Re: HYB: Limited Fertility -- Quarterbreds

From: Dennis Kramb <dkramb@badbear.com>

>There are two factors at work here:  genetic potential and growing
>conditions.  The genetic potential must be there, but under adverse growing
>conditions pollen may not form.  Here in southern New Mexico, that usually
>means hot, dry weather.

Weather here has been fantastic.  Cool (lots of 40's, 50's, & 60's) and not
too dry, but also not too humid.  So that's probably the big factor for my
good luck in getting pollen.


>To return to the original observation, the simple answer is thus that
>quarterbred pollen tends not to be as good as it looks.  Some grains are
>viable, but many are not.
>
>Although some dismiss them, I happen to think quarterbreds are worth
>working with.

I am getting so many flowers from SATAN'S MISTRESS and so much pollen, that
I am confident some of it will set seed.  My quarterbreds have much
sturdier stalks than my halfbreds so I'm backcrossing them to try to pass
along that trait.

CAPITOLA (the pollen parent of SATAN'S MISTRESS) just bloomed here, so I'll
backcross them (both ways) to see what happens.

By the way.......CAPITOLA is listed as OB (no regelia ancestry) but it has
beard hairs on the standards too.  Does that sound right???  Isn't that
just a regelia thing?


Okay, so if you cross two ABBB quarterbreds together, you can theoretically
get some ABAB halfbreds.  If you cross tet arils with tet TBs, you get AABB
halfbreds.

If you cross AABB halfbreds with ABAB halfbreds, you get only 1/4-breds &
3/4-breds, and no halfbreds, right???  Okay, my head is starting to
spin...<grin!>


Dennis Kramb; dkramb@badbear.com
Cincinnati, Ohio USA; USDA Zone 6; AIS Region 6
Member of AIS, ASI, HIPS, SIGNA, SLI, & Miami Valley Iris Society
Primary Interests: ABs, REBs, LAs, Native Ohio SPEC and SPEC-X hybrids
(Check out my web page at http://www.badbear.com/dkramb/home.html)



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