Content
- Oleander breed - own new varieties pull with fun and success
- Fertilize oleander flowers properly
- Rip pods and collect seeds
- Sow oleander seed
- Tips
Young oleanders need more care
Oleander breed - own new varieties pull with fun and success
There are numerous Oleandersorten and always new ones come into the trade. You can choose the most beautiful from this large selection - or you can go on the adventure "plant breeding" yourself. It's not that complicated at all, because all you need is at least two different oleander bushes.
Fertilize oleander flowers properly
Oleander flowers are hermaphrodite, d. H. both female and male, which is why any oleander is suitable for breeding. Actually, it is even sufficient to pollinate the flowers of one plant among each other, but foreign genetic material from a second increases firstly the fertilization rates and secondly the varieties resulting from the semen. So take at least two oleander bushes with as many flower buds as possible. Watch them closely, because as soon as they open, grab a fine brush and transfer the pollen from the flowers of one plant to another and vice versa. Professional breeders still pack the hand-fertilized flowers so that they are not accidentally pollinated by insects. However, this measure is not necessary in the hobby area.
Rip pods and collect seeds
Whether your efforts have been successful will only be apparent after flowering: If the oleander forms elongated fruits, there is a high probability that the fertilization has worked. Now, however, follows the more difficult part, because in our climate, the pods often do not mature, which is why the seeds contained therein are not suitable for sowing. So make sure that the oleander fruits can reach maturity, for example by placing them in the warm and bright conservatory in the cooler autumn. If you do not have one, so does the living room. However, it is important that it is not only warm, but also bright - the light coming in through the window is not enough in autumn, so attaching plant lamps makes sense. Once the pods are ripe, you can collect the seeds and sow immediately. Mature oleander fruits are brown, appear dry and eventually burst of their own accord.
Sow oleander seed
First let the collected seeds soak in lukewarm water for about 24 hours. Only then does the sowing take place on nutrient-poor cultivation soil, whereby the seeds should either not be covered at all or only very thinly with sieved earth. Keep the substrate slightly damp and make sure the tray is in a light and warm place. A cover or a room greenhouse increases the chances that the seeds actually germinate.
Tips
However, at the earliest after three years you will learn whether you have actually bred new varieties and what has actually come out of your experiments: For then the young oleander plants will bloom for the first time.