Re: HYB: "strongest" 20%?

I've posted some seedling photos on iris-photos.

At this stage, all the seedlings from any one cross are so similar, I
can't tell which are the 'biggest' 'strongest' or anything other than
that a few that came up a bit later are shorter in most of these
crosses.

Maybe if the pots are left out in the weather, early growth isn't as
uniform for the rest of you?  Is the uniformity in seedlings in these
photos unusual?

Only a few seeds germinate in some crosses, and those tend to vary a lot
more in growth.

And maybe this is why I have such high losses at the early transplant
stage?  I easily lose 80% of the 'weakest' in some crosses.  Which means
I'm only lining out the 'strongest' seedlings.

After transplanting to bigger pots and letting them settle in for a few
days, the transplants will go outdoors under plant bed covers if the
weather is warm (not this week!).  In another month, they should have
little rhizomes or thick roots.

If all 40 transplants in the window box planter survive that long, I
will probably only line out the biggest 15 or so, but will hold the
others over to plant later if there are high losses after lining out or
if the cross looks promising when it blooms.

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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