Thank you Paul. I removed them from the cups that had the other seeds in them.

Remember--ignorance, here. That said... > To develop bee pods on Iris to get seed, you just leave the bloom stalks alone and see if any develop, right? (Like one would do with Daylilies.)

Pretty much yes, Debra, they would start to grow larger quite soon after the bloom fades, but don't dead head until you see if one is developing.

when one starts developing make sure you capture it in a net bag to prevent insects from entering the pod and feasting on the seeds. I had two great bee pods and took great care of them to find them empty of seeds. I thought I was going to have enough seeds to grow and share. I was disappointed to say the least then an iris friend mailed me some seeds and I am treating them like solid gold. They are from little guys. The ones I grew were on TB's but I would have grown anything just to see new irises. I know..... don't expect beauties.... but you never know. smiles

I had three bee pods this year on one plant, and none of them had seeds. I don't think that is unusual, as I've heard others mention how that often is the case.

Why wait for bee pods when it is so easy to make planned crosses?

Yes, and you get to know both parents!

I don't know how. I have thought about it but I think I would just mutilate some irises.

I wish I could follow a hybridizer around in the garden when the hybridizing is being done. I could learn so much.

There are some iris hybridizing instructional videos on Youtube, Bonnie.

It's really easy Bonnie. This is my first year seriously growing irises and I did a number of crosses successfully! Now I just need to find a better way of marking them because the snails are my paper hang tags...so I don't know the pollen parents...but because of the string hanging I knew which ones were intentional crosses and which were bee pods.

Has anybody out there found a good plastic tag for marking their crosses? Can you recommend sources?

Jan - can you post a link to the youtube videos?

Sure, Greg, I'll give it a go.

This video is of Hugh Stout of Dancing Tree Iris
demonstrating how to hybridize irises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

There are others on Youtube. I haven't watched them all.

Hope the link works!

The link works and it's a good introduction to the mechanics of pollinating an iris. Thanks for posting the link Jan!

You're welcome, Marilyn!

We use paper string tags & use carbon pencil for writings. the rain doesn't spoil marked that way.

A lot of people seem to use paper string tags...so that's what I tried last year, but the snails ate most of them , which is why I'm looking for an option that is plastic.

Need to put snail bait around your tagged areas!

I've tried snail bait, and will continue to use it, but since I have my irises planted all around my yard...not just in a few beds, and I live on an acre, it gets very expensive using Sluggo. I've tried several other methods...but they are labor intensive. So although I will continue to try to keep the snails under control I doubt I'll ever get them all, and I don't want to lose even one tag if I can help it. That's why I'm looking for an alternative to the paper tags. But I do appreciate your kindness in make a helpful suggestion! Thanks!

Buy some small plastic plant labels. Some already have a hole. I use twist ties to hook them to the flower.