Re: SPEC: Iris from seed

Hello.  Just wanted to drop you a line regarding your letter.  I found it very interesting and thought provoking.

glmichaelis@man.net
"Perennially in Trouble" in Warren, Manitoba, Canada.
Owner of Great Landscapes. USDA Zone 3 - 5.
Chairwoman of the NALS International Seed Exchange.
Manager of the NALS' Lilium-L

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> From: pwoodward <pwoodwar@rapidnet.net>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <iris-l@rt66.com>
> Subject: SPEC: Iris from seed
> Date: Wednesday, July 09, 1997 9:04 PM
> 
> A couple of years ago we began growing Iris species from the West
> Coast and eastern Asia. All our plants are from seed and most of that
> seed is wild-collected. We have noticed that some spp. grow faster
> and look fuller than others, but until now we have assumed that
> shorter or spindlier plants represent spp. that are just different,
> or perhaps later-maturing. A note by Adele and Lewis Lawyer, however,
> makes us wonder if some of these plants might not be a trifle inbred.
> The note is in the current Almanac of the Society for Pacific Coast
> Native Iris and here is an extract:
> 
> "This year we grew ... 37 pure [PCNI] species seedlings (now 2nd-year
> clones). Of these, by far the poorest growers were the species which
> had been grown from seed collected in the wild where they had
> interbred for centuries. This weakness is very apparent in clones up
> to 6 years of age which are still just barely hanging on, and in the
> fact that less than half of the 37 species seedlings lived to see
> their second year. Interspecies crosses made by Gene Loop performed
> normally even though both of the parents were weak, and several
> clones of species from garden-grown seed are growing like mad. 
> 
> "I don't know if others have found this to be true, but it does sound
> reasonable that plants from seed gathered in the wild where all the
> surrounding plants were related, would lack hybrid vigor. I remember
> that one of the two inbreds that produced Del Monte's prize sweet
> corn hybrid was so weak that it was a major production problem. In
> our planting of named varieties and pure species, the difference was
> startling. At the end of the first year all the named clones had
> clumped with leaves a foot or so long while the best species plant
> had three 4-inch leaves." 
> 
> Comments from geneticists and growers would be most welcome. I must
> say that we have had excellent germination and have lost very few
> seedlings between years 1 and 2. It is true, though, that while II.
> setosa and ensata are threatening to take over the nursery, lots of
> our
> 2nd-year PCNI plants are only 4-6 inches tall. 
> 
> Paige Woodward
> pwoodwar@rapidnet.net
> Pacific Rim Native Plants
> On top of Chilliwack Mountain in southwestern British Columbia
> Wet Zone 6
> 
> 
>
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