My project is almost ready to start this week!
I will be hand pollinating heads on 20 flowering plants in the ’96 section of the CG with different species of foreign pollen and Echinacea pollen to simulate pollen loads arriving from generalist pollinators. The Echinacea pollen will be applied at the same time as the foreign pollen, 4 hours after, or not at all depending on the treatment. I should start painting bracts for the first flowers in the next couple of days. After discussing the pros and cons of different pollinator exclusion methods, I have decided I will use bags for the 20 plants in my study, and cages for the plants I will be taking pollen from frequently. All my plants now have blue flags in the CG. Ruth brought new paint for us to use, including a lovely new dark purple color. Thanks Ruth!
I have also decided to use 3 different foreign pollen donors and no mixes for my treatments. After some practicing collecting pollen from different species at the Landfill, here are the best species I have come up with that have easy to collect pollen:
Lead plant-Amorpha canescens-Fabaceae
False sunflower-Heliopsis helianthoides-Asteraceae
These are both common in the remnants and co-flower with Echinacea, hopefully sharing pollinators.
Other possibilities:
Coreopsis palmata-Asteraceae
Thistle-whichever is in flower?-Asteraceae
Prairie anemone-Anomone sp.-Ranunculaceae
Also, the bike gang is now 7 deep, so K-town betta watchout!
Allegra
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