HYB: seed experiments
- Subject: HYB: seed experiments
- From: L* M*
- Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 07:48:04 -0400
There is a lot to be said for just storing seeds and planting them
outdoors in the fall! The good news/bad news is that I have a bumper
crop of seed pods this year - around 50 went on to produce seeds, so I
have plenty to work with. However, trying to keep up with this many
pods, keeping labels straight, putting some in the fridge, nicking seed
coats on some, storing some, planting some outdoors, has turned a fun
hobby into a real pain. Definitely not worth it for a large number of
pods. I keep telling myself this is a one time only experiment....
A few observations - seed coats on fresh seeds are easy to scrape off
with a fingernail. Plump fat crisp brown seeds straight out of the pods
are almost too slick to handle easily - they have a tendency to leap out
of my hands onto the floor. Scraping off some of the seed coat reveals
a white seed.
On pods that have partially split, some of the seeds are already
starting to dry a bit. These are easier for me to handle. Scraping off
part of the seedcoat reveals a dark brown seed. Letting the fat crisp
fresh seeds dry for a day or two gives the same result.
I don't know the significance, if any, of the color change of the inner
seed (or what to call it - where's my intro botany book...)
The first batch of seeds planted outdoors are happily baking away in hot
wet sand that is cycling between 70 and 80oF. Watering every day. I'll
be surprised if these don't all rot.
Last year, after all the soaking & refrigerating, I removed seed coats
completely from a few seeds as I planted them - it didn't affect
germination percentage but did seem to make germination slightly more
uniform (too small a sample to tell much).
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
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