TB:Unsolicited Hybridizing Advice(Didn't start out that way!)
- To: iris-talk@onelist.com
- Subject: TB:Unsolicited Hybridizing Advice(Didn't start out that way!)
- From: S*@aol.com
- Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 13:02:57 EDT
From: StorYlade@aol.com
In a message dated 5/11/1999 10:15:18 AM Central Daylight Time,
IRISROT@aol.com writes:
<< Here in the
midwest setting pods zap the strength then if we have a bad winter you will
most likely lose the iris. >>
Do not cross to 1st year iris purchases. This is the advice I've received
from other hybridizers. The reason? As Jim has said above, it saps the
strength of the iris and prevents it from taking hold. Many advise using
these irises as pollen doners only. If money and space permit, you can buy
several of a cultivar, but that gets expensive when dealing with $50 plants.
There is another rumor afoot that the plant will REALLY take off if you cut
out the first year's bloom stalk thus forcing energy into plant porduction
rather than bloom production. How many are strong enough to do this?
One hybridizer I've spoken with advises using seedlings as the pod parent
whenever possible. IMHO, branching is a difficult quality to maintain or
regain and the pod parent should have good branching if at all possible.
Again, I advise someone starting out to produce their own line. Decide on a
color or pattern you want to work with and then buy the four cultivars that
best represent those qualities. Cross A with B, and cross C with D, choosing
the irises with the best branching and bud count for the pod parents since
they are supposed to contribute the bigger % of genetics (or so I've been
told by those older and wiser than I). Then cross the best of the children
from the two crosses. Walla! Your own iris line.
Betty from BG KY
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