Selecting which crosses to make
During the winter months, I begin planning the crosses I would like to make during the coming bloom season. First I identify my primary goals (what am I attempting to accomplish with my crosses). Then I review my breeding stock (including seedlings) to select which plants have the characteristics I am looking for. These will be the plants I will use in my breeding program for the upcoming year. I make sure that this list doesn't include any plants that have what I consider major flaws as I don't want to knowingly introduce bad plant traits into my line.
Using a computer spreadsheet program I enter the names of my breeding stock in column 1 which I title "pod plants". The list is in aproximately the same sequence as they are in the garden. I save a separate copy of this spreadsheet and title it 'checklist'. (More on what I use this for later).
I then review each pod plant and select the 4 pollen plants I want to cross it with. I pick only 4 because I only have 4 different color wires for marking the pods (more on that later). I display pictures of the pod plant and potential pollen plants on my computer screen to help with the selection process. Pictures are great but there are also other considerations I use when selecting the pollen plants. Most daylilies have one or more flaws and I always consider the flaws of both the pod and pollen plants when making my selections. I always try and avoid having similar flaws in both the pod and pollen plants because the flaw usually shows up in any seedlings from such a cross. Some examples of flaws I consider are low bud count, poor scape branching, 'muddy' bloom color, poor opening on cool mornings, extra tall or extra short scapes, and poor bloom substance. One other possible consideration is when during the season a daylily blooms. A pod plant that blooms extra early probably shouldn't list only late blooming pollen plants as the chances of both blooming at the same time are not all that great.
I then enter the name of each selection in the spreadsheet in columns 2 thru 5. The best potential cross goes in column 2, the next best in column 3, and so on for columns 4 & 5. These columns are titled 'Red pollen', 'Yellow pollen', 'White pollen', and 'Black pollen'. The colors refer to the colored wires I use to mark the crosses as I make them. I title this spreadsheet 'possible crosses'.
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Making and Marking the Crosses
Once bloom season starts, every evening I print out the 'checklist' I created (see above) and check off every cultivar that will be in bloom the next day.
Using my 'possible crosses' spreadsheet, I decide which pollen will be used on each blooming cultivar and mark it on the checklist along with which of the 4 colors the marking wire should be.
Frequently a blooming pod plant will not have any of the pollen plants expected to bloom. I find it difficult to not plan to pollinate a good bloom but the end results are best if I keep to the plan as much as possible. That's not to say I NEVER make any crosses outside the plan. Sometimes while in the garden pollinating I see something I didn't consider when I made the plan. That may cause me to adjust the plan on the fly.
The following day I apply the pollen that I selected the night before on each bloom. Then I wrap the correct
colored wire around the base of each bloom I have pollinated.
The 3" colored wires are very easy and quick to work with. No writing out the cross on tags is required
and it is easy to determine what the cross was by referring to my pollinating plan. If I later determine
that the cross didn't set any seed, I can just reuse the wire on another cross and haven't wasted my
time writing out tags for crosses that didn't take.
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Seed harvesting and management
One of my winter tasks is to create seed harvesting tags. I cut 1" plastic blinds into 1.5" lengths and punch a hole in one end with a 1-hole hand paper punch. I thread one end of a 3" twistie through the hole and twist to make the tag.
When the seed pods start to split they are ready to harvest. I remove the ripe pods and place them in baggies (separate baggie for each pod plant and wire color). I then write the name of the pod plant on the harvesting tag and use the end of the twistie to tie up the bag. Once the day's harvest is completed I sit in air conditioned comfort and remove the seeds from the pods placing the seeds back in the baggie with the colored wire and secured with the same harvesting tag. These are placed in the crisper drawer in the fridge.
Once all the seeds have been harvested, the baggies are sorted by pod plant and wire color. The seeds for each cross are counted and placed in a small ziploc bag. A spreadsheet is created containing columns for an identifying cross number (yy-### where yy is the year and ### starts at 001), pod parent (from the harvesting tag), pollen parent (from the wire color and the crosses spreadsheet), the number of seeds produced, number planted, and tray number. The cross number is written on the ziploc bag and they go back in the fridge again until it is time to plant. The spreadsheet is titled 'seeds to plant'.
Once all the seeds have been counted I need to select how many of which crosses will be planted (I plant a maximum of 1520 seeds each year). The trays I use for planting (#38 tree trays) have 38 individual cells. I find that predetermining how many of each seed go in each tray before I actually begin to plant really speeds up the process. Good planting organization can also make it easier when transplanting.
