Re: SAGE Project

Michael, as we originally set the project forth the intent was to use reciprocal crosses just in case there were maternal dominance issues involved.  It has become clear since then the maternal issues do not occur in SA issuesr. 
 
The primary reason it was put as a matter of non-SA X SA as the pollen parent has to do with availability.  Most of the participants will have some or most (if not all) of the listed parents as new plants.  Setting pods on new plants really slows down the vigor and increase one gets. Only one or two pods can reasonably be set on new stock.
 
The hope is that those making the crosses will go for as large a number of pods as they can with any single cross, much easier to do if the pod parent is an established clump or row of plants with numerous bloomstalks.
 
The percentage of "takes" compared to "makes" (pods set and matured out those attempted) falls far short of 100%, just how far short depends on weather, compatibility in the cross and so on.  About 30% is a rough average in my own experience.  Some folks may have better than that, some less.
 
The number of seeds per pod often will average 30-35, with count ranging from 1 to about 100 at the extreme ends of the scale per pod.  The majority of pods will have between 11 and 58 or so.
 
Out of these seeds, anywhere from 0 to 80% will germinate.  A 30% germination average is not uncommon. This differs year to year as well.  Conditions during the winter and early spring can change that percentage radically.
 
Not all these seedlings survive.  Accidents, including insect, disease and hoe-injury, cut the number further, and of those that do survive, not all thrive and bloom.
 
If a person wants enough seedlings to get a reasonable count, quite a few pollenizations are in order.
 
If maternal dominance does come into play on issues of form, haft width, substance and so on, we want to guarentee those qualities are high on the maternal side.  That is part of the reason the plan as laid out suggests the highest quality pod parent one can find of each type, shelf and no shelf.  As a general rule, SA irises are just now catching up to normal and expected quality of garden irises, with an occasional few falling into the "exceptional" range.  We'd like to have some nameable, and introduction-worth seedlings come out of some of these crosses as part of our pay-off for the work involved.
 
The pedigree of THORNBIRD on the HIPS website  http://www.worldiris.com/public_html/Dykes_peds/Thornbird.html    may help justify the rationale.  The entire SA line is on the male side, all the way back to the early Austin cv HORNED PAPA at the right-hand end of the chart. 'Horned Papa' is an unknown other than what may be inferred from Austin's terse comment, "from horned seedlings."
 
Does this help explain why the design is set up for the SA parent being designated the pollen source?
 
Any crosses made the other direction will certainly not be disregarded.  The direction of the cross may not make much--if any--difference in terms of SA traits. 
 
 Cross types three and four are between SA's anyway, and may be limited by the number of pollenizations possible in many gardens because of the number of blooms available for pollenization.
 
Neil Mogensen  z 7 western NC

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