Hi,
This is for our group that is working on making new seeds to sell and daylilies. I am a novice and have some questions.
I know many use different methods to tag your crosses. I bought some wires on LA but have used them all. Can anyone tell me what to purchase at Hobby Lobby or somewhere local? I am guessing they may have them in the craft sections. I have used the large paper clips but not a big fan, They seem pretty stiff.
I make a lot of crosses that don't seem to take. Is that normal?

I would say most of my crosses don't take.
It's probably 50/50...maybe 60/40. Very weather dependent etc. It's probably a good thing they don't all take because I have no place for all these plants. 😆

I use small white paper tags with strings and write on them with Artline Garden Markers to mark my crosses. Easy to slip on and off and reusable (usually). Sorry I can't help with the wire system.

I also note my crosses on slips of paper and then transfer to a Google sheet later on.

Another VERY helpful thing I use is a "server apron". I never have pockets it seems so that really helps keep my organized. I keep tet tags in one pocket, dips in another, and then have another pocket for ones that didn't take, pens etc. I also use a clipboard.

I usually go out first and see what's blooming and then go write out my crosses on the paper slip and the tags. Then go back out and make my crosses.

Sorry if this was more than what you asked for/TMI...

Good luck with your hybridizing!🍀

Thank you, SummerBee!
That makes me feel better because I know it is no higher than 50%. Maybe on a few plants but others seem very difficult. I have never set a pod on Webster's Pink Wonder or Blazing Saddles

You're welcome.
I think Huntress and Neon Flamingo are some of my hardest ones.
Some are very fertile and others....not so much.
I am making a very limited amount of crosses this year if I make any at all. I have to draw the line somewhere. It's so much fun but I have to be realistic. I really enjoy seeing everyone else's crosses (and buying new plants... ).
I don't take my hybridizing attempts too seriously...just a fun hobby. 😊

I also have trouble keeping the tags with the seedlings for multiple years...too many critters around here as well as frost heaves.😣

A great question. Most of us just 'play' with daylily crosses, it is just a hobby. (We will not be out there competing with those names we all know, whose daylilies we all love.) On the other hand, I read a great article in the daylily journal this past year by a hybridizer who calls himself the 'accidental hybridizer' ... started out like many of us, as a hobby and for fun... then it sort of took over his life.

(Never going to happen to us, right? )

I have to be careful to restrict my 'play time' though... I do have higher than 50% results, maybe because being in a cooler area, I don't have to worry about time of day or fertility dropping off above a certain temperature. And I don't want to 'not' grow the seeds (1000 new seedlings went into the ground this year), so I can't do too many crosses or there would be no room.

I just tag with the card-on-string (but after I write the tag, I seal it with packing tape on both sides to 'weather-proof' the tags). Sort of like DIY lamination.

I use green "Arrow" plastic key tags to mark crosses. For big tets, I use them just the way they are. For smaller and more delicate daylilies, I snip the tail and add a string to tie. I like that the green color is less obvious in pictures- it just disappears into the background foliage. Having the tag pre-written makes pod collection easier, as all the info is right there, written in Artline garden marker. Here are a couple images from yesterday, with evidence from a while back that I was working on making a delicious cross: citrina sp x countess carrots, both very edible.

I sometimes ID my photos by taking a pic of the tag. I don't bother about focus, as you can see. And it's also evident that I don't always tag in a timely fashion.

I prefer the standard sized paper clips which can be found on the ground easier when a cross doesn't take and can be reused for many years. They can be found at Staples in a multitude of colors. Search for "JAM Paper colored standard paper clips" online. Or visit the store especially when back to school shopping is in full swing when they carry many more colors in the store. I also have a paper clip system for evaluating seedlings……a white clip hung on a scape is a keeper, a black clip is a seedling scheduled for the compost heap.

I also use a few wires but find straightening them for reuse and sorting them is a pain and they are harder to find on the ground. Paper tags don't work where there is wind and rain or water from irrigation…they tear and slugs like to eat what you write on them. Plastic bread tags are expensive and they get brittle and break after only one year of sun here.

I purchased the bread bag closure type cross tags on the LA last winter. So easy to attach, lotsa room for writing. I find I'm making a lot more crosses this year because they make the process much smoother. Never could manage those strings very well. I hit the garden early am and pluck my chosen pollen donors, they go in shot glasses (keeps them upright) and I let them sit on a window sill until the anthers open. Take flower still in glass, grab my tags and pen, and back out by 9am or so. Done before the heat hits. Working well this year for this Hobby Hybridizer.

bluegrassmom
Don't worry, be happy! You are not alone in having a low success rate with your crosses.
I do find that selecting the days to do the pollinations will greatly increase you chance of success. Cloudy cool days are much preferred, temps over 85 degrees even seem to greatly reduce my percentage of success. Doing some research and determining if you pollen is even fertile and if you pod parent selection is fertile can also help with your success rate.
I am 99 percent through already with my pod collecting.Being this far south I have found it just to hot to be out there in the sun for extended periods after June.
One of the best and easiest ways of success I have found is to collect the pollen the day before, have it ready with the identifiers (wires, paper clips, beads, etc) and you can do a lot of pollinations on a good day. My plants usually don't even have pollen ready until 10:00 in the morning, and I like to be through by ten with the pollinating, then collect the pollen for the next day late in the afternoon, it worked out good for me this year. I have collected over 2000 seeds. If you have bees that seal your pollen you have to get to it quicker.
No system is right for everyone, we each seem to develop our own methods.
I guess what you use (wires, beads, paper clips large or small, pipe cleaners, yarn etc.) is just a matter of preference.
Being you mentioned hobby lobby I go to the bead section and buy colored or lettered beads and use normal paper clips with them. I use way too many pollen parents, so I have to have a lot of different pollen parent identifiers.

