Re: HYB: dried up pod stalks
- Subject: Re: HYB: dried up pod stalks
- From: L* M*
- Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 15:49:37 -0400
Most mysterious - maybe it is some form of rot that starts in wet
weather, then when it turns hot and dry like it is now, dries up and
becomes brown and brittle. ??. The pods are still green, if a bit pale,
so I'm assuming the seeds can still get nourishment from the pod and
small amount of green stalk tissue attached. They aren't starting to
split yet.
I hadn't really thought about it much - several years ago, somebody on
this list with a big hybridizing operation (Mike Sutton? Rick Tasco? or
maybe a description of what Cooley's does?) said they always harvested
their stalks before the pods were fully ripe and kept them in dry, empty
buckets in the garage for the last week or so to make sure they didn't
miss the ones that fell over. At least that's what I thought they
said. So....
I have two such stalks in front of me, each with two pods.
The lower 2/3 of the one I brought in yesterday is still green and
normal looking, above that it is a stringy, dried up brown stalk (like a
typical winter dead weed stalk) for about 8 inches, then the 2 inch
branch where the two seed pods are attached is green and alive looking,
and the pods look fine - maybe starting to shrivel a bit, but still pale
green. Both were pollinated 5/5/2002. The stalk broke over just above
the green part.
The other stalk has been in the window sill longer and is now brown and
dry from the ground up to one of the pods. The other pod is at the end
of a 2 inch long green healthy looking branch. The pod on the dried
branch (pollinated 5/1/2002) is starting to turn brown, while the other
is still dark green (pollinated 5/6/2002). This stalk broke over about
half way up & was green on the lower half at the time.
Another one just broke over yesterday, also where it has turned brown.
It is still propped up on adjacent iris-leaves, where I will leave it
until I feel like it needs to come indoors also (??maybe I've been
bringing them in when I think they are going to get soaked in the
rain?? not been paying attention to that decision).
I had no idea this kind of browning of stalks was unusual.
Betty in KY said:
<How is the pod to get nourishment if the stalk isn't alive? Just meant
I'd never had any dry up, turn completely brown, or collapse to the
point of snapping or breaking, unless there is rot, of course. And I'm
thinking you mean spontaneous? Maybe I harvest quicker. I tend to
harvest the pods when I first notice the pod start to split.>
--
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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