Re: CULT: Broken stalk with seed pod

At 08:04 PM 6/4/97 -0600, you wrote:
>>I was out weeding the other day in the iris garden and lo and behold, I
>>brushed up against a stalk that had a seed pod on it. It broke. Can it
>>be saved as it was a big pod and I want the cross? I put it in a water
>>pot, hoping that might do it. Here's hoping.
>>
>Oh, Art. Have we got a thread for you. Donald Mosser went through this with
>his first self-cross of BROTHER CARL. Does anyone remember what the subject
>head on those postings would be? Was it "The Pod" or "Surrogate Potato"?
>Oh, wait. I put a brief writeup about Mr. Mosser's experience in our club
>newsletter. Let me dig it out and reprint it here for you.
>celia
>storey@aristotle.net
>Little Rock, Arkansas

Celia,

Glad that you dug this article up!  I had about  6 or 7 seeds to germinate
from the planting of this "POD" and currently have about 4 seedlings
growing (1 succumbed to rot, the other to a garden predator).  I believe
that my germination rate could have been improved if I had planted the
seeds in better soil and in sunken pots and watered them more regularly.
This first set of seedlings proved to me that it's not an impossible task
to grow bearded irises from seeds and even the novice can get some results.
 Be warned, however, that setting yourself up as co-surrogate with a potato
can lead to extreme post traumatic distress after you plant your babies and
have to wait patiently until they sprout.  Of course, getting rid of the
potato was as easy as tossing it in the compost.:)

I currently have two pods from intentional crosses which I made this year
on my bearded irises.  Since I live in a mild climate, I had planned on
planting the seeds immediately after harvesting.  Will this give me some
germination this fall or must I wait for a cold period to stratify the seeds?

-Donald


Donald Mosser
Member of AIS, HIPS, SIGNA, SSI, SLI, SPCNI, and IRIS-L
dmosser@southconn.com
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/5570

North Augusta, South Carolina, USA
On the South Carolina and Georgia Border
USDA Zone 7b-8
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