier to move if something goes wrong...like flooding.

i just checked the soil temps for our area for the last 20 years. a dn the coldest months average is 17C soil. average air temp is 16 (but there are cold spells). but like you say, one mountain ridge is 10x different than the one next to it. micro climates are very different, even 10 minutes down the road from here. we live here and stay here because its cooler than surrounding areas...i am dieing right now in the heat.

[planthelper]

i never bothered to build a warm house for any of my plants, but i will have to do this for my iboga.

i'm thinking of using a reptile heat mat set with a timer working only over nigh time and cold day's, and a construction which, opens up to give the plants a "non glass house "environment" over the daytime.

my place can frost over night, but even after ground frost has happend, temperatures can reach already +25deg C, a few hour later.....