Re: HYB: dry vs fresh seed germination
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: HYB: dry vs fresh seed germination
  • From: B* W* <a*@aol.com>
  • Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2013 09:49:54 -0500 (EST)
Remember that many things control germination of TB irises.  In nature a pod
will dry and split, spilling or flinging seed about the immediate area.  One
of the features that regulate germination in nature is the depth of the seed.
If a seed rolls into a crevice in the soil and lands two inches down it will
not germinate. The first rain will close the crevice leaving the seed in the
lower location, maybe for years;however, a couple of years later the soil may
heave again bringing the seed near the top where it may germinate. Rumors I
heard when starting this 30 year quest stated that seed could germinate up to
25 years after production.  One of the built in characteristics that allow
survival of the iris.


Betty Wilkerson
Zone 6 KY
autmirislvr@aol.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Chaney <billchaney@ymail.com>
To: iris <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Mon, Nov 4, 2013 2:11 pm
Subject: Re: [iris] HYB: dry vs fresh seed germination


I am glad this subject has come up.   Thank you Linda for sharing your
experience.  I have heard that Ben Hager never dried his seeds and planted
them fresh, and often did not even allow the pods to start to split, but
harvested them still green.  I cannot confirm this is true, but I would love
to hear if anyone else has heard this.

If you think about what happens in
nature, drying seems like the way a plant insures their seed will not try to
germinate at the wrong time.  But drying is also likely the process that
produces the germination inhibitors that we later have to leach away.

What we
need to do is to split the seeds from several large pods into two groups and
let one half from each pod dry, and plant (or stratify) the other half
without
letting them dry, then compare the rates for each half by pod.  Maybe next
year I will give this a try.

It is possible that the dried seeds will simply
take longer to germinate, but will eventually germinate at the same rate as
the fresh seeds.  I do worry about the fresh seeds rotting, but moisture
control will be key.

I would love to hear from others about their
experiences.

Bill




On Monday, November 4, 2013 11:21 AM, Betty Wilkerson
<autmirislvr@aol.com> wrote:

I only made 21 crosses.  Very low.  Fourteen
took.  Very high percentage.
What kept the crosses attempted so low?  Not
sure.  Indications of rain.


Linda, the trial I tried didn't work.  Don't
know what I did wrong, but I put
the pot out with the others.  If it doesn't
sprout any, then I guess I goofed
up by not drying the seed.


Betty Wilkerson
Zone 6 KY
autmirislvr@aol.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Mann
<lmann@lock-net.com>
To: iris <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Mon, Nov 4, 2013 11:09 am
Subject: [iris] HYB: dry vs fresh seed germination


This is not a study with
controls, just some anecdotal data.  So, for
what it's worth....

This year, I
had seeds from 20 different crosses.  I put them all in the
fridge at about
the same time.  Seeds from 7 of the crosses were fresh
(not dried); the other
13 were dried for various lengths of time before
going into the fridge.   None
were pre-soaked.

I took them out of the fridge and potted them up a few weeks
ago,
watering every day.  First sprouts visible above ground the last few
days.

Of the 7 crosses refrigerated without drying, all but one has sprouts
up.

Of the 13 crosses refrigerated after drying, one has sprouts up.

Would
the dried seeds have sprouted faster if they'd been soaked first?
  Possibly.
Are there genetic differences between the fresh crosses and the dried
ones?
Possibly.

Is it all random? Possibly.

Other notes - some crosses had more
than one pod; not all seeds from all
crosses looked viable - overall a bad
year for successful crosses here.
  Four of the 13 dried crosses had less than
20 seeds.

Linda Mann east TN USA zone 7b
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