Re: RE: CULT & HYB: Poppers and greenhouses

Adam  --  I think you're planting your seeds too early and giving them too
much water.  If I'm wrong about this, I'm sure others will pipe up.  In
central Indiana, where I began hybridizing, and here in Virginia, I dry the
seeds until early October, then give them 5 - 10 days of soaking and
rinsing, and immediately plant them in pots.  This means they are planted
about mid-October and are moist when put into the pots.  I cover the pots
with an inch of white pine needles, which are long and don't pack down.
After setting out the pots and covering them with the pine needles, I water
them enough to put moisture in the pots, but not saturate them.  The pine
needles do three important things.  First, they prevent direct rainfall from
causing the seeds to surface; second, they provide a protective shield
against freeze and thaw action which would also cause seed eruption, and,
third, they help the pots to retain moisture.  Depending upon rainfall, I
try to give this same amount of watering to the pots about every 7 days
until snow cover comes along.  If it's a dry winter, I try to keep the 7-day
watering cycle.  Once seeds begin sprouting in the spring, I remove the pine
needles (only from those pots already sprouting) and GENTLY water about
every three days, giving Miracle Gro about every 10 days.

You say you've already potted up this year's seeds.  I assume you're already
watering them.  If you want to experiment, you might set several pots aside,
let them nearly dry out and give them only enough watering to keep them
barely moist until mid-October (essentially almost, but not quite, drying
out the seeds), then resume a moderate watering schedule like that described
above.  Compare their germination to the rest in the spring.

It's worth thinking about how nature treats iris seeds.  They spill out onto
the ground in hot, dry summer.  Those that aren't eaten by various critters
either bake on the ground exposed to the sun or are protected in and under a
thin covering of detritus.  They get only occasional rainfall.  If there's
enough rainfall and enough cold -- and even better, a nice blanket of
now  -- in the winter, they may germinate in the spring.  We try to maximize
germination by washing off the inhibiting coating and by providing optimum
cover and moisture.  (I won't go into the various refrigerator treatments.)
I think, if we're going to plant in pots or in the ground, that a long
drying time before washing and planting is most beneficial.  --  Griff


----- Original Message -----
From: "Adam Cordes" <adambo_iris@yahoo.com>
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 10:57 PM
Subject: [iris] RE: CULT & HYB: Poppers and greenhouses


> Good evening!
>
> Okay, I guess I get to expound on my seedling story a bit!  :-)  Sorry I
didn't clarify some things in the first place!
>
> I live in North-east Michigan, and winter will settle in here about
mid-November.  Right now, we're expecting the first frost to come in about 2
or 3 weeks.  My iris seed pods started splitting 3 weeks ago, and I
harvested them all, starting with SDB's.  I took off the last 2 TB pods last
week.  The seeds were still plump, but were already tan-brown in color.  I
dried them in my home in Dixie cups on top of my piano.  They did not mold
or mildew.  >>Last year, I planted my seeds in November, and watered them
'till it froze well.  Only FIVE seeds germinated out of 937.  I attributed
it to lack of proper moisture previous to winter set-in.  Conclusively, This
spring all seeds that I dug up to check on still had the coating on the
seeds, and they DID NOT pop when I squeezed them.  I believed that I needed
to keep watering the ungerminated seed pots all summer long, but in July I
stopped watering them.  Now, it seems that those seeds from year 2004 have
rotted in the pots.
>
> This year I have 817 seeds potted up.  I have heard of hybridizers soaking
seeds in toilet bowl tanks for up to 10 weeks before planting or
refridgerating.  If this is true, then in 10 weeks, It will be November 12,
and frost will be quite regular by then. I hope to get the same results
using the benefit of Fall and a good Mid-west winter.  My hope is that the
anti-germination coating will be washed off before Christmas, which here in
Michgian we'll have 2-4 inches of snow on the ground. (normally!)
>
> Now, regarding the greenhouse that you all so keenly spotted in the photo.
:-)   It's a facade, plain and simple!  Hehehehe. It was built to be an
actual greenhouse for me about 8-10 years ago, but the Michigan winds blew
the doors (both of them) off it completely, as well as some of the vent
windows.  The efforts to fix it were postponed, and now I just cleaned it up
from the 9foot tall elm trees that were growing in it.  If  you look at the
photo again, you'll see a great shadow on the left side of the plastic
greenhouse material.  Those are 9-10 foot tall elm trees that are shading
80% of the sun from really penetrating or heating up the greenhouse.
Combined with the 2 missing doors and 1 missing window, it really doesn't
hold heat in summer or winter.  In fact, every plant previously living and
growing in it always went dormant for winter--just like all the plants did
outside the greenhouse.  Heck, I even have SNOW drifts in that thing in
January!
>
> Now, I do plan on boarding up 1/2 of the greenhouse in March, 2006.  Maybe
add a space heater and thaw out those pots from what will be their 3 1/2
month sub-zero freeze.  The weather here will be mostly cold yet, and the
ground will still be frozen yet 'till about April 15.
>
> If anyone wants to see the photo of my seed in pots,(in the "greenhouse")
it's on the iris photos website.  Click on the September link.
>
> Thanks to everyone for your help.  I'm still open to more suggestions.  I
felt I was doing things right this year, but maybe I really am jumping the
gun on watering the seeds??
>
> Griff and "pharcher" -- thanks a bunch!  Please keep up your input!
> Linda, thanks for the answer to the popping seeds!  I may just toss out
the whole lot if more of them that are rotten like that.  I'll be searching
through them next week for more "poppers."
>
> Cheers!
> Adam~
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Adam Cordes
> President -- Mio Irisarians
> Hillman, Michigan
> Region 6
> Zone 4 (and a half. . . )
> <><
>
> Linda Mann <lmann@volfirst.net> wrote:
> Popping seeds be bad, Adam. They either never formed embryos or
> rotted.
>
> --
> Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
> East Tennessee Iris Society
> American Iris Society web site
> talk archives:
> photos archives:
> online R&I
>
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