Nice pods coming along, guys!
Oh yeah, I remember now someone mentioning those bread tags before, and I thought to myself: "what a good idea", and then proceeded to forget about it.
Luka, you remember the incredible odds of the parentage of Black Beauty, being speciosum x henryi. I assume the opposite cross was even more difficult. But it's always fun to try and see for yourself what happens. You never know, and your different climate may factor in. Even if you do get some good looking embryos, the bigger hurdle is if the endosperm is compatible. Be sure to keep us posted, even if it is all chaff.
One always hears that you should not be allowing too many seed pods to mature on the same stem, because there isn't enough energy in the plant to go around. Many say only one pod to a stem. I think it really depends on the vigor and type of the individual lily plant. Actually, I do way more crosses than I plan to keep to the end. Mostly, it will be goofy crosses that no one would ever expect to take, along with competent cross(es) on the same stem. For instance, the Anastasia x Sarabande pod I showed above was one of four pollinations I did on that same stem. The other three were Anastasia x Yin (which did not take, not even a tiny bit).
For me, this year in particular has been hard on the lilies, being a dry and very hot year in comparison to normal. (I'm certainly not putting myself in the same boat as you all out west, but you know what I mean.) I had planned on allowing two pods to develop on many (most) of my lilies that I pollinated. For some, it was pretty clear in the initial phase the letting two develop was a bad idea, so on these I selected one. Still, some I allowed two to continued, and as time went on, I surmised that their slow development was caused by the overtaxing of energy by the two pods. I cut one off on each, and the ensuing spurt of growth on the remaining pods was quite amazing.
And this year, for the stems that remain with two pods, I kinda wish I would have thinned, too. Pods are definitely smaller than I think they should be.
But, in good years with vigorous plants, multiple pods aren't a problem.
