Gulf Coast Daylily Society of Southeast Texas
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Hybridizing Daylilies Gulf Coast Daylily Society of Southeast Texas
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HYBRIDIZING IDEAS By Harland Merriam, February 2008 I'll admit I am a relative newcomer to hybridizing compared to the likes of Jack Carpenter, or the Stamiles, or the Trimmers or others. Dan Trimmer and Matthew Kaskel of Florida have mentored me with some ideas about hybridizing which I am applying here in Southeast Texas.
1. SET A CLEAR GOAL. Both Dan and Matthew were very assertive in demanding that I determine what my goal was in hybridizing. They asked about plant qualities and flower qualities and other very specific objectives. I realized, as I have in other parts of my life, that if I don't know where I am going, I am not likely to get there. My goal: I will hybridize high-percentage polytepal daylilies, both diploids and tetraploids. My objective is a highly rust-resistant, evergreen daylily that will tolerate the heat and humidity of Southeast Texas. This foliage on this daylily will be upright and well-formed, a vital blueish green color and will multiply at a moderate rate from year to year. The scapes will set flowers above the foliage, with several branches and 16 or more buds per scape. The plants will rebloom. I have chosen to allow rust to remain active in my garden and do not treat it. This allow me to subject all my seedlings to rust and see which ones are resistant. 2. SAY "NO". In order to say "yes" to the above goal, I will be ready to say "no" to many, many new cultivars that do not achieve or advance my movement toward this goal. I will simply not have the time or the room to spend with plants that do not move my efforts in this direction. 3. START WITH GOOD BREEDING STOCK. Doing good research on those who have already advanced in the direction of my goals and choosing cultivars which have the kind of genetic predisposition to take me toward my objective is important. I have collected over 30 polytepal varieties, including some of the most recently developed. 4. KEEP GOOD RECORDS. One of the keys is good records of pod and pollen parents and of seedlings. Click to download a PDF File of Harland's PowerPoint Presentation for the March 2008 Gulf Coast Daylily Society Meeting HOW HARLAND HYBRIDIZES
SEEDLINGS IN POTS FOR FIRST YEARS. Since I live and grow on a relatively small city lot, I have chosen to plant my seedlings in one-gallon pots. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The main advantage to me is the control of space. When a plant does not meet the above criteria, I remove it completely and easily readjust the remaining pots. Examples: plants that get rust, plants with weak or poorly shaped foliage, or plants with no rebloom... I make evaluations and take action based on results after the first year of growth. Many of the first-year plants can remain in these one-gallon pots for a second year. Those that pass the test are transplanted into five-gallon pots or into planting beds for further evaluation and multiplication. Although most of my daylilies are grown in flowing garden beds throughout the yard, I have established a "small nursery" area in my backyard, with overhead sprinkling for my seedlings. I have placed a woven fabric groundcover under the pots. My potting formula is the following, for 4 cubic foot recipes:
I like hands-on learning, so I made my own, mixing ingredients on the concrete driveway, first mixing together the larger quantity items (Bruce's Mix, sand, peatmoss, perlite). Then separately mixing together the smaller quantity items in a pale and dusting the first pile and thoroughly mixing all of the components of the potting mix. Any comments? Click here to email a comment to Harland Merriam Return to GROWING DAYLILIES FILES
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