I use colored zip-ties.
Sometimes can be a bit fiddly to fasten. I do not add labels. The color is the label.
I keep notes on my phone, which color is which cross on that specific cultivar, then transfer to an Excel spreadsheet. I also do not bother with dates, the seeds will be ready when they are ready. I do not care when that is.

I find it is the cross that is dependent on making a seed pod, as well as environmental conditions. Some crosses just do not take, not ever (even both ways round trying many times over multiple years). So always have a backup plan.

Oh, and I write on seedpods when they are big enough, with black sharpie just notes that go along with my color code. So it is harder to mix them up when harvest time comes along.

I also bought the bread bag tags from Ruby on the LA, and I did use a few, but then had tags laying everywhere when the cross didn't take.

I love reading all of the different ways to do it, but since I am just a hobby gardener, I don't even worry about keeping records at all. I simply go out there and think this might be great with that... When it comes time for culling plants is when I have my biggest problem, because I will often keep things that should be dumped. I also mix all of my seeds together, but do keep my dips from mixing with tets. I really like the surprise of what might be blooming on any given day, and don't fret if I happen to lose some prized seeds. I do keep seeds I buy separate from mine though.

Oddly enough, I spend the winter months dreaming about crosses I want to make, but it seems that I rarely follow the list! I just now came in from the seedling beds, and thinking just how much I love my life! This is the most rewarding hobby I ever had!

I use (and reuse) the white tags on strings. A regular old Sharpie for marking.

I mark only the pollen parent on each tag and add the pod parent if I actually collect a pod. If the cross doesn't take, chances are I'm gonna try the pollen parent again on another flower (or 6), so I reuse those tags on the new hopeful pod parent.

We had a really bad (good!) t-storm with a down pour on Saturday and another last night. All tags still intact and legible.

Seeing the tags fluttering in the breeze helps me keep track of how many crosses I have made (always too many) and which cv's seem most fertile at a glance.

I was going to ask how you manage to keep track of what's what with the masses of seedlings you have, Deryll. Thanks for clearing that up! Your (almost) carefree approach would probably benefit most of us. Less worries, more enjoyment! ✌🏻🌞🏵️

I used to use regular white tags on string when I was starting. But an elderly gardener in my neighborhood made fun of me, saying my garden looked like Mini Pearl's hat. What a great observation.

So I've thought of wires and paperclips, etc. But that's too much like putting a secret code out there. You have to remember which wire goes with which pollen parent. I have to do a lot of math and auditing at work. The last thing I want to do is keep a bunch of spreadsheets reminding me of which wire color, or combination of wire colors, or combination of wire color and paperclip color represents my 300+ daylilies and hundreds of seedlings.

So I'm back to tags, but I found these much smaller tags, called jewelry tags. They are about a quarter the size of the "normal" tags and have purple threads instead of white strings. Hard to notice from a distance.

I use a pencil to write the pollen parent name (often abbreviated) and date on each side. I use the date to make sure I don't pull too early, but can harvest after 45-50 days instead of waiting for it to crack and invite earwigs in. No more spreadsheets, so secret codes.

Larry mentioned this, and I just started really paying attention this year. If you look up your prospective dance partners here, it will show their offspring and the actual cross. I spent all last summer trying to get a pod set on Exotic Starfish, only to finally have it sink in, that all it's offspring are from its pollen. Wasted alot of tags and time. This site has so much valuable info.

Thanks to all that posted. I am sure we can learn from each other. I never thought of using mailing tape on a paper tag but that would be really helpful during a rain storm. I agree it is a very fun and rewarding hobby. I don't plan on getting rich from it but it does enrich my life.

I like the tape idea too and paper clips to mark the keepers and the compost-bound.
The tags do get stuck together but when they are wet you can pull them apart easily. I do it a lot after it rains. I have started using the jewelry size ones (tiny!) but they do still have white string. Bought them (wrong size) by accident but they work just fine. They do look sort of tacky flapping in the wind when there's so many of them but...I don't care. 😎 Ultimately, My gardens are for me. 🥰

Yes, that is how I feel too. I started collecting for my own enjoyment. I sell but as of now I do not dig in the summer. If someone wants to come and look they can but I do not line out to sell during the summer. I take preorders for Spring and Fall deliveries. If you dig into a clump at 90+ degrees you have so much brown foliage.

I suspect you know this, but if you write on white tags in pencil, and not pen, they'll last all summer for you without the extra effort of clear taping them. Pen fades in the sun, and some markers melt in the rain, but pencil never lets you down.