HY:Do I Plant Them? (Was Drying seed)

In a message dated 6/7/2003 2:12:05 PM Central Standard Time, 
showtime@bbtel.com writes:

> you only plant 25 seeds from a cross at a time?
> Routinely? As a practice?  Why?
> 
Christian, I'm going to take another shot at this one. No, I don't routinely 
do this, but there are instances in which I have and will.  I have done this 
with a line building formula.  (Designed for limited time and space.)  Simply 
put, you select the 4 best plants that are in the direction you want to 
hybridize.  In crosses A X B and C X D you would plant a limited amount of seed.  The 
best children from each would be crossed ((A x B) X (C x D)) with as many 
seedlings as possible planted out and evaluated.  You could do this to create 
your own line: laced line, pink line, blue line, purple plicata line, etc.

Again, if I want to 'include' certain genes into a line, BUT I don't expect 
to find anything worthwhile in the first generation I might cross one flower.  
But then, that flower might not take so I'd need others for 'backup?'  Also, 
my obsessive compulsive trait  extends to applying pollen!  ;-) This might 
result in a lot of seed I don't really need.  I COULD leave most of the seed in 
the envelope. Depends a lot on how much space I have to devote to seedlings. Not 
much any more.

My solution (usually) is to plant all of the seed and line out only the 
strongest!  Strength is one of the current criteria for my line. Sometimes, the 2nd 
year sprouts prove to be just as strong as the 1st year.  If I still have the 
pots (I do) I have the option of selecting the strong ones as they appear.  
People say you throw away a lot of pretty iris this way and I'm sure that's 
true.  Goals have to be defined and redefined as you go.  

Betty W. from South-central KY zone 6 . . . busy planting seedlings into cups 
in the shade!  

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