I go through the seeds selecting which crosses I want to plant and how many of each. I enter the counts in the 'number planted' column and enter the corresponding tray number (01 thru 40). I do my best to not put seeds from one cross in more than one tray. That makes it easier when transplanting time comes. If more than one cross is planted in a tray, I add 'A', 'B' to the tray number for sorting purposes (ie: 10A, 10B, etc...).
Once all 40 trays have been filled I sort the spreadsheet by the tray column to make it easy to verify that each tray has 38 seeds.
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Planting the seeds
Labor Day weekend is when I plant my seeds. I use a planting mix called 'Pro-Mix BX'. This beats anything else I have tried (including mixing my own custom mix). The trays are pre-numbered 1-40 and I use the 'seeds to plant' spreadsheet to plant the selected seeds.
These trays are placed in my driveway and kept well watered but not constantly soggy. I usually get about 85% germination, sometimes more. Starting about a month after the seeds germinate, I begin feeding with half strength water soluble fertilizer (20-20-20) about every 2 weeks or so. I'll do this until I'm ready to plant them in the ground.
A couple of weeks prior to planting, I put down a 2-3" layer of organic matter (usually composted stable sweepings) over the planting area and till it in. Then I cover the areas to be planted with a medium weight weed block fabric. I cut 2.5" crosses in the fabric with a sharp knife every 4" in rows about 8" apart. To facilitate this I made a template out of a 4'x 5' piece of pegboard using a jigsaw. Using the peg holes made it easy to cut the 2.5" crosses to guide the knife when cutting the fabric. I know that 4" apart is really closer together than they should be, but I have such limited space, it's the only way I can get a reasonable number of seedlings planted every year. Even this close together, I only have room for about 1000 new seedlings each year.
To transplant the seedlings, I use a dibble to prepare the hole. I couldn't find a dibble the right size for this so I made my own from a 2 foot length of 2 inch round wooden railing I found at Home Depot. I just fashioned one end into a point and it works great. By pushing the point down into the soil and moving it around a couple of times in a circular fashion, I have a hole that's almost exactly the same size and shape as the seedling root ball from the trays. I just pop the seedling out of the tray and plop it in the hole. A little pressure around the sides to firm up the soil and it's done.
The timing of the transplanting is not too critical as the plants keep growing in the trays. I like to wait until spring because by then the roots are sufficient to hold together during the transplanting process. Transplanting too soon after germination often results in all the planting medium falling away from the roots and that can set back the plant. The best results have been in early spring so the plants can get well established before the summer heat sets in.
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Selecting the keepers
When the seedlings begin blooming for the first time, I mark the seedlings that I find interesting and would like to possibly evaluate further. Because my seedlings are grown so close together, I usually don't get to see the plant's potential until I move it to one of my evaluation beds where it has lots of room. However, I can usually get some idea of the plant's potential by how well it does under these crowded conditions. Unfortunately, I don't have enough space in the evaluation beds to keep every interesting seedling so I use the following procedure to select what get's to be further evaluated.
Each interesting bloom is marked with a number (starting at 1) using a flag. I enter it in a spreadsheet with some basic data such as bloom size, scape height, branching, and bud count. The number in the spreadsheet is prefixed with the first bloom year (ie: 12-001, 12-002, etc...). I take a digital image so I have a good record of what the bloom looks like. The numbered flag is placed right next to the plant so it can be located later.
In the fall, using my notes and the pictures I took, I pick the best of the new seedlings and move them to the evaluation bed. The evaluation bed provides the ability to see what the daylily will do when grown under good conditions as opposed to the over-crowded conditions of the seedling bed. The rest of the seedlings are given to a neighborhood lady who plants some and gives the rest away.
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Selected seedling evaluation
Plants in the evaluation beds have their vital signs taken every year (bloom size, bud count, branching, and scape height). New images are taken to keep the archive current. Seedlings being considered for introduction will also have additional information recorded such as bloom season, foliage habit, fragrance, etc...
Each fall the evaluation plants are reviewed and seedlings that didn't live up to my expectations are removed and discarded. Some seedlings that perform well but are just too similar to another daylily that is already registered are also removed. These are usually given away to friends and co-workers. This makes room for the newly marked seedlings.
Selecting seedlings for registration is probably the most difficult part of the evaluation. In addition to the normal requirements of good branching, bud count, plant vigor, rebloom, etc..., I ask myself "would I devote some of the limited space in my display beds to grow it" and "would I be proud to tell someone that I was the hybridizer". If I can answer yes to both questions then I will consider registering it.
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