From what I have read some daylilies will never convert and others are extremely hard. There was at least one that Waldrop was trying to convert since 2003 and finally got a conversion in 2010. That's 7 years of time and money not to mention patience trying to convert that one cultivar.
I could kick myself for spending that much $$$$ on one daylily but I do appreciate what went into converting it and hopefully it won't die on me at least not until I can save plenty of pollen. And if it does I will be sick to my stomach for awhile but that's just the chance you take with a conversion.
For those who may not have read the description of Tet My Cup Overflows here is what Larry had to say about the cost
" I would like to share the reason for why the high cost of the conversions. I have a partner with " T. MY CUP OVERFLOWS" we gave about $1500 for the diploid plants, then it was to grow and increase the plants before we could began to do the treatment. After the process of treatment begins then your in for a four month daily baby sitting job, and at times we have a high death rate of plants lost during this process, plus the cost of colchicine. But it is well worth it just for the new genetics."
So then the wait begins for a bloom to see if it is converted, if not then you try again and again. If you don't have a climate controlled greenhouse like Waldrop then you will have to wait the normal length of time for bloom season so if you have failed conversions then you are basically waiting a year for the next bloom season after each failed conversion to see if it took with the next treatment. If you have a climate controlled greenhouse then you can have blooms whenever you want even in Dec and the process may go bit quicker on getting to check the pollen. And of course once there is increase you have to check that pollen on each fan to make sure it is converted. Then when it is divided and if it survives then you must wait for it to bloom to check the pollen to make sure it actually stayed converted and is 100% converted.
Lots and lots of time really does go into this process.
