I spent over $30 once on 4 seeds and not a one germinated! LOL!Patience,patience. I have seen that cross before,and we will see it again.Put it in your Wanted on the LA and you won't miss it.Good luck!

Betsy

Those toothy crosses are SO tempting. Buying seeds can become a worse addiction than buying plants. I've never bid more than $10.00 on seeds- probably because I have more than 3,500 of my own seeds in the fridge that I already don't have room to plant. LOL! Unfortunately I never get anyone to bid $50.00 on my seed auctions. Just wondering - were you willing to bid the large amount because you had bought from that seller before?

Debra
Lilipod on the Lily Auction

No, I haven't bought from this seller. I do think that this seller is one of us on this forum. Someone mentioned a seedling and showed a picture that I liked a lot, a whole lot!. This same seedling picture was used on the LA in one of my sellers aucitons So I took these two bits of info and jumped to a conclusion that this LA seller is a great person. I wanted those seeds. I haven't bought any seeds this year. Last year I bought close to $1000 worth of seeds. I figured since I had been so good, I could afford to splurge on the Bass Gibson seeds. I still haven't given up on getting these seeds. I'm just waiting to see where my Lord leads me.

Blessings to all, Mona

Good luck Mona! That cross does sound like a great one. Whoever Ruby is, those seeds must be super because the auctions always seem to go for large amounts.

Debra

Mona, a recent LA auction ended going for 25 dollars a seed, so know you are not alone in getting intense about a particular cross LOL!
Considering the current prices of those parents, my opinion is that buying some seeds is saving you LOTS of money! *wink*

Yeah, but the majority of those high-priced seedlings will be crap when they finally bloom. It's the nature of the beast. The best you can hope for is to get a decent bridge plant out of some of them.

Hi all - very interested in what Ferengigold has to say here. This is my first year buying seeds, and I would love to know more about everybodies experiences with seeds once they bloom - how long does it take on average, and is a 'bridge plant' one you cross back to better specimens for that 'winner'?? Have you had a real 'winner' yet from any crosses, i.e. one you registered and that became famous?? Also, does crossing dark dramatic eyes always give back dark dramatic eyes?? Thanks!

-Happy Halloween all - Chris in CA

Nice detective work Mona--you are pretty close. My wife is RUBY on the LA. (Ruby is actually one of our dogs.) She is the one who keeps things running in our garden. She does the lions share of the grunge work and does all of the record keeping, which is no small task.

Ferengigold--

I am glad that you pointed that out. I worry that some people have unreasonably high expectations. They are likely expecting at least 4 Stout winners out of those 5 seeds. I know that I would if I paid $30 each for some seeds! But a good bridge plant is a distinct possibility. A good bridge plant can save you years in your breeding program. program.

Chris--

A bridge plant is one that is undistinctive or flawed but carries a desirable trait that you wish to impart to the next generation. Case in point, the seedling parent of "hannibal"(pictured on another thread) was a muddy colored plant with teeth on all segments.

I'm not sure how long it will take for your seedlings to bloom in California, but the folks in the deep south get a majority of theirs to bloom the next season.

Dale

Well, It's nice to know that I got close. This is the reason I felt safe bidding so much for your seeds. Yes, I do know that these seeds can produce wonderful plants or bad plants. I'm willing to take that chance up to a point. The cost can get just out of my reach and then, I'll bow my head and say, it wasn't meant to be for me this time.

I've been growing seeds for the past 2 years. The first year about 400 the second year about 1,000. My problem with seeds, once they grow out of their baby pots, then they must be either planted or potted up. Since my soil is so bad, I choose to pot. This takes a lot of time and expense since I have to buy all my soil and fertilizer. I have most of my 2006 seedlings (about 1000) in 2 gallon pots or bigger. I figure most will bloom in 2008. My 2005 seedlings bloomed this summer and I had some really good ones. They all need to be repotted up into 5-7 gallon pots, The cost will be less than last year because I am using pine bark, expert and a soil conditioner that is nothing much more than compost. All of these together will cost about a third as much as I paid for the "Expert" and "Mircle Grow " soil last year and is not suppost to compact as bad either. I sure hope it works. This mix comes highly recommended from some of the Florida growers. Repotting all of these will take a long time for me.

