6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) - a (non- scientific) experiment.

 WHAT IS BAP?

6-Benzylaminopurine, benzyl adenine, BAP or BA is a first-generation synthetic cytokinin that elicits plant growth and development responses, setting blossoms and stimulating fruit richness by stimulating cell division.

I came into contact with this when I grew orchids and I needed it to promote keikies (growths) on orchids flowering stems. It is mostly used on Phalaenopsis because they do this naturally and sometimes just pushing them making a keiki and not another stalk on a node. I had some success with it, but not "WOW" results. I used wool fat as to hold the Bap after dissolving it with
sodium hydroxide. I remember that it was suggested that it could be used to promote pupping on Tillandsia.

Loving to experiment I found the little bottle stashed away in a box and decided to experiment on Tillandsia. After dissolving a pinch of BAP in citric acid and then with 500ml of water, the experiment began!

I used two Tillandsia xerographica from the same source in flower. The plants were almost the same size also. This is when I recieved the plants in January 2018:

The plants in the Tillandsia house:


I sprayed the plant with the solution a few times a day and probably over a weeks time. I made sure that the whole plant was sprayed. This one was chosen for the experiment:

This is the control plant:

 

This is the control plant with one pup in April 2019. I also got one seed pod!

The treated plant also in April 2019.  9 pups formed on this plant, but they were much smaller than the control plant's pup.

I removed the pup on the control plant to hopefully get more pups.

This is the comparison between the removed pup and the ones on the treated plant in June 2019.

The treated plant in October 2019. I removed the two biggest pups.

4 more pups were removed in November 2019. The yellow powder is flowers of sulfur.

This is the treated plant in March 2020. It seems that the growth of the last 3 pups are  suppressed, because there is very little growth on them.

With no scientific certainty, I do believe that BAP promotes the forming of pups, but probably also act as a growth retardant. Will post pics of the pups that were removed, soon. 

30 March 2020:

One of the pups removed in November 2019 is pupping! It seems that the hormones has mixed up the plant normal growth pattern.

Any comments welcome.

Comment from

Richard King I have used 6BAP . I use it in my plant tissue culture lab to induce multiplication in orchids such as Cattleya and Oncidium - and have also done some trials on Tillandsia - 50mg/L applied weekly for ten weeks. I got amazing results - a tomaselli gave me 17 pups. The problem is that BA is very strong, and can cause growth defects and mutations (seldom if ever advantageous). Nature has checks and balances, and if it gives, it also takes - Plants have a very finely tuned balance between the different plant growth regulators (hormones).They act in synergy. For example, auxins at the apex of the plant suppress the activity of cytokinins in the axillary meristems - So the plant is a finely tuned clock, and throwing a lot of BA into the system is going to upset the balance. You may get deformed pups, or pups that flower prematurely. ie, it can send the plant into overdrive, almost like a cancer.

Comment from 

Frank Bezuidenhout 6BAP works well on Tillandsia but better on some species than other. Xerographica may not have been the best choice for it's extremely slow growth rate. It does however require a bit more science than a "pinch" dissolved on NaOH. It needs to be brought very accurately to a standard solution (1ml = 1mg) and neutralised with HCL before diluting to your required strength. I have never seen or heard of it applied 3 times a day over such a short period but rather at lower dosage 2 to 3 times a week for between 6 to 12 weeks depending on dosage selected. You have possibly hugely overdosed with what is essentially a growth tip retarder, which would explain your slow inferior growth of the test pups. Normally it is also applied to plants that have already done flowering. I have dabbled in 6BAP and had great success with plants like Cacticola for example with a seasonal growth cycle.......

Interesting how these double flowers were formed on Euphorbia milii Thai hybrid.

Removed two more pups from the mother plant. The one is a bit stunted, but it will survive. Now there is one pup left. The mother gave me 9 pups.....I think it is almost done.

Tillandsia xerographica - the king!

I got my first 2 end 2017.

Sunlight:             The location of the first two is under a shade net and tunnel plastic bringing the   sunlight down to about 65%.

Air movement: There is some natural air movement as well as a small fan moving the air from down below.

Temperature:     The grow area is not heated in winter and temperatures do go down to under 4 degrees Celsius. In summer temperatures can go to 42 degrees Celsius. I only water early mornings to prevent cold or heat damage.

Humidity:           In general our humidity is very low in summer and winter. I do have my grow area packed with plants, so the humidity inside is a bit higher inside. I do have plants outside and they survive the conditions.

Watering:          I water about 3 times a week in summer and once a week in winter. In winter I do empty the water gathering in the tanks(That is where the lower leaves are joined to the stem lower down catching water.) I use micro sprayers that is doing a great job in summer, but I am thinking of moving to a hand sprayer when the night and day temperatures goes below 4 and 15 degrees Celsius.

Fertilizing:       I try to fertilize every time I water using only organics(Seaweed and guano) at low concentrations. Once in a blue moon I will fertilize with Epsom salts.

