Pod presser! Love it! Thanks Tracey and Jim, I have renewed hope now that Tiger Babies will produce kids with the right partner. I'll try and remember to take pics of the different pods and their contents when they're dried, and note how soft or otherwise the pods feel.

The first pods have started to dry out and crack open here over the past week, so I have been collecting them and allowing the seed to dry. I sorted the seed today and got mixed results. Unsurprisingly, the first of the 'Tiger Babies' crosses (with what I am reasonably sure is 'Pearl Jessica') was mostly chaff (two good seeds and about a dozen "maybes" out of three pods of the same cross). Wasn't expecting much because of its reputation to produce chaff.

However, I got a rather nice surprise from another cross, from which I collected the pods yesterday. This was the first cross I made - 'Mapira' X 'Tiny Rocket'. I was fully expecting it to be chaff, since 'Mapira' is an L/A and likely 3N, whilst 'Tiny Rocket' (Asiatic) is probably just 2N. There were three reasons this cross happened - curiosity (would a 3Nx2N work), availability ('Tiny Rocket' was the only pollen available, as nothing else was in flower) and interest (I liked both).

Photos of 'Mapira' - 8th November 2016 and 19th November 2016. Pollinated on the 6th.


'Tiny Rocket' - forced and sold out-of-season at Bunnings. Collected some pollen back in May 2016 and stored it in the freezer. Clearly it worked!


Pods on the 23rd of Feb:


The final count: 356 chaff, 35 "maybes" and 131 good seed from the two pods! Not bad for a cross that "shouldn't" have worked. I also know that they will germinate, as four had tried to in the pod (two of which I think have dried out too much and died, but the other two I will try to save and put in a bag along with a few other seeds that were quite plump).


I will be very interested to see what these produce. A dwarf version of 'Mapira' and the colour of 'Mapira' with the nectary frosting from 'Tiny Rocket' ('Mapira' does have some, but it's not as obvious) will be ones to look for in the results.

Congratulations Joshua! Nice fat pods and good seeds sure make for a happy feeling.

The seed pod harvest, I love it. Looks good Joshua.

That's really exciting, Joshua! And I gotta say, that's real dedication when you actually count the individual chaff pieces, too. The best I have ever done is make a estimation of percentage of the total pieces (seed and chaff).

For some, I guess I could still count.....

Martagon cross #16057 - good seed, pod, chaff, questionable seed


Super Tsing seedling #1 OP - chaff, good seed, pod


Karen North - chaff, good seed, pod, questionable seed


Martagon 1842-2 x AxST-3. This pod parent (not L. martagon var. album) always produces blond seed.




My Mapira bloomed the first season and then disappeared forever. Makes me think of that Little Bunny Foo Foo story....
Hare today, goon tomorrow.

Thanks everyone. Rick - I don't know if I'll always count the chaff, but since this season is my first attempt at hybridising, I thought I would in order to gain a clearer idea of the number of seeds per pod and the ratio of good seed to chaff.

I vaguely recall somebody commenting about trying to make crosses with "Tiger Babies" (and in particular trying to find the right pollen parent). I thought I'd post my results from this season. Bear in mind that other "Tiger Babies" clones might be more/less fertile, so your mileage could vary. But for anyone in Australia, this may be useful data.

"Tiger Babies" X "Tresor" (known 4N)
Set 3 pods. Result was 17 questionable seed and 600 chaff. Haven't had much success with "Tresor" elsewhere, either; only one cross as pollen parent worked and none as pod parent.

"Tiger Babies" X "Navarra"
Attempted to set 3 pods. None of them took. Not sure of the ploidy of "Navarra", either.

"Tiger Babies" X "Pearl Jessica" (known 4N)
Set 3 pods. Result was 2 good seed, 16 questionable seed and 637 chaff. I am not 100% certain of the ID of "Pearl Jessica" - I think it quite likely that it is correct, but am waiting for next season to confirm.

"Tiger Babies" X "Pearl Jennifer" (known 4N)
Set 3 pods. Result was only 28 questionable seed. This is in contrast to other members' comments that they have successfully gotten seed from this crossing; I suspect this is due to it being a different clone.

"Tiger Babies" X "Dreamland" (probably 2N)
Set 1 pod out of curiosity. To my surprise, this was the best result of the lot! Got 14 good seed, 19 questionable seed and 189 chaff.


It's a bit difficult to determine exactly will cross with "Tiger Babies", given its triploid nature and the fact that it was produced by embryo rescue. I decided to do some digging to see if there was any way to narrow down the list of candidates.

From the RHS register, the parentage is "Pink Tiger" X mixed pollen from pink and white Asiatics. "Pink Tiger" appears to have been created prior to 1950 and has the recorded parentage: (L. regale x Unknown) X diploid L. lancifolium

I am not certain when embryo rescue started being used, but I'm wondering if "Pink Tiger" may have been a normal hybrid. The ploidy appears to be unknown, but there are a number of other registered hybrids from the 1960s and 1970s, so it would seem to be more likely to be 2N than 3N. Assuming 2N, it would be 50% lancifolium, 25% regale and 25% unknown.

