Re: HYB: ?date last germination/frost

Thanks Donald in Texas (and John in CA - always interesting to keep in
mind how different these hybridizing environments are!).

In the past, when I was planting seeds outdoors (getting about 4%
germination and taking 6 years to see seedlings bloom the first time),
seems like most seeds germinated over a fairly long period of time -
maybe a month?  Some crosses were mostly earlier than others, some
crosses germinated one at a time.  They seem to show the same variation
among crosses indoors.  After about a month, they stopped germinating.

Germination rates this winter have ranged from 0 (a few pods) to around
50%.  Most were around 10 to 30%.  Additional germinating seeds from
last year's seed crop raised percentages for last year - about equal
numbers of seeds from the 'good' germinators during the first and second
year.

Night time temperatures on the sun porch were always above freezing
while seeds were germinating, often in the 40s, rarely above 50F.

Our nighttime temperatures won't be consistently above 50F for at least
another month.  It will be interesting to see if any more of these
germinate now that they are outdoors getting some more chilling.

Betty (and others) - I haven't intentionally mulched seed flats indoors
or out in the past, but have added that to the routine now.  It will
certainly help keep temperature and moisture levels more consistent.

Donald Eaves in Texas said:
<Usually they quit when our night temp get consistantly above 50F. >

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index