When tissue cultured (micropropagated, etc.) daylilies first started appearing and buyers complained about the plants not being the same as the asexually propagated versions (divisions/clones) I also ran a small test. I bought a half dozen tc cultivars of which I also had the clonal versions and I compared the two types. I did not find any significant differences. None of the tc versions I bought were small; they were blooming size.
I did notice one important difference. Daylilies bought from nurseries typically were not the same flower colour as those I had growing in my field - at first. It took quite a few consecutive blooms before the nursery plants were the same as the field plants. It turns out that is because the nursery plants are typically grown in greenhouses all winter and do not receive enough light to be normal when the flower buds first start to develop (months before they bloom). That is apparently a well known effect of growing plants in greenhouses during winter in the north.
I am going to open another thread to discuss why most tests looking for differences done in home gardens do not show or test what the gardeners think they are testing (
The thread "How to test for differences in the home garden." in
Daylilies forum). I will discuss why that is and what would have to be done to make such tests actually look at the possibility of certain effects.
