Re: CULT: HYB: finding the tough ones

Margie in NY said:
<I don't think one iris is more susceptible to rot verse another iris.>

My experience has been that some are much more susceptible than others.

[Once you have the pedigree].. <how do you know that the lineage ..any
good and has desirable traits. Do you look it up in the archives to see
if people just happened to write about those irises and gave it good
feedback?
Is this info recorded somewhere or do people keep their own personal
records?>

Sometimes, the pedigree (lineage) information in the checklists is
incomplete or given to the registrar incorrectly, so you can't always
know if the information is 'good'.

Finding out whether or not the ancestors have desirable traits can be a
major undertaking, and doesn't always tell you which descendants will
have those same traits, but it's a place to start.  I have used all of
the above, plus ask everybody in your general growing area who has grown
the ancestors, buy the ancestors & grow them yourself.  Some information
is in The World of Iris. Talk to hybridizers in your region, especially
those who have been growing irises for many decades.

I started by looking at the cultivars that I already grew that had done
well for me for many years and charted all their pedigrees, then looked
for ancestors that showed up repeatedly in their pedigrees, then looked
for more cultivars to try that had those same ancestors.  I bought
several of those ancestors, mostly just out of curiosity, to see how
they would respond to my growing conditions.  Some did better than their
descendants, some worse.  I concluded that those ancestors probably
carried some good genes that sometimes nicked well in future
generations, sometimes not so well.

I have not done the reverse (chart pedigrees of everything that has died
a horrible death here), but I have started avoiding cultivars whose
pedigrees contain a lot of ancestors that have not been in pedigrees of
my tough ones.

So, does this work?

Well, I really don't know - makes me feel better than when I was
randomly ordering things.  Sometimes a good one  that has no ancestors I
know about will be recommended to me by someone- ABBEY ROAD is a good
example.  Very healthy here so far.

In a cross of two  tough 'good' survivors here that are a little bit
prone to rot now and then (BEHOLD A LADY & CELEBRATION SONG), the
seedlings showed a complete range of rottenness - some started dying the
day they were lined out, about 1/3 died fairly quickly, another third
died over the next month or so, and about 1/3 of the remainder died
after being moved to the garden, right before the 10 inches of rain.
The rest look gloriously healthy and are growing like mad.  Surviving
sibs from last year's germination are rampant weeds.

In contrast, in a cross of two 'rot proof' irises here (HARVEST OF
MEMORIES and an unknown variegata), I don't think a single seedling died
after lining out and only one died after transplanting to the garden.
Same year, treatment, growing conditions.

<Maybe we could figure out if it's influenced by climate, soil
conditions or if it is genetic. If it turns out to be genetic maybe some
people would take resposibility to cull the rot prone irises out of the
breeding program altogether.>

Rot is definitely influenced by climate, soil, gardener, etc, but the
sensitivity/susceptibility to rot infection after various stresses is
under genetic control.  I don't see an easy way to 'cull rot prone'
irises, since any iris will rot if provoked enough and what's rot prone
in Arizona may not be rot prone in Virginia.  Should we get rid of all
the beautiful irises that thrive in California just because some of them
don't grow well in some places?  I don't think so!

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8

Tennessee Whooping Crane Walkathon:
<http://www.whoopingcranesovertn.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>




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