I only give a number to the cross at first, and then assign a letter to the ones of that cross that I keep. The rest get made into compost.

1998 was the year that I got deep into double letters with the crosses. I won't be making that many again. I am up to C this year (bee pods) the ones which were on purpose didn't take. I got 6 seeds from a pumila at our iris meeting in Nov. So that will be a 'D' cross if I can find enough soil to put in a pot to winter it over.

If a hybridizer is consistent in terms of how they label crosses, you can actually glean quite a bit of information about an iris from just the seedling number.

Just a random example, Keith Keppels iris 'Another Suggestion' has a seedling number of 06-156G ( Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Another Suggestion') ). That tells you that it came from a cross made in 2006, it was cross number 156 of that year, 'Another Suggestion' was the 7th seedling (G being the seventh letter of the alphabet) to get a number from that cross, and 'Another Suggestion' is a sibling to 'Friendly Advice' (its seedling number is 06-156Q).

I believe Paul Black uses a letter to designate the year of his crosses. All his seedlings that have a seedling number starting with, say, "R" were hybridized in the same year. All of the seedlings with numbers that start with "S" would be from the following year's crosses, etc.

I largely imitated Keith's numbering system except I separate the crosses by class. So, 'Livy' has a seedling number of 13T-11b, which means it came from a cross made in 2013, it was a tall bearded cross, it was the 11th successful TB cross that year, and it was the "b" seedling (that particular cross got as far as "p").

Similarly, this standard dwarf bearded seedling is numbered 13D-01c for a cross that was done in 2013, was the 1st successful SDB cross that year, and was the "c" seedling.


I don't know how others do it, but I don't give a cross a number unless it actually sets a pod. I do keep track of the unsuccessful crosses, but not giving them a number allows me to easily sort them from the successful crosses in my spreadsheet.

If I had it to do over, I might either copy Keith's numbering system exactly or use Paul's, simply because typing 15T-01a, 15T-01b, etc., etc., on my map of the seedling beds is really tedious. For me at least, more tedious means more prone to errors. Simpler is better as long as it's a logical system and results in a unique number for each seedling.

What a pretty Iris, Kent!

I agree, that is one nice seedling!

I don't give numbers to unsuccessful crosses either. I only give a cross number to those that produce seeds that I plant.

Wow, I'm loving that dwarf seedling!

Thank you everyone for the hybridizing info. I'm going to try a bunch of crosses in 2017 so this is very helpful.

ok, I'll put my 2 cents in.

I will give a cross # to pods that have seeds. No need to do every cross. Simply system here.
Example first pod to be opened with seeds gets #1, next pod gets 2 etc...
The next number will be the year 12,13,14, whatever the year is.
Then once there is a seedling to bloom, and I decided to keep it thru round 1 it will get a -1 or -2 etc.

From then on that number will stay with that seedling. Thru all rounds. Till it finds a name.

So the seedling number would look like the 40-12-7.

40=40th pod to have seeds
12=2012
-7= the 7th seedling to get kept

Now out of that cross I had maybe 10 in round 1.
After round 2 there are only 2 left, -1 & -7.

It works for me.

Dachsylady86 said:Wow, I'm loving that dwarf seedling!

Thank you everyone for the hybridizing info. I'm going to try a bunch of crosses in 2017 so this is very helpful.

I agree on the dwarf seedling, I love it and would buy it in a heartbeat.
I'm also loving this thread. It's very helpful in understanding how to read the cross information.
to everyone posting.

Whatever gives information is the right one. Then you know where you are. We had said we were going to do this type of thread to make us feel better when there was noting to look at.

So I was taking time to check the parents of the plants of my MTB cross in 2003. So checked in iris encyclopedia. Luckily the pod parent had names in the background--so check your ( ) & x .
Yellow Flirt was listed as: (Buenita x Amethyst Sunset) x Bellboy) x Chickee) X unknown. Looks like a bee pod on a complicated seedling.
Since Yellow Flirt has an orange beard, it is mixed chromosome plant as orange & pink etc doesn't appear in diploids. The pollen parent is all seedling numbers except for Spanish Coins so you can't figure out the color genes. Then as I showed before different colors came up.

I realized that Paul Black uses a letter to indicate yea. I have followed some of his SDB numbering system to see which plants are siblings.

Whatever works for the hybridizer's memory is the way to go.

16A07 - year, cross, 7th seedling to be kept.
I like to put the year first, because that way I find it easier to tell if I am looking (in my notes) at new seedlings, seedlings which might bloom or seedlings that have been saved through 1 or more rounds. I use a letter to indicate the cross, as I will not(!) make more than 28 crosses (numbers of letters in the Danish alphabet) in a year. I only assign a letter to succesful crosses, but keep a record of unsuccesful ones too - just to educate myself on what does not work or is difficult. I too only give a number to seedlings which are not composted in the first round.

PS: My seedlings from 2014 has a 'Je' in front of the seedling number and no letter to indicate the cross (e.g. Je1403) as those seedlings are grown from seeds I bought ('Je' indicating the seller) and I have no information on what crosses were involved.

The seeds I planted a few weeks ago are starting to come up!! I got them from @irisfirefighter when Cory generously gave some extra seeds away. I've never done seeds before so this is a little trial and error for me. I'm keeping them inside by the windows in my bedroom and will not be put outside until planting next year. Because the crosses were already given names, I'll be sticking with them if any are worth keeping, then I'll probably do the year first followed by number of cross for that year and a,b,c, etc.

#42-16 Leopard Print X Cimarron Trail

Surprised that you are keeping them inside & they are germinating. The seeds usually need cold to germinate or did you do the refrigerator trick? That trick seems too much work.

We can't plant out until May so good not to have to bother with inside plants. Good luck with them. I wonder if any plicata types will show up. I don't think that Cimarron Trail has those genes so you might have to plant any flowers with plicata to get that trait.

I did keep them in the refrigerator before planting. They were kept in a small paper envelope behind the condiments I don't know what to expect as far as traits go, I just want to see if I can successfully grow seedlings. I have a bunch of planned crosses next year if the selected plants bloom.

iciris said:I found this yesterday:
http://www.leonineiris.com/l9i...
I thought it was interesting.

It was suggested I put this link on this thread, which was a good idea.

I enjoyed looking at the MTB photos & pleased to find John's 'Billie the Brownie' & my 'Elfin Shadows' included. That is a lot of travel time to take pictures. I will check back next spring to see which ones they grow. Anything with pink or orange flowers are tetraploid or mixed chromosome flowers.

I notice that they list a very nice list of terms if someone is confused about them.

They have amassed a nice collection of photos, too.......I think , now, they are mostly into PCI breeding and sales, as I have tried to order some bearded, and they replied they no longer had them.

I have a few of the seeds on which I tried the tea soaking method germinate now (at room temperature) about a month and a half after soaking them and then putting them in small plastic containers with moist paper tissues. So far, only 3 seeds have sent out roots, so it could be a total fluke, but so far so good!

Since many are trying crosses this year I thought this thread should be revived.

Jan, I think it might have been Cory that was giving/selling (?) his seeds. Sounds familiar.