RE: Re: HYB: Seed starting

Linda,
	I did not pre-soak.  Just took the dried seeds out of their envelopes and
put them into the perlite.  For me the advantage to this method is that it
works better.  I used this method with some old seed this spring and had
above average germination then too, just not quite this fast.  The big
reason I would not just put the perlite into the baggies is that the foam
containers provide structure for the perlite.  The way it shifts and smushes
around I would be worried about damaging the roots when you handled the
baggies without that structure.
What seeds do you consider need pre-chilling?  I have TB crosses and AB
crosses germinating from this technique now and the seeds tested in the
spring were SDB's, IB's and BB's.    I have been told by several
"hybridizers" that they are currently working without any chilling in their
programs.  I wonder how much really is required?

Dana

Dana Brown
AIS Region 17 Judges Training Chairperson
Director TBIS
AIS, ASI, MIS, RIS, SPIS, TBIS
Malevil Gardens
Lubbock, TX
Zone 7 USDA, Zone 10 Sunset
ddbro@llano.net





-----Original Message-----
From: owner-iris@hort.net [o*@hort.net]On Behalf Of Linda
Mann
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 7:18 AM
To: iris- talk
Subject: [iris] Re: HYB: Seed starting

Dana, did you pre-soak the seeds?

Also, what advantages do you see to using perlite vs doing the same
'routine' with paper towel burritos?  Can you see any reason not to just
use perlite inside of baggies instead of rigid plastic containers?

I got behind on my soaking/chilling this year and wound up just wrapping
the knotted stockings in damp paper towels as they came out of the
toilet tank, then stuffing the whole damp mass into a big baggie in the
fridge.  Then I unknotted stockings and rewrapped in individual damp
paper towel burritos whenever I got around to it.

Your approach sounds like a great way to get a jump start with seeds
from crosses that don't require any pre-chilling to germinate, but it
delays another month without germination to the ones that do need
chilling.

Or maybe being damp at room temperature for a month would shorten the
time needed by the ones that do require chilling?  Is that the theory?

--
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>
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