Re: Francelle's Pond Lily X Celebration Song (was: "no subject")

Francelle and I e-mailed about her problem with this cross off-line and she
tells me that there were eighteen that germinated, all deformed in the same
manner--bent over and very slow growth.  When she set out her seedlings, the
other crosses were right beside this one, were normal and transplanted well.
The cross in question had germinants that were very small and did not survive
being set out.

The presence of normal, healthy seedlings beside this cross seems to rule out
a herbicide problem.  I would have expected others to be affected in the same
way if a herbicide were involved.

The fact that all of the seedlings were equally affected does not sound like a
genetic problem to me.  I would expect  that if there were a near-lethal
situation between Pond Lily and Celebration Song it not only would have
appeared before elsewhere in other places, other crosses, and would not have
been uniformly expressed by all eighteen germinants.  There would have been
some kind of probability distribution since both parents are alive, healthy
and definitely cannot be homozygous for a lethal gene.

Something else has to be at work here, I would think.

There are things that could have affected one pot or container and not those
around it.  Not all "chemicals" are human applied herbicides.  Could any
animal activity--such as animal waste being dropped in this pot--account for
the condition described?  I doubt it.

Some potting soils contain pre-emergent herbicides.  Francelle--did this pot
have exactly the same potting mix or soil your other crosses did?  I don't
know what damage from pre-emergents might look like, but my imagination
suggests a large seed like an iris seed would have a limited capacity to at
least *try* to germinate and grow even with their presence.  Do any on
Iris-talk have experiences that relate to this?

Dorothy's suggestion to try the cross over again is a good one.  It certainly
sounds like an interesting and probably worth while cross to make.  If the
exact same problem were to occur again, and you know for certain the pot was
free of chemicals, the potting mix was one ok for germinating seeds, or else
garden soil or some other medium you know for certain to be free of chemicals
that could poison a plant, then the explanation would have to be with the
seeds, not the medium.  My guess is that you would have no problem at all with
the second try.

I'm not being especially helpful, am I.  I am mystified.

Neil Mogensen  z 7  western NC

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