RE: [SpaceAgeRobin] RE: SA inhibiting seedling

---

Francelle Edwards  Glendale, AZ  Zone 9

Francelle, I seem to have missed some messages, as Chuck Chapman's quote of your text was the first of it I had seen.

I thought 16-31 particularly beautiful.  I would gladly give it space here as guest, but be forewarned--this are is a serious trial for TB irises.  Siberians and JI's thrive (if given adequate water), TB's often dwindle away unless treated very carefully.  Being reasonably frost-proof or the ability to bloom from an increase is a great asset.  Pineappling rarely occurs, but if an abnormal fan becomes obvious, slicing it off allows normal side increases to form and they are normal. 

I've had the impression Pineappling seems to be a disturbance in the enzymatic control of "apical meristem" development, and may not be due primarily to a foreign organism.  It also, I believe, is partially a response to heat stress, although in Idaho we had temps up to 115 once in a decade or so, yet no (or rarely) pineappling resulted.  Probably the stressor has to persist more than a day or two.

Our weather here, like Linda Mann's, suffers from the "Alberta Clipper" (apologies to the Alberta and other Great Plains Canadians) alternating with the upward flow of Gulf-enriched air masses originating in the tropical Pacific off the coast of Peru and Equador.  Astonishingly rapid shifts from wet 80's to dry 20's, as Linda has mentioned, can and do happen here, plus another unpleasant sort of switcheroo that is a result of a Low off the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia swinging cold air down across New England.  Those impulses appear to follow the eastern face of the Appalachins down to here, then stop, rarely affecting Greenville-Spartanburg, SC, area more than to a mild degree.  They are devastating here, somewhat over a thousand feet higher in elevation.

The forecast about which I was cringing of 26 degrees Monday (yesterday) morning, about which Donald asked, was eleven degrees off--we got down to 37--sigh of relief.

Frost damage often takes up to 48 hours to heal if it does heal, so I won't be able to tell just how much damage has been done just yet.  The wind broke many seedling stalks, and a few in the named area.  Gusts hit hard several times here Saturday night and Sunday morning, when an inch of snow covered the garden with the temperature around 28 degrees.  The problem with the temp was that it lasted a bit too long.

Everything in bloom went glassy then limp, and a lot of the azaleas look like boiling water got poured over them.  Since, a few damaged, but alive, blooms have opened on SDB's and IB-types (such as the MTB Lady Emma).  Buds on some TBs showing color looked hurt yesterday.  I haven't bothered going out yet today.  We have virga going on now rehydrating the air above us, with a 60% rain forecast for this afternoon and tonight. The rain has started on three sides of us already.  The moisture will help heal.

Given the caveat, yes, I would be glad to guest either or both 16-31 and the other seedling.  Since Purple Pirouette is one of those named in the probable non-producers, the 16-31 seedling would fit the SAGE design the better.  I would be happy to cross it with the SA's, as thanks to Bill Burleson, I have some of those in the test, as well as Solar Fire, which has a stalk coming up, and some not listed--two flounced sibs from Christopherson--In A Heartbeat and Heartbeat Away.  In next year's bloom my options will be wider, and hopefully those ordered this year will be able to bloom too.

Your 16-31 will be excellent to test, since if 4-plex SA basic factor as Chuck suggests is required for SA expression, this seedling should be 2-plex at least.  If Purple Pirouette is non-SA producer because of an inhibitor or normalizer factor (presumably dominant) the seedling ratios of SA's in the seedlings of 16-31 should exceed 1 out of 6 by some significant number.

What I expect is some SAs, but a difficult to fit to a simple Punnett Square number, since I suspect we are looking at a multi-factor system, and/or an allelic range that includes BS and BSE as part of the spread.  The interpreters of the data from our SAGE crosses are going to do a fair amount of head scratching, I suspect.

Michael M's photos showing a variety of tissue-originating points for the SA event and the various parts of some of the more complex ones suggest a rather complex combination of things is going on.  Your seedling(s) could well help sort this out.

Neil Mogensen z 7 Reg 4 western NC mountains