This is where these two are hanging:

I got this one January 2018 and decided to grow it a little bit horizontally:

This one flowering in March 2020:

Lots of flowers means a lot of hybrids!

Some others:

Tillandsia flagellata - one of the best!

Beautiful species. The brilliantly red spike and bracts contrasts nicely with the deep violet colored flowers. The plant flowers in mass with three flashes. That would be the only drawback - if you forgot it, you missed it!

Tillandsia El Ranch - another king out there!

 Comparing Tillandsia El Rancho with Tillandsia Wacky Jacky Wen:

Tillandsia vernicosa "Purple Giant"

Tillandsia from seed.

Growing species and hybrids from seed is a lengthy process, but it is very easy to do.

To get seeds to grow them in an "orderly" manner, is not that easy! One would like to flower plants of which you know the parentage of, or if needed, a pure species.

With any hobby one will go overboard! In the beginning I pollinated everything with everything and now I got quite a few seedlings of which I do not know the parentage of.

Without going to deep into the mechanics of natural fertilization, most Tillandsia are self infertile - they need pollen from another plant to fertilize seed.

Most Tillandsia are also very "promiscuous" - they will hybridize easily with other Tillandsia or even with some other genera.. If one is really serious about hybridizing, one should prevent unwanted pollen to get on the stigma of the flower you are using.

Pollen = pollen parent
Stigma = seed parent

Why would one grow Tillandsia from seed?

• To get the rewarding feeling of creating something on your own and creating something extra ordinary.
• To get some rare hybrids that are not available to you.
• To combine the characteristics best of two species/hybrids.
• To make use of hybrid vigor to get bigger plants.
• To make some money or have plants for exchange.
• To keep your interest for the genera alive.

Why hybrids and not only species?

There are many debates going on when it comes to making hybrids. Personally I do like the species more, but there is nothing wrong with growing hybrids. One must remember that the genes of a species is captured within the hybrid- who knows when those genes are going to be needed one day. Tillandsia super species also have their place. If they are maintained and they are needed to re-establish a species in nature one day, they will save the day and they will eventually revert back to their original form.

In nature a lot of Tillandsia are pollinated by bats, rodents, birds and insects - sometimes they even have to destroy the flower to get to the nectar! But not all are so violent and this is also a way to get the pollen onto the stigma.

So how do we pollinate?

THE PARTS OF A FLOWER;

• The idea is to get the pollen onto "something" and transfer it to the stigma of another flower. And sometimes the stigma and/or the anthers are hidden within the flower. You can use toothpicks, sharply pointed paint brushes etc. I like to use home made "brushes" consisting of paint brush bristles, something to adhere it to, thread and glue to give the final touch. The pics will give you an idea.

• If there are enough flowers and the anthers are protruding.... and I really need to pollinate, I will sometimes take the whole flower and use it to transfer pollen onto the stigma of another flower.

• And it does seem that different species stigma is  not ready at the same time to receive pollen at the same time.  Stigma that is ready, becomes quite sticky. Doing the same fertilization more than ones a day may be a good practice.

• And if you are an serious breeder, you will have to do like natural pollinators do and "destroy" the flowers of plants that self pollinate. The pollen will have to be removed before pollination takes place and then the pollen of the other plant can be transferred to the stigma. The flowers are normally very small on these ones: "The self-pollinating (cleistogamous) Tillandsia subgenus is Diaphoranthama and it includes all the miniature species such as T. usneoides, T. capillaris, T. recurvata, T. angulosa, etc." -Paul T. Isley III (I have not done this myself.)

It will take weeks/ months for the seeds to grow out, and sometimes the seed capsule will stay hidden and then suddenly appears. Here is an example of a seed capsule in T. loliacea.

The trick is now to catch the seed - they will fly away in the wind if not caught in time. One can make a small net from nylon stockings or the like.   

If left to its own devices the pod will burst open and the fluffy seed caught. Sow them as soon as possible on something that will keep them set but dry of quickly. 

The natural way: 

Twigs

Bark

Lala palm seeds.

Or any other natural host. Cork works well also.

Other methods I use is nylon stockings stretched over wire. First kept horizontal and later I hang them vertically.

 A seed:

After spreading the seeds I use a spray bottle to wet them. The seeds swell out quickly and after a day or two in strong light - they start to photosynthesize.

Once they have germinated and the first two leaves visible, they are quite hardy. I only water mine when I water the bigger plants. They do love good air movement.

March 2020 - Did sow Tillandsia fasciculata (Central American Pink) seed today. I spread them dry and then spray them until they are very wet.

I do miss some seeds and when they have germinated and grown out a bit, I do remove them to small sticks. I also take seedlings riding along on bought plants and mount them always - who knows what these lucky packets will reveal!

This is my largest seedling. An unknown Tillandsia ionantha: