HYB: Pollination
- Subject: HYB: Pollination
- From: J* R*
- Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 15:04:09 -0700
Getting pods to set (on most cultivars) is not the most difficult part of
hybridizing. Many e-mails recently indicate difficulty. Extremely hot or
extremely wet weather can drastically reduce "takes". First morning just-
opened flowers pollinated around dawn work best for me; I rarely even try
yesterday's flower. Pollen may be better on the second day, except in
warmer weather. Sometimes the anthers don't even unfurl until the second or
third day. Sometimes there is little or no pollen. Even a little may be
enough. I use tweezers to pluck the anthers. I used to pollinate by
holding the anthers at one end with the same tweezers, and poking the other
end down into the flower. Now I just scrape the pollen from the anthers
using one tweezer tip, and use the tweezer tip to place the pollen (gently)
against the inside of the lip. Both work fine; the second is more efficient
if the pollen you want is scarce. I store extra pollen from favorite
parents in a small fishing lure box. The dividers between the compartments
come flush with the bottom of the lid, and I always keep the box level, so I
have no mix-together problems. I tape a temporary label inside the lid with
compartments drawn and contents marked in pencil. The whole box goes into a
ziplock bag in a refrigerator in my garage. A little 1-inch pencil and the
tweezers go in the bottom of the lure box (it is two-sided) for convenience.
I don't usually try to save pollen for over 2 weeks, and if fresh pollen is
available from the same iris, I ignore the box.
About 80% of my crosses took this year.
John Reeds, in sunny southern Calif.
jreeds@microsensors.com
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