Pods on Orange Blossom Trail this year. I finally quit hanging tags on it because the flowers were so close together, that the tags were too hard to hang. So on all the pods with NO tags were pollen from Baja California. So when I do a cross, I hang a tag with the pollen name on it. By the way, I had so many pods on Orange Blossom Trail, that I ended up with about 400 seeds of OBT X Baja California. 37 pods is the most ever for me.

Dot

Wow Dot.!!!! Incredible!!!!!

I use the colored paper clips mainly, but I do also use cut up mini blinds with holes punched in them. Here's a photo Fred took of his.


You write on them with pencil and if the cross didn't take or you want to reuse the next year you can just cross it out instead erasing it and write the next one. I used these if I had a pollen that I only used once or twice. If it was a pollen I was going to use quite a bit I gave it a colored paper clip

I like that idea about the colored paper clips. Do they fade in the sun? Someone said the #9 lead pencils were good and I did order some and got an extra 60 pieces if lead, but I can't find them so I don't know if I put them away or maybe they just never came? I probably have no business messing with pollen!!...

So you can't find something you lost huh? Well join the crowd. Sometimes I figure it is easier to rebuy something than to go looking for it for long periods of time. Of course if it is something expensive, that is another story.

I lost a hand trowel outside somewhere. You know they don't cost much. I did have another one though. When two people are potting things, it helps to have two. I looked one day for it until I was blue in the face. I even looked behind pots along a fence where I lay things on top of the fence. No luck. But when I finally moved one of the pots out to do something with it, there it was, behind a pot. Needless to say, it was pretty rusty by then. SOOOOOOOOO I lay it back on top of the fence. I went out there yesterday and there it was hanging half off the fence. I'm thinking maybe squirrels or neighbor cats are the culprits, knocking it off. So I laid it back on top but took note of WHERE it was. Yeah I know, why not lay it elsewhere? That would be too simple.

Dot

Susan I just use a regular #2 pencil to write with.

Some of the paper clips do fade some but not too bad. I did use the wire that is for marking crosses as well but in these faded too much such as the purple faded to blue which was the exact color as the blue wire, the pink fades to white, and some others fade also. It wouldn't matter as long as you didn't use the colors that the others faded to. I threw away a whole lot of pods because I had no clue if the wire was supposed to be blue or if it was purple that faded to blue not to mention I had used wires that were blue and purple striped so I couldn't be sure what was what.

I always want to know what the pod parent is, too, so that I can collect pods from different varieties in a flat box and bring them inside together. But, of course, I don't have large quantities of pods from any one plant to deal with (wish I did!). And I've stopped recording anything until I collect pods and then record the cross and number of seeds. I've found that these paper tags work the best for me, and when I used to hybridize roses I used the same type of tags but had to put scotch tape over everything I wrote because they had to stay on for 3-4 months and insects would eat away the paper if I didn't. Rainfall is NEVER a problem here in summer, so they never faded too much. And now since these tags stay on about 60-70 days at most and are in a more protected area I no longer have to use the scotch tape.

I use surveyor's tape in the green color if I can find it. I have a large stash of
yarn from my knitting days, so I use the yarn to tie the tags on the pod.

Not necessarily my favored materials to use, but it uses up what I have on hand.
I write both pod and pollen on tag, and the date it was crossed, and if it was
crossed at an odd time of day, then I also put the time.

This year I had to cut off the scapes before the pods were ripe, and thought it might
not work out, but lo and behold, they worked just fine. I put the scapes in vases
of water in front of an east facing window.

Good information, I will use what I got and work out a system before I do more than one. I can't imagine coming into the house with a box of pods.

Dot, you are too funny but I do agree, just buy another one because no need to spend all day looking for a 1.00 shovel.

Tink, sorry to hear about your paper clips fading. that is something I would not have thought of so the plain ones with the tags would be best as long as the pencil does not fade. That is why I went to the trouble to buy the #9 from Amazon, they do not sell them in the stores. But if regular pencil works I will not bother looking for them! I'll save my energy for trowels and stuff.

I use the #9 mechinal pencil just because I like the feel of the pencil and the hardness of the lead. The Pentel QE519 has a rubber grip and I really like the way it fits to my hand. Now, when I can't find mine, I too, use just a plain old yellow #2 pencil until my favorite can be found. I found mine at Office Max and Staples. Walmart does not carry them (pentel) locally but they do have the #9 lead. I've used pencils to mark my mini blind lables since 2001. I haven't lost a label to fade out yet. (once I tried a sharpie and that was nearly a diaster, but did catch it in time to redo them all in pencil) I have lost some mini blind labels to breakage but if you are lucky enough to find the older hard mini blinds instead of the paper thin new ones, they will last for years and years.

Yeah, those sharpies fade real bad. I think the pencils and mini blinds would be the most cost efficient way to go. How long does a regular mini blind last before they break?

Dot said---So you can't find something you lost huh? Well join the crowd. Sometimes I figure it is easier to rebuy something than to go looking for it for long periods of time. Of course if it is something expensive, that is another story.


I am in the same boat. I bought an inexpensive ph/fertilizer meter online back in April. I never did use it and now cannot find it. I want to check the ph in the beds that we added lime to in early April. We had 13 soil tests done through our local extension agent in early April. We had to add lime and more to most all of these beds. Now, I want to retest with the meter as well as test the new beds put in since. If we need to add lime, I would rather do it now instead of waiting until spring. If we find the first one, then we can both be testing at the same time.

Doris

Susan, Fred can answer this better if he reads this tomorrow since he's been using them for years. I've used them for 2 years now and only break the ones that I didn't get the hole close enough to the end so when I put the paperclip on it it tears the little piece between the hole and the end. I just buy the cheapy blinds from Walmart.

Doris, that gives us all something to think about.

Tink, It probably don't matter as long as you keep your eye on it. I was just going go remove extra blinds from the bottom if I need them. I buy the plastic sticks to shove into the ground when I plant fans, well most of them.

If you punch the hole correctly they will last until I have filled up both sides with information, (several years). I do not try to erase them because they are so cheap to make. I also use a #2 pencil which will not fade for several years.
These are seedlings moved from the field to the hybridizing area and the information is written on a mini blind with a #2 pencil and will be there for a minimum of three years until I register the plant or destroy it.

Thanks Fred, that is very impressive. Do you have them tied to the tubes or did you shove them into the opening?

Susan, they are just shoved in the holes. They fit snug enough that they don't go anywhere even in a storm.

That's what I thought but I wasn't sure how long he cuts them. Is that PVC pipe? Fred is so organized.

Yep it's PVC pipe and I'm not sure how long those tags are