4 ms·

Not the Firefly petunia. They were engineered to not grow from a seed so they don't accidentally spread

swayvil 2y ago
So they make infertile seeds. Well fudge. So cuttings or roots or whatever EDIT according to google they can be grown from seed. So experimentation is called for
ceejayoz 2y ago
Petunias don’t breed true, but people have gotten viable glowing seedlings from them. Might be a mess in 10-20 years when some inevitably escape.
- Auracle 2y ago
  We had one in a pot with another plant and it got out-competed hard. I doubt it’ll be an issue. It’s not like glowing is an evolutionary advantage.
  - Modified3019 2y ago
    Exactly. When’s the last time you’ve seen normal petunias being invasive. Firefly petunias need a lot of light. The entire plant (roots too) are literally burning precious energy 24/7 for the glowing. There seems to be a direct correlation between the light they receive and how long the internodes are from what I’ve seen putting them under grow lights. More light, shorter internodes. Here in the Pacific Northwest various worm (caterpillar) larvae also love shredding them and eating through seed pods, and they are susceptible to downy mildew complexes which seem to become persistent within the plant. They also are finicky about warmth, water and fertilizer. They are a princess of a plant, not the next kochia or pigweed. Honestly it would be more viable to take invasive weeds and hamper them by introducing glow genes.
    - ceejayoz 2y ago
      I’m not surprised they don’t do that well in the PNW. It’s nothing like their home range. Florida might be another story. I can’t imagine we have much research on the benefits of glowing plants in the wild, either.
      - mystified5016 2y ago
        I'd guess you'd see a significant hit to insect populations and boost to predators as their hiding places become a backlight.
        Modified3019 2y ago
        A bit of a tangent, one thing I observed is that petunias are fairly sticky to the touch, even if it's not really visible. While larger insect like loopers and cutworms are fine, small weak flying insects can get caught. Both harmful fungus gnats and helpful parasitic wasps (which would normally attack worm larvae) can get caught on the leaves.
- pentamassiv 2y ago
  Wow, I stand corrected. I thought I read it in their FAQs but the site changed or maybe I remembered it wrong. That is great to hear though. This makes them way more interesting to me
Modified3019 2y ago
This is outright not true, and I’m not sure where this rumor came from. Source: I have firefly petunias, I have seeds from hand pollenating them, and I have volunteer plants growing in the pot from seed I didn’t collect. They are simply not guaranteed to glow because they don’t breed true. 3 out of my 5 volunteer plants glow. Light Bio is actually pleasantly realistic in how amenable they are to non-commercial breeding. I may have even seen pollination instructions on their instagram (normally certain moths pollenate petunias, and without those you need to do so by hand yo be sure seeds take) You can see some crossbreeding results in https://old.reddit.com/r/FireflyPetunia/ https://old.reddit.com/r/FireflyPetunia/

So they make infertile seeds. Well fudge. So cuttings or roots or whatever EDIT according to google they can be grown from seed. So experimentation is called for

ceejayoz 2y ago

Petunias don’t breed true, but people have gotten viable glowing seedlings from them. Might be a mess in 10-20 years when some inevitably escape.

Auracle 2y ago
We had one in a pot with another plant and it got out-competed hard. I doubt it’ll be an issue. It’s not like glowing is an evolutionary advantage.
- Modified3019 2y ago
  Exactly. When’s the last time you’ve seen normal petunias being invasive. Firefly petunias need a lot of light. The entire plant (roots too) are literally burning precious energy 24/7 for the glowing. There seems to be a direct correlation between the light they receive and how long the internodes are from what I’ve seen putting them under grow lights. More light, shorter internodes. Here in the Pacific Northwest various worm (caterpillar) larvae also love shredding them and eating through seed pods, and they are susceptible to downy mildew complexes which seem to become persistent within the plant. They also are finicky about warmth, water and fertilizer. They are a princess of a plant, not the next kochia or pigweed. Honestly it would be more viable to take invasive weeds and hamper them by introducing glow genes.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    I’m not surprised they don’t do that well in the PNW. It’s nothing like their home range. Florida might be another story. I can’t imagine we have much research on the benefits of glowing plants in the wild, either.
    - mystified5016 2y ago
      I'd guess you'd see a significant hit to insect populations and boost to predators as their hiding places become a backlight.
      - Modified3019 2y ago
        A bit of a tangent, one thing I observed is that petunias are fairly sticky to the touch, even if it's not really visible. While larger insect like loopers and cutworms are fine, small weak flying insects can get caught. Both harmful fungus gnats and helpful parasitic wasps (which would normally attack worm larvae) can get caught on the leaves.
pentamassiv 2y ago
Wow, I stand corrected. I thought I read it in their FAQs but the site changed or maybe I remembered it wrong. That is great to hear though. This makes them way more interesting to me

Modified3019 2y ago

This is outright not true, and I’m not sure where this rumor came from. Source: I have firefly petunias, I have seeds from hand pollenating them, and I have volunteer plants growing in the pot from seed I didn’t collect. They are simply not guaranteed to glow because they don’t breed true. 3 out of my 5 volunteer plants glow. Light Bio is actually pleasantly realistic in how amenable they are to non-commercial breeding. I may have even seen pollination instructions on their instagram (normally certain moths pollenate petunias, and without those you need to do so by hand yo be sure seeds take) You can see some crossbreeding results in https://old.reddit.com/r/FireflyPetunia/ https://old.reddit.com/r/FireflyPetunia/