Re: HYB: seed germination

Chris - only one of my crosses (the only SDB X TB pod) germinated in the
fridge.   Those are the biggest babies now - enormous! <g>

I was trying to hustle mine through more than one chilling cycle over
the winter, so didn't leave any in the fridge for consecutive 3 months
this winter.  The cumulative germination was about the same after two
short cycles of chilling as if I'd just left them in for three straight
months, but this way, I do have one early batch of seedlings that are a
lot bigger than the second batch.  Many more germinated in the second
batch (2 chilling cycles) than the first .

The disadvantage to this is that the later ones are a month behind where
they would have been if I'd let them chill for three months instead of 2
months, then a month out of the fridge, then another month back in the
fridge.

The advantage is that they aren't all ready to plant at the same time
<g>

Time will tell whether or not there will be another flush of germination
now that they are outdoors getting some additional chilling.

My overall germination rate is lower than what you have, but like you, I
am thrilled to have such big seedlings this early in the year and
delighted to actually get to see some of last year's seedlings forming
stalks already.

I did get 100% germination from one cross: reblooming seedling:
(IMMORTALITY x CELEBRATION SONG) X WHO'S YOUR DADDY produced one seed
and it germinated <g>

I also planted 4 pods outdoors the 'normal' way.  The germination rate
was a bit higher in 2 pots than the average for the indoor ones, lower
in the other two.  As soon as these started coming up, I moved them
indoors to the sun room, and with the extra warmth, I hope some of these
will get big enough to line out before hot weather hits also.  Sure
would be nice not to have to carry seedlings over through the summer in
pots!

--
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