I have about 2000 seeds setting quietly in the dark of my fridge awaiting my decision to plant them or sale them. That's the reason I've reframed from buying any seeds this year, thus saving a bundle or last year. You are so right about keeping records. It's time consuming, very much time, alot of time! It takes 3 times as long to make the crosses, take a picture, and record these crosses on paper than it does just to dabble a little pollen on an pistol. Oh Yes, you have to label these crosses too. Then if you get a pod, you have to harvest the seeds and record all this info again! That's one of the reasons I slowed down on seeds this year too.
But I sure did want the seeds of "Bass Gibson and Puffer Fish". I didn't get those so I'll keep an eye on whats being posted next time. It's been fun and I may bid one more time, but I don't think so on this round of seeds.

I love growing seeds and hope everyone else does too. It's a beautiful day here in NE Mississippi and I hope it is for you too, Blessings to all, Mona

I'm in Tennessee, and I haven't had any seedlings bloom in just one year. Of course we've been experiencing a terrible drought for the past two years, and that may play a role. I lost around 20 over the winter, and only had three out of 300 seedlings bloom the second year. Hopefully I'll see about 600 bloom next season. Hybridizing requires so much patience. I suppose if I installed drip irrigation in my seedling beds, it would go much faster. But so far, I haven't been that focused.

Debra

I have not yet bid on seeds by the seller Ruby they are tempting. Last year I put in a few bids on some Bass Gibson seeds and never won an auction. However this year I bid on one offering that I know will be winter hardy and had a very reasonable winning bid on 10 seeds. I am happy to get some of the Bass Gibson genes to work with just for fun and it didn't cost me much.

It is my humble opinion that when you buy seeds on the Lily Auction that you should take the approach that you are only looking to get certain genes into your hybridizing program. That said, I do believe you can form the ground-floor BASIS of a very good hybridizing program with purchased seed.

Too many people buy those seeds and pay big bucks hoping to win the lottery with the first ticket they buy. It MAY happen, but the odds are against you. Most of the time the auctions are only for 5-7 seeds and that simply isn't enough seed to tell you what the cross may be capable of producing genetically. And if you buy 5 seeds and pay $50 bucks for those seeds and end up composting all of them, what have you accomplished? That $50 would have been better spent if you had put it toward the daylily whose genes you hoped to incorporate into your program.

Another thing that I see people doing is paying alot of money for seeds that will almost assuredly do poorly in their temperate zone. Those fancy Florida faces are extremely seductive, but if you think those seedlings are going to do well in North Dakota, you are probably deluding yourself. (Although you may indeed get lucky, once again the odds are against you.) Do some research on the crosses that you are interested in and find out what plants are in the backgrounds of the parents. Everyone seems to want the "newest,latest and greatest" as parents but if you can identify a small niche of possibly older parents that do well in your area and no one else is bidding on those seeds-- well, that's a win-win situation for you!

These are just my personal observations over the years-- your experiences may vary considerably.

Hi,

please forgive me if some of the questions I'm going to ask are very basic but I am new to all this and need your expert knowledge.

Firstly' has anyone sent seeds to the UK or do you know what is involved in doing so. i.e. do you need phyto certificates and inspections as you do with the plants themselves or is this unnecessary with seeds?

Also with hybridizing, how does colour inheritance work and are there any colours or colour families that you shouldn't mix together?

What is likely to happen, for example, if you crossed a white daylily with a purple, would you expect some of the resulting seedlings to be purple and some white or would they all be something in between i.e mauve?

Are some colours dominant and others recessive? Are some patterns dominant to others or are selfs and "blends" dominant to patterned plants?

I'd love to hear your views and opinions on this?

Nikki

Hi Nikki,
I can't give you any answers but I can post a link to a few of my seedlings. You will have to page down once you get to the photo bucket site. click on the photos and you will get a description at the top. If the name has an "X" this means it is the two listed daylilies crossed.

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/Monalisa18/Daylily%20May%202007/

I hope you enjoy the photos. Any questions about them, I will try to answer. Mona

Hi Mona,

you have some lovely seedlings there, and a lovely cat too---is he a Russian Blue?
I've always been fascinated by genetics in plants and animals and wondered how it worked with daylilies. I'd love to know how the genes work together.

Thanks for the link, really lovely pictures!

Nikki

Thanks Nikki,

Yes our Munchkin is a Russian Blue that was adopted about 10 years ago as a tiny kitten. We call him our hair ball with an attitude. He rules our 2 dogs and all the family. The cat is the only animal we have that has ever bit anyone. We never know where we will find him asleep, from the bed to laying on the concrete floor in our hallway. We have 2 dogs that round out our family, so I too, love animals very much. I think it's a requirement to be a gardener that you must also love all God's creatures.

I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. I've read that daylilies are like children, you never know how they will turn out. Just remembered a site that you might enjoy. He gives some good examples on hybridizing.

Blessings Mona

http://www.ofts.com/bill/daylily.html