Sunday, June 17, 2012
Oh my, being a hybridizer is a lot of work!
All but about 150 of the 2012 seedlings have been taken out of the greenhouse and sent outside for further evaluation (I planted about 5400 seeds). I will keep the 150 inside for one more year to make crosses on. Yes, they are untested, but their genes are hardy, so I think it is worth the risk. Pods are in buckets of water, waiting to ripen. The tree frogs are finding it harder and harder to find places to sun themselves, but they will find a home a bed or two away in the intros I am leaving inside. We finished moving the seedlings out June 15, a record for us - probably because I eliminated about 35-40% of them before they went outside. Becasue of earlier planting last year (June 1) I was able to see a very large percentage of them bloom, and eliminated all that didn't make me smile. In order to do that in the future, I would need to hold back some of the seeds and not plant them on my normal August 1 date. Might choose to do that this year on half of them so there aren't so many to move out next year, as we will be really busy getting ready for the national.
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Tell us more about ripening seed pods in buckets of water. Do they have to be at a certain stage of develpment to ensure success?
ReplyDeleteSee my post of July 15, 2010 on the blog. To find, just type in the word "pod" in the search box on the top right where it says Search This Blog. I have found they ripen and germinate just fine in buckets of water once they are the size of a grape - usually at about 30 days since the cross was made. Some will be fine not even that old. Make sure to mark the scape and the pod with the name of the pod parent!
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