On 24-Apr-11, at 9:18 AM, Dennis Kramb wrote:
> Sarracenia hybridizers use to reduce the maturation time of young
> seedlings. One technique is to grow them under fluorescent lights
> 24/7/365, and it works!
There is a definite need to try to speed some rhododendron species up.
Seedlings grow slowly and can be very slow to mature. I'm still
waiting for flowers on some 40 year old seedlings.
For a few years I kept my hybrid seedlings under 24/7 fluorescents and
misted them daily. I used faster-flowering species as parents (even
when I was only 40, I didn't want to wait another 40 years for the
slow ones to flower, as I wanted to carry on for several rhodo
generations, and who knew whether my grandchildren would want to carry
on?)
The lights and constant hovering care did allow flowering within three
or four years (quicker than it takes some SIGNA seeds to just
germinate.)
Once iris do germinate, however, they grow too fast to keep under
lights for long, so I haven't tried it with iris.
I do start my iris inside and the greenhouse is full of hundreds of
seedlings (mostly PCIs) which will need to be planted out very soon.
Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate
mild rainy winters, mild dry summers
