Re: Re:Re: HYB: pod ripening/germination

   I take it that plicatas can be tricky to germinate?


David










---
On Fri, 6/19/09, irischapman@aim.com <irischapman@aim.com> wrote:

> From:
irischapman@aim.com <irischapman@aim.com>
> Subject: [iris] Re:Re: HYB: pod
ripening/germination
> To: iris@hort.net
> Date: Friday, June 19, 2009, 1:54
PM
> John and Mike and all
> 
> When you put your seeds in pots outside in
Ohio you are
> getting Mother nature to do your job for you. In pots, they
>
get spring rain, which is the same as same as soaking anr
> rincing seeds. 
Obviously your spring weather is cold
> enough to provide the necessary
chilling and chilling
> duration to enable seed germination. You are lucky to
have
> such weather.  Sometimes the chilling lenght is not
> long enough, so
hence second winter for some seeds.  I
> suspect ther will be some seasons
when this does not work
> out well as you are on the cusp of having just
enough
> chilling hours. Other people don't have weather as conducive
> to
having mother nature work so well with them.
> 
> As for your percentage of
seed germination, you are also
> doing well.  But I notice neither of you is
working
> much with plicatas.  Mike you did introduce one plicata
> "Sole
Survivor", but the name suggests that  the seed
> germination didn't work as
well as with the other crosses
> you make.  I too have tried the March
planting, but
> didn't get good enough germination to  warrent using it
> as a
regular method.  As I make a lot of plicata
> crosses, this may be one reason
I don't get as good a result
> this way. Even without soaking and rincing I
just don't get
> a good germination rate with plicatas. Solid colours and
>
amoenas do germinate much much better.
> 
> As for soaking and rinsing, it
isn't that much
> touble.  It does take several hours to put pods into
> the
pantyhose and tie off each cross, but it is busy hands
> work. That is it can
be done while watching
> Television.  After that it is two minutes a day to
>
rinse bucket and refill it. After that it is planting time
> the same time as
any other method of planting.  So far
> germination rate is increadibly better
then not soaking.
> 
> I have to agree, about burritos though. It does seem
like a
> lot of work. An alternative to that is the 5-7 day soak and
> rinse,
then place seeds in a baggie with damp peat moss and
> into fridge. No need to
rewet or re rinse etc. Just keep eye
> on them.  Some pods will start to
germinate in just a
> few days. Others can take a full three months of
chilling.
> Althoug I suspect that if taken out after 60 days and
> planted,
they would germinate.
> 
> Of note, is that if you are making wide crosses 
and
> any involing pulling back a recessive or two recessives, you
> want as
many seedlings as you can. So raising germination
> from 60% to 90%  could
mean the difference between
> pulling out the needed plant from the cross or
not. For
> plicatas this could mean raising germination from 20% to
> 90%. Now
I can do analysis on the genetics and find
> something out. I can't do that if
all I get to bloom is 3-4
> from a cross.
> 
> Chuck Chapman
> 
> 
> 
> Date:
Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:02:52 -0400
> From: "John Bruce" <jbruce1@cinci.rr.com>
>
Subject: Re: [iris] Re:Re: HYB: pod ripening/germination
> 
> I don't know why
everyone goes to all this trouble for iris
> seeds. I have
> been hybridizing
irises since 1994. I let the pods begin to
> turn tan and
> start to wrinkle a
bit, and then harvest and shell them.
> The seeds dry in
> paper cups or paper
envelopes. I used to plant them in late
> December and let
> the pots set
outside in the rain, snow and cold, and always
> saw sprouts in
> mid-April. 
The last few years I always seem to be too
> busy and/or cold
> resistant to
fool with them until mid-March. I plant them
> in gallon (or
> smaller) pots,
set them outside and water them once befoer
> I let mother
> nature take over.
I still get the same germination that I
> got before, about
> 60% on average.
Some crosses do better, a few do not do
> until year two, and
> a few never
do. I always find that those that do not
> germinate or germinate
> poorly
have a lot of empty seed husks or squishy seeds, and
> have always
> assumed
that these seeds were either defective from the
> start or experienced
> a
freeze after a too-eaarly germination. Strangely enough,
> I never lack for
>
iris seedlings to fill all existing space.
> 
> I live in Southwest Ohio,
where there is plenty of rain,
> lots of cold, and
> winter seems to go from
December until April. Germination
> seems to peak when
> night time temps are
in the upper 50s and slows rapidly as
> things warm up. I
> tried the soaking
thing two seasons and got no better
> results. From what I
> have read from
the burrito experiments, I see no better
> results.
> 
> If you are looking
for earlier bloom, pot the seedlings in
> 4" pots when they
> are a couple of
inches tall and feed them weekly with a
> liquid fertilizer.
> You can get by
with this because growing kids are hungry,
> and watering every
> other day
will leach out excess fertilizer. Plant them in
> early August in
> the
ground...keep the weeds out. You will get bloom in the
> second and
>
sometimes first year after germination.
> 
> Just my .02 worth.
> 
> John
Bruce
> Zone 5b, SW OH
> 
>
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