dutchmans pipevine

My aristolochia, or dutchman's pipevine has bloomed all summer with one flower after another. The blooms are huge, larger then my hand. However, with all the blooms, I only got one seed pod. Is there a secret to pollinating these flowers?

Rylaff,

I have Dutchman pipe, white with dark spots. Mine has also bloomed all summer, so far I have picked 3 dry pods & 3 green pods still on vine. With all my
blooms I should of had more seeds. Maybe all the rain we have had on the Mississippi Gulf
Coast. I am really disappointed
in the number of seed pods too.

Honeybee

Wow, Rylaff, that is a beautiful plant!

Rylaff, I even tried hand pollinating and not much success that way either. I have two unrelated A. gigantea plants, thought that would help. Didn't matter, still no seeds. Mine are still loaded with flowers and I keep hoping they will set a few pods.
My A. elegans sets all kinds of pods, but not the gigantea.

This is another beauty. My vine was huge but the move killed it so will try again next spring.

i had one this summer. it bloomed once and thats it. no other blooms just foliage. i might try to over winter it and see what happens. i think it was the rain. bad summer for flowers.

From what I have read on this, it needs a least 4 Hr's of sunlight to bloom...Information on this plant seems to be scarce so I havn't found enough to answer any of my questions... Anyone have links to info on this plant? I am intrested in growing this if I can get it to Flower, but don't want just leaves...got enough of them already...

after thought:

maybe we need ants for this one to polinate??.. LOL :o)

well i got plenty of ants. they are on one of my mgs at the moment. maybe they will help it bloom. i got plenty of greenery too. hehe

Rylaff,
You are really starting to tick me off! LOL I think we need the forums split by zone so us with zone envy cannot see stuff like this! Gorgeous plant but I didn't admit to that. :)

No, I think it is pollinated by flies......
http://gardenbed.com/source/7/654_cul.asp

This is a cut and paste that I extracted from a cyber-book..

The Dutchman's Pipe has a tubular leaf that wraps around its flower. This leaf is coated with wax. Certain insects are attracted by the strong odor of the flower and land on the leaf. As soon as an insect does, it slides down its slippery sides into a chamber at the bottom. There, the ripe stigmas receive the pollen that the insect brought with it, and pollination takes place.

Three days then pass by with the insect trapped by hairs near the bottom and the wax farther up the sides. After that, the flower's own pollen ripens—and dusts the insect. As soon as that happens, the imprisoning hairs wilt and the waxed slide of the funnel—like flower bends over until it is nearly level. The insect now walks out with his supply of pollen—and flies off to do it again. One might think that the insect could starve living like that, but all the while it is inside the flower it is feeding on a feast of stored nectar.

http://evolution-facts.org/2evlch12.htm