Extrapolating further, I'm guessing that the triploidy of "Tiger Babies" results from 2N from "Pink Tiger" and 1N from the pollen parent. If this is the case, then "Tiger Babies" would then theoretically be 1/3 lancifolium, 1/3 unknown Asiatic, 1/6 regale and 1/6 unknown.

If it was the unknown Asiatic that was the source of the 2N material, then it changes to 2/3 unknown Asiatic, 1/6 lancifolium, 1/12 regale and 1/12 unknown.

It would seem an Asiatic with strong L. lancifolium background might be a good start point?

Good work, Joshua. I just opened all my Tiger Babies pods for the season, all 19 of them... and I might have one good seed out of the lot. Might. Will try to upload pics later.

I just noticed this one today in the seedling patch, don't know how I missed it until now. A variegated seedling from Lefty's (L. davidii v. willmottiae x L. Olina) X (L. Tinos x L. Olina):




Didn't someone else get a variegated seedling from this or a similar cross? There is another variegated seedling but not as prominent as this one.

Wow! Lilies are full of surprises.

Well I don't know where those genes would have come from, but what a find!

How does its rate of growth compare to the siblings? (Although I don't think that little bit of lack of chlorophyll would have any bearing.)

Rick, this one seems about average for the lot. A couple are taller and several shorter or about the same height. I'll be watching how this one grows.

The variegated one has bloomed! The Force of Olina is strong in this one!




I don't really believe this is variegated foliage but some other environmental thing was going on during this very wet spring. A couple of other unrelated seedlings:

I see quite a bit of this in varying degrees this year. I think it's moisture and soil temperature related. Up until recently it's been cold and wet and then the soil temperature jumped about 10 degrees here in just the last few days pushing some pretty rapid growth. I think everything will color up in a few days.

EDIT added: Photos just taken this evening.

Pretty Olina bloom pard.

It's gone from warmish to hot now here. And from a drier air to so humid you sweat standing still outside air.

It's not Olina, mags. It's Lefty's (L. davidii v. willmottiae x Olina) X ( Tinos x Olina).

The seedling is actually a more brilliant orange than my camera shows.

Roosterlorn said:
African Lady (OT3n) tested: 2n=2%, 3n=79%, 4n=11%, Less than 4n=8%

WAY BACK MACHINE!

Isn't African Lady a nepalense hybrid?
It's available in Australia this year, not having recognized it I checked it's page and posts. Maybe you were referring to something else or it was thought to be an OT back in 2014?

I believe it a Nepalese cross back to an OT.

Protoavis said:
Isn't African Lady a nepalense hybrid?
It's available in Australia this year, not having recognized it I checked it's page and posts. Maybe you were referring to something else or it was thought to be an OT back in 2014?

There is little information on this one. From the Hyde website it mentions it as a second generation nepalense hybrid which made me think it was bred from Kushi Maya but based on follow-up inqueries with Richard he shared that my assumption was not correct. With the yellow in this - it seems it is not a nepalense x Oriental hybrid but more likely a nepalense x OT hybrid as suggested.

Yesterday the North Star Lily Society in Minnesota had their March education meeting.
-- -- Speaker: Judith Freeman !!!
Two sessions - Hands on Tissue culture; Oriental Trumpets

These are most of my notes. Tracey and Dave were also there, and I hope they can add theirs, 'cause I know I am missing some things. Judith has so much relevant stuff to say that she hardly stops talking!

possible supply companies - Phytotech Labs. also companies that supply mycology.

The transfer box (and Judith Freeman): a box wiped down to be sterile with a clear glass/plastic sloping front to work behind (and inside)


sterilize instruments/surfaces by dipping in alcohol and burning off, or dip in alcohol and air dry.

10% bleach soak for 20 minutes for scales, etc.

Rescue embryos 6 weeks after pollenation of flower.

Browning seeds are definitely too old for embryos that need rescuing.


when transferring bulbs/plants from test tube to soil, be sure to rinse roots.

bulbs grown in tubes hold a lot more water weight than seedlings not grown in vitro. They need extra time to harden off, as they will dry out more easily.

can skip cold treatment when planting bulbs if tips of bulblets are exposed to light.

---

L. speciosum is only oriental lily that is virus resistant(more likely tolerant) and heat tolerant. In Anastasia's parentage.

L. rubellum has the same red gene as L. speciosum, but also has a colorless gene that dilutes the color, making it light pink.

Get her seed of what she calls Silver Summers End from her website. has strong resistance genetics.

She uses Leslie Woodriff (4n) to test if pollens are 4n or not, because it is so fertile.

L. henryi has two different light orange genes(she called them melon orange)