Re: Re: OT:CHAT-RE:BEN HAGER QUOTE

Patricia,
We sent a group of pictures to iris-photos, one of which has a picture of
our seedling.(sorry about the long download time ,you could go out for
coffee!)It is in the first group surrounded by California poppies. We
(husband Ken and I) looked at a close up of our seedling,and deep in the
throat was some tangerine coloring. We crossed it with an iris that had an
entire beard of tangerine so our seedling had very little considering the
cross.You may be on the right track using "My pretty Valentine"to achieve
your goal of an iris without a tangerine beard.
You asked about soil ,We use a soil prep recipe from hybridizer Richard
Richards(Amythest Winter).
"Soil preparation for my clay soil means gypsum at the rate of one pound per
square foot,peat moss at the rate of one cubic foot for every twenty-five
square feet of garden space,and alfalfa pellets (no salt added) at the rate
of one pound per square foot."
We use this formula and also broadcast some of the fertilizer we make and
the rototil all of this into the existing soil. HUSBAND USES A 25 POUND
MANTIS ROTOTILLER, EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE THIS LITTLE WONDER!!!
Fertilizer recipe: one part = a coffee can or whatever measuring device you
want to use!
5 parts Milorganite
2 parts cottonseed meal
2 parts ammonium sulfate(COLOR!!)
1 part superbloom (Bandini)
1 part superphosphate
1 part sulfate of potash
MIX IN A LAUNDRY BASKET SIZED, SOLID CONTAINER WITH A LID.
The only mistake we made was not to use both of the above recipes sooner!!!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
Christie and Ken Pierson JULIAN CA Zone 7/8


>Christie,
>
>I'm excited just hearing of your success!  Especially with My Pretty
>Valentine as pod parent.  That's one I've ordered for next season's
>planting, in the hope that it will be a good foundation plant for my
>goal of breeding pink TBs with other-than-tangerine beards.  Its
>picture, at least, looks like a true pink beard.  Is that what you've
>found?  And in your seedling?
>
>Also, I'd love to hear what your husband added to the soil to make it
>such a perfect medium for irises.  My mix has been topsoil, composted
>chicken manure, and a little lime.  But if there are other components
>I should add or substitute for the above, I'd love to hear of it.
>It's ridiculous how all my discretionary funds (such as they are) are
>getting spent on irises, but that's my priority right now.  And
>having spent so much on the cultivars, I surely want to make the most
>of them!
>
>Patricia Brooks
>patriciabrooks@coupeville.net
>
>
>
>
>--- In iris-talk@egroups.com, "Christie Pierson" <kenl12@a...> wrote:
>> Fred,
>> Thanks for the quote, I hope my iris passion lasts that long and
>that I'm around to enjoy it!!My husband and I have just started
>hybridizing . ( 3 years) We haven't set too many goals as yet , our
>first goal was to just get a cross to take. We had only one the first
>year ,My Pretty Valentine x Let's Boogie. Last year we had our first
>seedling bloom. OH THE EXCITEMENT!!!! We even took pictures of the
>stalk with no bloom ! It turned out to be a pretty,and vigorous
>pink . We were happy because we were told that" most of your new
>seedlings would be dogs"
>> From our experience of just getting ONE pod ,we thought that
>hybridizing was difficult, so the following year we crossed everthing
>in sight! Everything (almost) took! We planted all of the seeds and
>now have well over 300 seedlings took care for. One of the seedlings
>already had a maiden bloom in the first year in the fall of 2000!
>(The reverse plicata ,solid white falls ,talked about here before)
>> We have great increase as my husband , Ken , added so many good
>ingredients to the soil. Some of our seedlings are alot bigger than 2
>year clumps!
>> We have never looked forward to a bloom season more. We are
>especially excited about seeing our cross of Sweet Ballerina x
>Birthday Greetings as well as Diabolique x Lark Ascending(We were
>talking about crossing with whites a little while ago, now we will
>see).
>> I know 300 seedlings doesn't sound like alot to the hybridizers ,
>but we are already out of soil for dividing these babies!! UH OH !!
>> We will probably develope some hybridizing goals in time, but for
>now we are enjoying the PURE excitement if seeing our" babies " for
>the first time!
>> Christie Pierson , Julian Ca. San Diego County
>> Zone 7/8 alot colder than San Diego with snow still on the ground
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
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