Re: HYB: orange

Thanks Chuck - that's the info I was looking for, rather than specific
suggestions (tho I really do appreciate your ideas, Neil - for future
generations of crosses).

Like Betty, I'm not necessarily trying for any F1 successes.

Unlike Betty, I am still far down at the bottom of the ladder developing
breeding stock that I hope to use to eventually get somewhere useful.
So I'm looking more at F3 (or F27 <g>) results.   My interest is not so
much in producing an orange flowered seedling as it is in choosing a
mate that won't knock out <any> chance of a surprise recessive showing
up down the line.  While .00716 probability is not good odds, it's
better than zero <g>  Not breeding <for> high probabilities of any
color, but not wanting to eliminate possibilities.

There are way too many undesirable traits in that half orange seedling
to want to breed it with an orange (i.e., there aren't any good ones
healthy enough to survive and be fertile here), lack of easy fertility
being the worst.  But it is half IMMORTALITY, so I figure is worth
trying a few crosses.  It has good health, branching & bud count, the
form isn't a total disaster, but that's about all the good stuff.  Bads
include foliage out of proportion to stalk height (either the foliage is
too big or the stalks are too short or both), very low stalk/fan ratio,
poor substance, narrow.

Orange pollen parent is a reliable bloomer, but prone to rot, relatively
slow grower, not summer crud resistant, not very fertile.  Its sibs
(also apricot orange) are much nicer but have small flowers.

This year, in spite of repeated attempts with all kinds of stuff, I have
only two pods from it (none in preceeding years).  One is from STUNNING
(<what> was I thinking?? - it does produce lots of highly fertile
pollen....), the other from Betty's GILDED CREAM, another one that is
stubborn about fertility here.

But GILDED CREAM has better width and substance, plus is a heavy bloomer
if it isn't freeze damaged, makes a nice clump - all improvements on the
yucky brown seedling.  GC = ICE SCULPTURE X GOLD BURST, no obvious t's
there, & I don't know the yellows to know if the 'right' one for orange
is in the background of either.  FIGURINE (pedigree of ICE SCULPTURE) is
the only tangerine that I found in a quick look.

I've been making a <lot> of crosses of tttt (pinks) on HARVEST OF
MEMORIES, mostly older stuff because that's all that will make pollen
here.  HoM does <not> have the right yellow pigments to make
pink/orange, and is <very> good at producing ugly children, but I'm
hopeful that somewhere down the line, I can work back and forth with the
occasional lucky seedling and improve the odds a bit.

If not, at least I'm getting a lot of reliable non-rotting bloom.

I would <much> rather be making these tttt crosses onto IMMORTALITY, but
she is <so> stingy with bloom here, I'm lucky if I get more than a dozen
blooms, in spite of having it planted everywhere.  And never any pollen.

<Orange requires tttt plus the alternative yellow which is a recessive
as well.  Both parents will need the genes for this. Can use a yellow
with red beard with an orange. Will be tough bringing it back from a
half orange x half orange as the probability will be 1/36 x 1/36 or
.07716 percent. Not good odds.                 Chuck Chapman>
--
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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