Re: AR: handling arilbred seedlings

In a message dated 11/25/01 8:34:24 AM Mountain Standard Time, 
donald@eastland.net writes:


> My seedlings usually aren't yet up in Feb.  Sprouting usually starts in
> March and continues into the early part of May.  I'm planting now, later
> than usual but the cool weather is also later so maybe it won't matter.  Do
> you plant in fall in order to have seedlings up by February or are you doing
> something different than I'm doing?  I did plant 6 pods as green seeds this
> spring and left them in the refrigerator 'til about two weeks ago.  There
> are now 6 seedlings out of two pods, 3 from each pod.  With those that
> sprouted in the fall left over from last spring, I have over 30 seedlings to
> handle this winter.  That will be something new for me to attempt.
> 
Yes & no -- as I used two quite different processes:  forced germination and 
"natural" planting.

I'd start terminating the forced-germination process just after Christmas.  
As I checked each flat, I sorted the contents:
1.    Those with leaves at least 1/2" long went directly to pots.
2.    Those that have sprouted but were not ready to pot went to Deno-style 
bags until they were ready to pot.
3.    Firm-but-unsprouted seeds were set out to dry and go back into storage. 
[Yes, I had good germination from such seeds in later years.]
4.    Seeds that flunked the sqeeze test were discarded.

By New Year Day, or very shortly thereafter, the last of the year's batch of 
seedlings were in pots and would thus be a full six-weeks old and living on 
their own when transplant day arrived in mid-February.


In-ground planting is another, rather long story -- but I'll attempt to give 
you the short version.

My initial germination rate with fall in-ground plantings was roughly 1 in 
1,000 -- with none surviving to bloom size.  That was before I discovered the 
advantages of shadecloth and cold-stratification.  Early January planting of 
pre-treated seeds, using shadecloth covers, proved quite successful.  The 
cloth helped diffuse the force of the water so seeds didn't wash out of their 
rows, also lowered evaporation so the beds remained more consistently moist.  
The catch:  the shadecloth had to be gradually raised as the seedlings grew.

In other words, my smallest AB seedlings got the same level of protection and 
pampering as my established TBs.  When a bed approached maiden bloom, I'd 
remove the shadecloth so they were subjected to the same conditions as mature 
ABs.

I don't include Zone # in my signature because our little pocket is assigned 
to different zones on different maps, but in this case I think I need to 
describe our climate.  No hybridizer in his or her right mind would select 
this location -- but it sure eliminates the weaklings....

Overall, winters are relatively mild.  There's at least one snowfall most 
years, but it almost always melts by noon.  There are many nights when the 
low temp is above freezing, but at some point during the winter the minimum 
temperature drops into the teens.  Sometimes, lower, and at least once every 
20 years it drops below zero [Fahrenheit].

Spring is short, dry and very windy.  Late-blooming iris often have buds 
dried before they can open.  Unprotected seedlings may be desiccated in one 
afternoon.  

Summers are scorching.  Many days with temperatures over 100, but the number 
of days over 110 varies from year to year.  [The first Great Pyrenees had a 
knack for insisting we retreat from the garden for a nap under the a/c when 
the temp hit 105!]  A few TBs survive without shadecloth, but don't bloom.  
Most go permanently "dormant".  

Falls are variable.  Some years, we seem to go straight from summer to 
winter.  Some years, fall is prolonged.  Seed beds must be covered, not only 
to protect any fall-germinated seedlings but also to be sure they don't 
accumulate the mulch that might lure seeds into germinating over the winter.  

I don't know the exact point at which shadecloth becomes essential.  Gus 
Seligmann's garden was only a few miles away, but on the other side of the 
river and low enough in the valley to take advantage of the nighttime pooling 
of cold air.  He therefore had no problem with premature germination. His AB 
seed bed was sited to be well-protected from the wind and was naturally 
well-shaded in summer, so that it didn't need the artificial protection of 
shadecloth. 

Your conditions may well be closer to Gus' than to mine and the extra 
precaution of wind-protection/sun-protection may be unnecessary.  I realize 
you have a very different program, but with only 30 seedlings I'd tend to be 
very conservative and make sure that I could provide the protection if it 
proved to be needed.  To put this in perspective:  I'd consider anything less 
than 500 seedlings a serious crop failure!

Sharon McAllister



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