Seedfork said:I have seen a couple of posts that say the insects are successful when the gardener is not, why is that. Do they deposit the pollen in a different manner, do they have something that makes the pollen stick better? Could it be a mix of several pollens and therefore a better chance on one taking? Has anyone ever mixed three or four pollens and tried that? You would not know which one took, but you might set a pod like a bee.
@seedfork
The grower needs to check that the insects did not simply set a pod but that the pod actually matured, had what appeared to be mature seeds in it and that the seeds actually sprouted. I grow a substantial number of diploid cultivars in large clumps or rows. Some of them set substantial numbers of naturally pollinated pods. However, very few of those natural pollinations actually produce any seeds. Most of the pods abort at some time. Some of the natural pollinations that set pods are cross-ploidy pollinations. They sometimes may remain on the scape until apparent maturity but may not have any seeds that sprout. Other times the natural pollinations may be self-pollinations. On self-incompatible plants those may set pods that may sometimes remain for a long time but again may not have any viable seeds.
Or there other possibilities. The insects may be pollinating the plants before the hybridizer. If those are self-pollinations of a self-incompatible plant then the pods will abort and it will appear as if the hybridizer's cross was at fault. One hybridizer found that none of their crosses on a particular daylily ever took. That is, until they realized they were being beaten to the flowers by night-flying moths. The hybridizer produced successful hand-pollinations by pollinating the flowers in the middle of the night.
Setting pods is not enough. Producing seedlings from seeds from the pods is necessary to indicate that the cross was a success.
