Gale,
If high temps (above 85 is usually the limit people say) are a problem where you live, then make sure shade is available for those DLs you wish to make pod parents. Shade could be moving a pot to a less sunny area when you put pollen on it. If planted in the ground, a beach umbrella or some other form of shade that you can do would keep the temp right for forming pods. While we are Zone 7 and it gets pretty hot here, some areas of our garden don't hit that 85 because of the shade of trees, so our crosses "take" because those flowers don't get too hot. Making crosses in the early morning when the pollen is ready and the pistil is ready is a good thing if possible for you. Narrow your goals for your seedlings is a difficult, but necessary, as the more defined goals, the easier it is to work toward smaller goals. TM would say to focus on a very few pollen parents and pod parents, just use your best. Most of us used everything we liked when we started, but produced too many seeds to plant at some point, Then, we become more selective in the crosses.
Like I know what I am talking about,\
David
