HYB:Hybridizing Kit

Good Easter Morning Talkers and Non-Talkers,

The hybridizing season is near, for some it has arrived.  Since cross 
pollinating is the favorite subject of my garden visitors, I'm going to 
presume the same interest among our non-hybridizing listers.  If you're 
interested in making crosses, give it a try.  You don't need all kinds of 
fancy equipment to cross an iris.

I've tried many things in the past, but now I keep a hybridizing "kit" ready 
at all times.  The kit consist of tweezers, pen, small envelopes, tags, and a 
note book in a one gallon plastic freezer bag.  Since the bag is clear, I can 
see everything at a glance.

Tweezers:
Regular tweezers work great, but you can use your fingers in a "pinch."  <g>  
I tend to maul the blooms with this technique.  Better to carry the kit even 
if you're ONLY going out to look!  If you don't feel the need to preserve it 
in place, just snap the bloom off and take it with you to the pod parent.  
Leave it at the base of the pod parent and you'll know at a glance what the 
cross is, for that day anyway.  

Pen:
Anything will do. 

Envelopes:
If you don't carry the blossom with you, you'll need to transport the pollen, 
and your cupped hand starts cramping after a while! I use your generic 
personal sized envelopes. If I have time, I cut them in half and tape them 
up. They work either way.  I write the name of the iris I'm collecting pollen 
from on the front of the envelope. If the cross I have in mind doesn't 
materialize, the pollen is safe for later.  Once you have pollen in the 
envelopes, lay the plastic bag in the shade while making your crosses.  It 
gets hot in there!

Tags:
You must tag the pod parent. Use whatever works for you.  My tags were made 
years ago from clear plastic milk jugs and bright yarn.  The tags are 
numbered and reusable.  The number of the tag is written in my notes and the 
information kept there.  Some people write the information directly on the 
tags.  Either way, write the pod parent first and then the pollen parent.  
Example: Hot Streak X Earl of Essex (= my newest rebloomers!  <g>)

Notebook:
Even if you're only having fun . . . even if you only make one cross . . . 
even if you're sure you'll remember it . . . WRITE IT DOWN!  Someone, 
sometime, will care.  And it just might be you. Trust me on this one!  My 
favorite recording device is an orange (shows up well when you forget it in 
the garden) note book that measures 9 1/2 X 6 inches available at Wally 
World.  I enter any and all pertinent information: pod parent, pollen parent, 
date, time of day, and weather conditions. This is my FIELD book.  Not to be 
confused with my hybridizing records book which looks very much like it, but 
is much neater with information in chronological order, etc., produced months 
later from information in the field book.  When a cross doesn't take, the 
page gets a big X across it--end of story.

The actual process of hybridizing lends itself better to pictures than words. 
John Jones has one of the best sites I've seen for a picture story of the 
hybridizing process.  Unfortunately, I can't list it here since I lost the 
information when my computer crashed several months ago and I can't seem to 
locate it in the archives.  John? Others?

Betty Wilkerson from South-central KY . . . Zone 6 . . . sometimes.

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