beckygardener said:Michele - Raven (adorable) looks like your little gardening buddy and maybe even future hybridizer!!! My oldest (3 1/2 yrs old) granddaughter was over on Thanksgiving Day and she kept wanting to go out into the backyard. She loves being outside at my house. And she wanted to dig in the dirt. (Which is funny because she is otherwise very much the little clean princess!), but her and I turned dirt in an area I've been piling removed dirt. She loved it and I thought it was funny! But that's how it begins ....[quote]
Yes she is a future daylily addict for sureOne day I overheard her telling/showing her mommy how to pollinate a flower; it was too cute.
Raven and Kim (my best friend and hybridizing partner)
[quote="beckygardener"]So let me have you clarify something for me, please ...?[quote]
You collect/harvest seeds no later than June 1st? I know you do not chill any of those seeds as I've read that in one of your previous posts. Do you then dry them out and then plant or do you plant the seeds right away after removing them from the pods? You start them in the seed trays. And then move them at 6 weeks old into the ground or a pot? Or am I getting confused?
No we stop pollinating by June 1st and then collect the seed pods hopefully no later than Aug 1st. I can't speak for Fred, but I plant the seeds right away after removing from the pods. If I'm not planting right away and need to store them in the fridge I DO NOT dry mine first; I roll them in a paper towel to remove any moisture on the outside of seed. I believe it was Fred or Kathleen who told me to do this and I have had no problems with mold. I do dry them if I am selling seed for a day or so before I store in the fridge (only time I really do this) I then put into glassine envelope which are air and moisture resistant (the kind you would put stamps in when collecting/saving them);I got this from Mick Morry as he uses them and has never had trouble with moisture/seeds rotting . I think it also depends on how cold your fridge gets, how much moisture control the crisper drawers have and/or how often you may go in and out of the fridge. I also have stored then in the plastic baggies with a piece of paper towel since the plastic can tend to condensate
This past season I didn't put them in the fridge, I just left them in the envelopes or in Dixie cups on the table until I was ready to plant (usually within a week). One reason I don't dry them before planting (usually) is because I see no point in drying them then having to wait for them to rehydrate if I am planting them right away. I think the main reason to dry them is so they won't cause mold issues when they are stored in the fridge for a period of time.
Yes we start them in seeds trays and then at 6 weeks old they are either planted in the ground or a pot. Fred always plants his in the ground, I have done both and it just depends on the room I have.
beckygardener said: I grow mine in rows in small plastic shoe bins (with holes burned in the bottoms for drainage). I then transplant to styrofoam cups. 12 oz. cups. And then into another outdoor rectangular container where they grow until Fall. But I know they are not getting enough root room, so that is likely my dilemma. I need them to grow in something much larger or individual pots like you do.
So if I'm reading this correctly you actually transplant them more than once? From shoe bins to Styrofoam cups to rectangular container or is the Styrofoam cups being put in the rectangular container? Also, I'm assuming that in the fall the are them transplanted into the ground?
I think if you plant them in the fall you would have a better chance at blooms first year. Not all will bloom first year but you will get quite a lot. And also maybe not transplant them so many times as IMHO this is causing setbacks since each time they are transplanted the roots are disturbed and then they must regrow roots and get re-established. Unless of course when they come out of the containers you don't disturb the roots and it's almost as if they were never messed with. I would sow the seed however works best for you then transplant them into their permanent home instead whether it be a pot or the ground and forget the in between planting in the cups.
What do you use to mark the pods? I have seen some tags hanging from some pods, but I don't know what those tags are?
We use a couple of different things to mark the pods. One is the mini blinds cut into 2" pieces then a hole punched into them and a paper clip. You write on the tag with a pencil. Here is Fred's photo of them
The other thing we use is colored paper clips or colored wires. We give the pollen a color and write it down.
Hazelcrestmikeb said:.
I have read of hybridizers that had ten to fifteen thousand seedlings. Somehow the name "Apps" is ringing in my ear.
)
for all the deeply helpful descriptions - they really help to get a better feel for how and when to handle pods, pollen, seeds, and seedlings for best chances of a cross and earliest blooms. For what it's worth, for other hobby hybridizers like me with little space, I read once that one long-time commercial hybridizer felt they could get a good feel for the merits of a cross with just a couple dozen seeds/seedlings. I'm excited to paint with those limited finger paints (2 dozen) even when those with the means (tens of thousands of air brush shadings) are doing the needed work of finding the one-in-a-thousand (and glad for their intro's as they become attainable!).
I had always in the past started my seeds in Winter (like you) and always got blooms the following year. This year I switched it up and got most all the seeds germinated before the end of October except a win on the LA that I am waiting to receive. (Couldn't pass up some spider form daylily seeds that were really super cheap!) Maybe I will name one or more of YOUR hybrid seeds/plants after some loved ones! Ya never know what will be the "one"! 10 to 15 THOUSAND seedlings grown at some hybridizer's nurseries ... that would likely put me over the edge trying to keep up with them all! Geez ... I can NOT even imagine that many hybrids from seeds! Yikes!
beckygardener said:
Ok ... I may have missed this somewhere along the line ... Do you and Michele grow your daylilies at the same place?
I wish I grew mine at Fred's place, there would be A LOT LESS work to do 
beckygardener said:Brilliant idea to add a piece of paper towel in the baggies in the fridge! I need to try that. Condensation is something I see occasionally. Thank you for that tip!
beckygardener said:Yes! You are correct, I do plant mine at least twice, sometimes 3 times. I never thought of it causing any set-backs to do that. They always seem to grow like weeds here. But you are probably right! Hmmmm .... may have to re-think my transplanting as excessive
beckygardener said: I don't quite understand how you use paperclips to attach the pod labels? How do you get the paperclips on the pod stems?
beckygardener said:If I get seeds from someone else that did the cross and I wanted to register the daylily, who do I put down as they hybridizer? The person I got the seed from or who?
beckygardener said:
I wished more hybridizers sold some of their seeds. (I know some do.)
spunky1 said:
On a lighter subject, today is my birthday, Kathleen and I are leaving here at 10am for Hattiesburg Mississippi to pick up two daylilies, from there we are going to Biloxi and check into a casino hotel and stay the night. Will be back here tomorrow evening.
I hope you and Kathleen have a good time and win lots of money.
florange said:Tink, I keep detailed records of when my plants bloom. ... it keeps me busy. If Becky is 9b, then I'm 9a irregardless of what that updated map says!
tink3472 said:
I still think Dave needs to come up with a smiley with a birthday hat or a balloons or something for birthdays
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Fred
