HYB:REB:Early Bloom (seedling leftovers?, drought)

Early bloom and rebloom may be connected in many or even most rebloomers.? Not all!

Star Gate, which Linda listed in her post, is not necessarily an early bloomer in my gardens, when you compare it to my other rebloomers.? In 2006, my first cross was on April 22.? It began with my reblooming red seedlings, plicatas, and rebloomers.? I made no crosses with Star Gate until May 5.? I waited impatiently!?? I had a huge planting that year and would have made crosses with it earlier if I'd had blooms.? I recommend using it as a pollen parent.? 

<<I know this business about early bloom being linked to rebloom is "common wisdom",>>
I do believe that the tendency to plant only the strongest (and pitching the rest) has led to this trend.? When I grow all of a cross, as I've done with Innocent Star children and several others, I've learned that some of the later season?bloomers will also rebloom.

Strong plants, as exhibited in?fast, strong growth in foliage, seems to be connected to rebloom.? 

I have seen rebloom in weaker seedlings.? They often die.? They definitely are not selected for introduction.? I've thrown out some pretty rebloomers because they just don't increase enought to enjoy or introduce.

I could narrow the search for rebloom?to a much smaller plot of ground by ONLY planting those seedlings that have very strong roots, with many feeder roots, at planting time!? Truly!? But, I'd lose out on a lot of beautiful irises and some rebloomers.? Still, it would make for an interesting bed!? 

Story:? (True)?In 1998 I gave up irises and moved to a very small yard.? At the end of the moving process, my love of?the seedling project kicked in. ? I went to the latest bed of grown up seedlings and dug the strongest of each cross.? These included Radiant Bliss, Theme Master, Another Bridge, etc..?The most I saved was 5 from the 1504 cross (blue bearded white line.) Three of them rebloomed.? In other crosses, I saved 3 or less per cross.? Almost all rebloomed.? Three saved?from the Jessie Song X Earl of Essex cross, and all fall bloomed.? The prettiest bloomed short until I moved out here.? It would be hard to find a stronger iris.? 

Then, I went to the bed of the years before (13 & 14 series) and dug Star Gate, Tara's Choice, Memphis Miss and a sibling?& Vanishing Act.? SG & TC had already fall bloomed.? VA had won an EC and MM & it's sibling were simply "perfect."? 

One of my spring projects is to "save" the genes from 1912 (Lemon Reflection x Next Millennium.)??There were NO takes with a dozen or so in their maiden bloom.??All of the seedlings had great substance, good height?and good branching.? The standards were all open, the colors pale and washed out,?and form was a bit more retro than I would have liked.? None rebloomed and none will be introduced, but I plan to save a couple of the strongest and take it a generation or so further.?

My definition of strong (as it pertains to this post)?is good looking foliage with strong roots?and good growth.??In most cases they turn out to have good disease resistance, also, but not always.? 

Betty W/zone 6/KY/Bridge In Time Gardens/

-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Mann <lmann@lock-net.com>
To: iris@hort.net
Sent: Sat, 5 Apr 2008 5:53 am
Subject: [iris] Re: HYB: seedling leftovers?, drought


According to NOAA, east TN is "showing improvement" in the seasonal drought outlook.?
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html?
?
We are still D3, Extreme Drought conditions, but the distance from me to ?D1, Moderate Drought is getting a tiny bit closer on the map. I suspect this week's rain will move us to at least D2. Looks like KY is no longer experiencing drought.?
http://www.drought.unl.edu/DM/monitor.html?
?
Betty asked:?
<Linda, when I look at the regional and national weather maps, it appears that you are on the south east edge of the systems that park over us.>?
?
Not sure where we are for <this> year, but it doesn't much matter for long term (i.e., this year's growing season). I think we wound up at around 30 inches for last year, compared to "average" of 45 or 50? I've lost track of what the current average is. Used to be around 60 inches.?
?
<How is your current rainfall in comparision to the "average?"? For the year?? >?
?
The Miracle Gro bed from last fall, packed tight with storebought rhizomes sure was convenient. But I wish I knew more about how that would work in the long term before using it for 'warehousing' seedlings.?
?
<My experience with Miracle Grow beds is limited.>?
?
This is more or less what I've been doing also. In November, some of my poor babies were still in the 4 inch germination pots I use. Needless to say, they weren't very big by the time I got the last of them moved to bigger pots. Depending on the size, I've been putting up to 15 leftover seedlings in 3 or 4 gallon pots.?
?
Loic, I fill these big pots about half full of fresh horse manure, then fill in to the top with half and half re-used "dirty perlite" and decomposed manure from older pots.?
?
Betty said:?
<My seedlings have always been held over in the same mum pots where they germinate.? ... Some have gone on to put up stalks and bloom in those germination pots.? ....?Three surviving seedlings were planted in 13 inch pots, one each.? ...?
?
With noted exceptions, I plant the strongest looking 12 seedlings from each cross.?? ...The rest go back in pots or stay in the pot depending on whether I "lift" the strongest in a large group, or break up the entire clump.? ..With multiple pots, I plant from one pot and allow the others to grow undisturbed.??
?
...Around labor day, I?transplanted the strongest of several of those into the 13 inch pots.? Most have several increases now and look good.? As to bloom, we'll have to wait and see.? >?
?
and Loic said:?
?
<Of course i replant the biggest too, and , of course, they are the ones who?
came first and had more time to grow: when 12 have been planted, too bad for?
the others...! (not even left in the pots but thrown on the compost heap.?
might keep them now, with you saying they can survive in their pots; i might?
even replant them as a bulk into a bigger pot with richer soil.)>?
?
Loic, I know this business about early bloom being linked to rebloom is "common wisdom", but I don't believe it. All I've found in my late freeze prone location is that "early bloom" is linked to no bloom at all! (i.e., frozen out). This does seem to be the habit of many (most?) cycle rebloomers, which is why I don't have much interest in them. But I do have a lot of rebloomers that are not frozen out, or bloom over a long enough time period that later stalks survive. I guess most of these are either "summer" bloomers or have that potential in good growing conditions (IMM, VIOL MIRACLE, BELVI QUEEN, RENOWN, STAR GATE etc). The only really reliable cycle rebloomer here that comes to mind is HARVEST OF MEMORIES.?
?
However, the <foliage> on these early germinants does tend to be fairly freeze tolerant.?
?
I wonder if the theory that early germination is linked to rebloom has come from breeders doing what you've been doing - throwing away the later germinants.?
?
<I imagine after several generations with this system, only the early genes?
might be selected.?
But they should also be resitant to early frost, since these early ones have?
been through a very cold start.?
And as well as selecting for early + tough, maybe i's also a way to select?
more rebloom genes, since rebloomers seem to be early ones.>?
-- Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8?
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.DiscoverET.org/etis>?
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