SIB: Seedlings

From: "Jeff and Carolyn Walters" <jcwalters@bridgernet.com>

Hello, Talk-ers,

Last fall I wrote to the List about my Siberian seedlings. I had made my
first ever Siberian crosses in '97, and got excellent germination in the
spring of '98, but when I lined the seedlings out in the garden they all
promptly developed signs of chlorosis. I received many helpful suggestions
on how to deal with this problem - thanks to all who offered them!

This spring, when the snow melted and the seedlings began to grow again
there was good news and bad news. All the seedlings are showing a healthy
green color - this may just mean that the moisture derived from snow and
rain (which is all they have gotten for the past six months) is a lot less
alkaline than the ground water used for irrigation in the summer. The bad
news is that due to the mild (for us) winter, there was a lot more
alternate freezing and thawing than is typical here. The heaving was so
severe that many of the sib seedlings were thrust completely out of the
ground and killed by having their roots freeze dried. I lost 35 out of the
120 seedlings in this manner. The tet seedlings continue to outperform the
diploids in every way; they are twice as tall and show more increase and
the winter losses were 21% on the tets versus 39% on the diploids.

The Sib seeds that I potted up and set outside last fall are now
germinating. First up were seeds sent me by Leroy Kriese of Ambrosia
Gardens in British Columbia as part of a seed exchange we made last fall.
These are from a cross of an early blooming I. sibirica species selection
(Leroy says it blooms the same time as the MDBs) with I. typhifolia. Next
to germinate were seeds also sent by Leroy from a cross of the same early
sibirica with SHAKER'S PRAYER. Thursday I saw the first seedlings emerging
from my cross of SULTAN'S RUBY X PINK HAZE (this is the same cross that I
sent seeds from to Leroy, Ellen Gallagher, and Edmundas Kondratas in
Lithuania). Seeds from a cross of later blooming Sibs have not emerged yet.
It is interesting that this sequence of germination exactly follows the
expected sequence of bloom for these four crosses, a correspondence that
was discussed on Iris-talk earlier this year.

I hope after last year's experience that I will be able to do a better job
of raising this crop of seedlings. I am very anxious to see how those
crosses of Leroy's turn out!

Jeff Walters in northern Utah  (USDA Zone 4/5, Sunset Zone 2)
jcwalters@bridgernet.com
Clear, but frosty morning following 12 straight days of rain


 







  














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