Here is another real-time WEC run.
Two days ago I received dried rose achenes via international post from Girija and Viru in India.
Thank you Girija and Viru!!
Here then are some of the Rosa Gigantea achenes they sent me:
I’ll extract some of these in the next hour or so and then post pix on what I find!
Ok…a few minutes ago I finished about half of these R.gigantea achenes. I thought I better leave the other half unextracted as reserves, in case some catastrophic event takes place with this run.
As each seed was extracted, I popped it into a glass of tap water, until all were done.
Here they are, as of a few minutes ago:
I will remove their papery coverings tomorrow, after they have soaked in tap water overnight, and I’ll show a pic of the embryos then.
George, you should consider posting photos of the gigantea seeds and embryos to HMF.
I just removed their papery coverings.
Several of them had already escaped from their papery coverings through slits made during the extraction, by the box cutter blade.
Two were damaged too close to the radicle (or possibly involving the radicle) and one had a complete fracture across both cotyledons leaving too short a pair of cotyledons to be of much use IMO. These damages were sustained during the pericarp extraction step, (not the testa removal step). So these three were eliminated.
Now there are eight which remain. One of these had a fair bit of cotyledon sliced away from it along its long axis during the pericarp extraction step, but the radicle was totally clear of this damage, so it was kept.
Here they are:
Here is a close up of one of them:
SCALE: 1 gap = 1/16 inch[/u]
Here is a close up of a different one (you can just make out the very faint separation between the two cotyledons…like a faint line drawn down the long axis):
These are now soaking in tap water. They will be left soaking for up to three days maximum, or less if any one of them decides to grow mould. I will be especially on the lookout for early signs of this moulding, as I am starting to notice that dried seed tolerates water soaking far less than fresh seed.
Today’s local weather forecast: 91F maximum, relative humidity ~70%…it is starting to cool down from a run of very hot days, thank goodness!!
Hi Don,
Ok, I will post these pix on HMF, if you think it is a good idea and they will like it?!
I am going to start a new run, so please refer to this link for continued discussion about WEC RUN # 3, R. gigantea:
Link: www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=34220&rc=0&ui=2829830532