Question related to Irises changing colors...

Hello All,

I plan on hybridizing with just a couple of Irises this year. I found this link which brought up a red flag for me. If allowing an Iris to go to seed risks the Iris changing colors, how does one hybridize/hand pollinate for seeds without losing the original color on the original plant?
Here's the link and the particular info I read on the link I'll quote below the link...
http://my.gardenguides.com/forums/topic/66396

"Why do iris change color?
If your iris are blooming a different color than originally purchased, it is because of letting your iris go to seed: the bloom stalk was not removed shortly after blooming. Bees do a wonderful job of pollinating different colors for the following year. The dominant color of iris is purple and will take over if the bloom stalk is not removed shortly after the bloom dries up. Chemical damage, overcrowding, and heat stress can be a factor in some color changes."

Check this out, Susan

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1064704/


Hybridize away! Collect your seed pods after they mature and before they open. Plant the seeds in separate beds, or pots, for control and tracking purposes. Remember to record your crosses, and the pods, and the seedlings. You will learn more and have better results and data that way.

Hello Bonjon,

Bless your heart for clarifying! I was like...what the??? LOL
I made notes to your post and the link...you made my night, thanks! :)

you're quite welcome! glad to be of help. just remember it can take over 2 years for a seed to bloom, and another 2 years of evaluation before you really know if the seedling is worth keeping around. iris hybridizers are luckier than some, but it sure doesn't seem that way when you are working so hard at it.

keith keppel said it best, "Over 99% of all seedlings make great compost."

Great tips Bonjon...
I'm just going to try a couple of pairings. I wish we had the space for me to try more. I'd be thrilled just to be able to name and register one in my lifetime, so the 2-4 years isn't all that bad. I thought the 2 year wait from ordering my 1st Irises til them finally blooming this Spring was bad...Geeessssh...hehehe
Hmmmmm...How many days til Spring? LOL :)

so now is not the time to tell you my seeds from 2007 haven't even sprouted yet? LOL actually, I think the squirrels got in them. I didnt know to put them where squirrels couldn't get at them.

Our seeds are in boxes in a trench which screening over them to keep critters out. No germination here last yr. I think our constant rain from June on rotted a lot of seeeds. Hope for 2nd yr germination this yr. In the wild all seeds don't germinate in one yr. Otherwise will repeat the crosses.

I have been told by numberous hybridizers if you have the room, leave the pots for 3 years to allow them time to germinate, I have some from 07 that are just starting to germinate now. I will dump those that do not this year as I figure if they have not in 4 years they are not, pitch all this dirt in ONE spot as several hybridizers have had some killer out of that dirt!

Keep great records if you can, but know also there are iris that parentage is totally unknown or were one parent is unknown.

The average time for TB from seed to sale and that is IF you are really lucky and find one that is just too outstanding not to intro.

Plant seed,
Year 1, grows
Year 2 might bloom
Year 3 for sure bloom
Year 3 and 4 mark the ones you like and you think worthy
Year 4 Line those out
Year 5 Decide if you really do like it and mark it
Year 6 grow
Year 7 intro

Now this is just a guess. Fern's Magic being an SDB got to be intro'd at 5 years because not being well known hybridizer as last year was my first ones, have to get a name made as not only a grower but a hybridizer.

How long Lucy did it take for you before your first intro?

D

I started hybridizing about 1984. First into (SunSprite SDB) in 1993, first time that I thought anything was good enough. The late Larry Harder bought both John's & my first intros, bless his heart, to encourage new hybridizers. I would thing that TBs would be more difficult to get out. I would think you would have to seed those to more conventions & get more people to guest them where they would be seen. My awards to date are HMs for 1 border & 2 SDBs, the latter are siblings.

it is a process. my first crosses were 2008 - I said 2007 earlier. Bought my breed stock in 2007 - sometimes I think of the process starting from when I plant one I want to cross. 2009 didn't get any viable crosses - the only two dry mornings here, I was at the Spring conference in Fredericksburg. LOL such is life.

I saw how many seedlings Doc Spoon has going, which showed me what I was up against. think it was Perry Dyer doing the judges training that day at Winterberry on seedlings. There were, I'm thinking, 30 or so raised beds with a couple hundred seedlings each. Perry found 3 to point out as special enough to keep. He was right. The rest were duds, wannabes and 2nd runner-ups.