Michele I also talked to Dan Trimmer about LVT and he said he killed the first ones this year due to the heat, will try again soon since it's cooled off. These are the plants James took him, so you may already know this. I ordered both of the Rainbow plants from Dan, even tho they are sibs I have a plan for them being they are both long pedaled. Could you post a link to the site where you inquired about the Colchicine.
DELANEYS RAINBOW

MACKENZIE'S RAINBOW

Here you go Fred

the company main website
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/un...

customer service number
Customer Support within the USA:
Phone: 800-325-3010

The colchicine Bill uses
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/ca...

This thread could get very interesting if Michele and Fred document what they do! Sooooo fascinating!!!

Yes, I too am interested in this conversion process, but am too scared to try. I dislike using chemicals of any type, although I understand most of it is wood pulp. I will leave this to those hybridizers who want to play with this stuff. I understand that the biggest problem with conversions besides killing the plant, is that if the plant makes it thru the conversion, the possibility of pollen sterility is high.

However, if anyone out there is interested, I would dearly love to see Polston's new diploid, 'Lemon Drop Lollipops' converted to a Tetra. Love, love, love this daylily.

Alex, that's a nice one. http://pleasantvalleygardens.n...

Fred will not be doing it, Michele will be the one, I will supply all the dips she needs. She already has someone to show her how.

Fred said he was too old to start trying new things

Yes I have Larry Grace (if he ever can get out of the peanuts) that will show me and Bill Waldrop does a great job on showing how he does it on his blog. It really doesn't seem to be too hard to do the cutting (I say that now) and adding the chemicals, it's NOT killing them that is the hard part and making sure they actually are converted. You have to keep a close eye on them to make sure that they don't rot. I have a place I can keep them dry and can keep a fan on them to try and keep them cool and from developing rot.

Michele - YOU go girl!!! I hope you will document it here for the rest of us! It sounds so exciting to try something so out-of-the-box to make a new plant! Looking forward to reading more ....

This is really exciting, Michele! Bill Waldrop told me a few months back that he feels the only way to come up with anything truly new in hybridizing now is through tet conversions, and that's why he's so interested.

I asked him if he thought Liz Shooter's ART OF ILLUSION would be a good candidate for conversion, and he said he thought there wasn't enough color saturation in the blooms of that daylily for converting, which I thought was interesting. Here is ART OF ILLUSION, which I think is a really gorgeous daylily!

http://www.mariettagardens.com...

And I do hope that when you embark on this project you will keep us informed (with pictures too) on your progress. This will be a wonderful educational experience for those of us who are interested!

That's a very pretty one Betty

I am not sure if this link has been posted, but found this to be quite interesting:
http://www.daylilynet.com/id59...

Interesting photos of "Pattern Maker" as a Dip and a Tet. I also thought the magnified photos of the good and bad pollen was really fascinating!

Further info on Pattern Maker in Tet form. (Selling for $1,000 for a single fan ????)
http://www.daylilynet.com/patt...

Michele - If you are successful converting some popular cultivars ... you may have a goldmine on your hands!

beckygardener said:

Michele - If you are successful converting some popular cultivars ... you may have a goldmine on your hands!

If I don't kill them all My friend Kim had a nice, long conversation with Jamie Gossard today and he even said it's an easy process to try and convert daylilies but what's hard is keeping the plants alive.

Did Jamie expand on what's hard about trying to keep the daylilies alive? What will you be looking for as warning signs that they are failing? Very interesting topic!

Dayjillymo said:Did Jamie expand on what's hard about trying to keep the daylilies alive? What will you be looking for as warning signs that they are failing? Very interesting topic!

During the process of converting anything that turns brown on the foliage ( what little there is) can turn to rot and go into the crown and kill the plant. Also, if the foliage that's growing cups over then it can cause rot so it will need to be cut open so it will grow correctly. So basically rot is the big killer of the conversion process.

Rot is also the big killer after their mature plants, bloomed and you want to divide them. I know this from dividing a couple, about 1/3 will die no matter what you dip them in or power them with. I did everything I have been told to do, soak them in Banrot and a couple other rot chemicals, powered them after drying, and let them set 24 hours before planting. This has been my experience with conversions and may be one reason why their so expensive.

This was interesting: "Polyploidy in Daylily and Hosta"
http://www.hostalibrary.org/mi...

I see elsewhere that octaploid plantings have been produced in daylilies. I wonder if they were viable?

I had read that hybridizers of orchids had produced octaploids many years ago
They were useless for breeding as the pollen/gamets were too large to enter the pistil/style
This happens a lot with some tetraploid daylies also
Over the years I have bought many conversions and converted a few myself, only to have them rot in a couple of years

Hello Charlie, been a long time.

Hi Fred
Been downsizing,age is cathing up with me
It seems the ground has gotten further away
Spending more time growing heirloom pole beans,butterbeans and souther peas

I have talked with both Bill W. and Dan T. water is the main issue after treatment. I am hoping to try in a few weeks on a few dips that I have been growing inside.