i found out that if i pollinate them 19am-12am they are yield better, but after 4pm i try to wet the athen first before i do they yield lesser seed pod. if i don't wet it, i get nothing because texas sun burn and dry out the athen.

John,

I think it is generally agreed that you stand a better chance to get the cross to take if you do it in the morning. However, I think the parents and the weather also play into the cross taking. I have made some crosses in the evening that actually took. So, it can be done, it just reduces the chances of it taking.

Good luck,
Trish

Some garden daylilies are descended from night blooming species, so there is bound to be variation in receptivity.

Arlow Stout, perhaps considered as the 'founding father' of daylily hybridizing found that pollen could reach the ovules best if pollinating at 9 am but even 12 hours later did reach them. Pollinating the night before was also successful but the pollen did not start to germinate until the normal time that the stigma (where the pollen is placed) became receptive.

Night blooming daylilies (often related to the species citrina) can be pollinated the night before.

Stout did his research in New York. In other areas heat and wind may damage the stigma and dew may damage pollen during the night so results will depend on your location.

Wetting the stigma may help - use very little solution, water with 5% to 15% sugar is better than water alone which may burst the pollen due to osmosis. The stigma does not need to look wet for pollination to be successful. Again thsi will depend on your climate, shade, watering practices, etc.