Re: HYB: traits passed on?

Steve,

Genetics is a subject that can get quite complicated really fast; and this is even more true with irises than animals or people, since modern TB irises (and most other classes of iris, too) are tetraploid (4 copies of genes at each gene locus)rather than diploid (2 copies) like humans and most animals.

If you did not design this cross for a specific purpose of combining particular gene effects as part of a long term breeding program rather than for some immediate result in the first generation offspring, or find some unique characteristics in the seedling itself that you would like to pass on to the next generation, I would say scrap it.

You can learn more about the genetics of iris breeding by referring to some standard source, such as the chapter on iris genetics in The World of Irises.

Jeff Walters
in upstate South Carolina
(USDA Zone 7b)


--- On Mon, 6/29/09, mahlberg s <s_j_mahlberg@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: mahlberg s <s_j_mahlberg@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [iris] HYB: traits passed on?
> To: iris@hort.net
> Date: Monday, June 29, 2009, 4:19 AM
> Hello.
> I have been dabbling with irises for a few years now.
>  I know, ideally, hybridizers should pick the best of the
> best to work with,
> as with any plant or animal hybridizing.
> What I am wondering is as follows.
> I made a cross between Sapphire Hills and Violet Miracle
> just for fun.
> I ended up with a rather small deep purple flower with a
> purple beard.
> I am not surprised about getting a smaller flower,
> something worse than what I
> started with.
> What I am wondering is, could this hybrid pass on the
> better characteristics
> of either of it's parents to a future generation? > 

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