Re: CULT, HYB: 450 Known Rotters
- Subject: Re: CULT, HYB: 450 Known Rotters
- From: n*@charter.net
- Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 16:27:29 -0000
--- In iris-talk@y..., "Iris Moose" <irismoose@d...> wrote:
"Are there hybridizers who have been identified with high a
percentage of rotters in their hybridizing programs"?
Bill Shear's response to your post is thoughtful, balanced and
informative. I wish to add a few comments, grateful that Bill
emphasized *"partly genetic"* in his reply.
There have been family lines of breeding in the past with which I had
chronic trouble. Not with soft rot, but with Botrytis, which is a
winter, cold weather problem. Botrytis is a serious issue especially
in the Intermountain West (but not, thank God, in North Carolina).
The most difficult irises I tried to grow in western Idaho, right on
the Oregon border, were those from some of the Oregon (Willamette
Valley--totally different climate zone) breeders. The whole gamut of
brown and bronze varieties that stemmed largely from TOBACCO ROAD
were difficult to maintain. Every year the losses were either total
for a variety or nearly so. I kept trying--as Dr. Shear said, some
varieties have overwhelmingly good qualities that make it worth the
effort, despite the problems.
Oddly, MEXICO, which was another part of the foundation of the same
line performed in stellar fashion, and its red descendants grew
easily. There was something about the bronzes and the browns.
The other "line" of sorts that were difficult for the same reason--
susceptibility to Botrytis--were mostly California-bred blues and
whites that were heavily reliant on *I. mesopotamica." Despite its
*pallida* ancestry from THAIS, SNOW FLURRY was one that was
especially prone to Botrytis.
This all may sound remote and perhaps irrelevant to modern iris until
you start digging into the right-hand edge of pedigree charts. If
you go back enough generations with almost any modern iris, you will
find SNOW FLURRY over and over and over. Not so many of them,
however, stem from TOBACCO ROAD.
Botrytis is STILL a problem in the mountain states. I'd be
interested to know if certain lines are especially susceptible. Char
Randall? Care to comment?
Neil Mogensen
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
