Lynn,
Of course grading from photos is always dangerous but they certainly can give us glimpses into what they could be. Does everyone have a copy of the criteria for judging their seedlings? I know we can upload photos but can we upload text??
and Lynn is right that it is possible to get a good semp from open pollinated seed but it is pretty rare. Ed Skrocki raised about 20K seedlings/ year to get his named ones! However, it does help you learn your technique for growing out seedlings and there certainly are tricks to it. Some semps are certainly better parents than others too. 'Silverine' and 'Cleveland Morgan' rarely gave an ugly seedling and I went back to them a good bit in my breeding. In fact, the 'Frost and Flame' X 'Pacific Blue Ice' seedlings are an F3 from 'Silverine' so that line is still continuing. Other parents were DUDS. They can't all be the "Katy Holmes" of the semp world!
Kevin
