Re: HYB: germination - numbers

More numbers - this is first year seedlings (last summer's pods).

70 different crosses.

5 had no germination.

4 were shelled & dried before planting or burrito'ing
The curious ones are the 8 that germinated very late outdoors after ~4 months in fridge, 2 months on the sunporch, and another ~3 months outdoors. These germinated long after I'd completely given up on them. 

Two were sdlng x sdlng
One was CA x ?
One was sdlng X OR
One was IMM X OZ
One was MATRIX X shadlow sdlng (CA X OR)
One was OR X OZ

Both CA were GOLDEN IMMORTAL.
Number of seedlings from all of these was very low. When I potted them, the seeds were still hard and healthy looking.
The only thing I can think of to explain this bunch is that somehow I managed to trick a few seeds from these into thinking it was year two, and there wasn't any year one germination. Or else I somehow damaged them and they just hadn't gotten around to rotting yet. Or somehow triggered them into really deep dormancy.
Mode percent germination seems to be less than 50%, with several closer to 80%, several closer to 30%, several a lot less than that. Based on past experience, I expect second year germination to give final percent around 60 to 90% for most crosses. High enough to suit me. Let me know if anybody wants to see the actual %.
4 were gifts from others - they were dried and shelled when I got them. Burrito'd three, planted the other one (a bee mix of two pods from HoM from a Netherlands friend of Loic) outdoors. 

Results from dried seeds:
HoM X ? 35/85
IMM X HIGH CHAPARRAL (OR) 42/78
BUSHWHACK (OR) X FALL ENTERPRISE (CA) 3/23
BROKEN HEARTED (OR) X DECADENCE (OZ) 10/22

Highest seedling percentage was 8/11 - IMM X IMM sdlng.
Greatest # seedlings was 88/225, HoM X CA. These were kept in the fridge for 4+ months -33 germinated after 3 months & were big enough to line out before TBs started blooming, the 2nd and third wave are still in pots. I think the rest are still in the fridge - maybe I'll try planting some of them and see if they can germinate in the house in front of the AC.
First pods were ripe a couple of weeks ago, others since, only 4 left and they are very close. 2 months from July 1 is Sept 1. It can be in the 90s here in Sept., even occasional 80s into Dec. So that's why I used to leave them for 3 months. How many minutes above 72oF can seeds take without totally reversing all the good of chilling? That probably depends on how much CA influence there is, but I'm not taking any chances. On purpose ;-)
When we have an early, cool fall (i.e., <not> last year!), I can pot them up and put them outdoors, then bring them indoors when temps get below freezing. Sun porch is on the southeast side of the house, so have to be careful not to let them get too warm.
<If you harvest your seeds in July-August, then 2-3 months of chilling, would put you into October-November>. 

Linda Mann
TN

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