Good morning all,

Running a daylily seed farm is great fun. Now that the season is over, and I am cleaning up some areas of the garden, I can't help but notice a few scapes that are loaded with pollen wires, but were completely void of pods. I registered two such divas, that laugh at me as I try to set pods on them every year.

CLOWN PANTS - never set a pod
VICTORIA JOSEPHINE - first pod ever this season

I have some others that have refused all my advances and attempts....early morning, late afternoon, full sun, part shade, dip pollen, fresh pollen, refrigerated pollen (I don't use frozen pollen), cool mornings, hot days, etc. They I include:

HEATHER GRACE
FOUR EYES
EYE OF THE DRAGON

Firstly, I would love to know if anybody else was successful in setting pods on any of these, and how they did it. Secondly, feel free to add to the list so we could share our failures, but hopefully some successes too.

Thanks,
Steve

I was able to set three pods on FOUR EYES this spring with the following crosses:

FOUR EYES X AZURE PRISM - 9 seeds
FOUR EYES X BROADWAY LEGEND - 7 seeds
FOUR EYES X RANDOM KINDNESS - 6 seeds

I have almost all my plants that I make crosses with in pots, and when a bloom opens I move the pot under the shade of my covered patio and will keep it there until at least two days after I make the cross, and then I move it to a table under my pergola that has 2" slats 2" apart, so in effect that's half-strength sunlight during the day. Here in Bakersfield it can get up to 100 as early as April, and our sunlight is really intense, so with any crosses I make with a pod parent in the ground I put a beach umbrella over it.

But I honestly do not know what makes my crosses take, because I will make hundreds of crosses that fall off over and over -- and then suddenly in one week everything will take -- and all the conditions seem exactly the same. But at least I did get three pods on my FOUR EYES.

Edit: Forgot to say that I used fresh pollen on all three of these.

Thank you Betty!

You give me hope then to keep trying. Mine is planted so it gets morning shade and afternoon sun, just the opposite of what you are doing. I will move it next spring.

Steve

To add to your list (bearing in mind this is my first year hybridizing):

LYONNESSE - didn't set a pod for me this year
NIGHT EMBERS - didn't set a pod for me this year
GOOSE BUMPS - aborted the one or two pods that did take

I too, am a novice at making Daylily crosses. This was my second year, but first with having kind of a plan. I had terrible success, but we had a early heat wave with temps as high as 114, so I am hoping that had a lot do with it, but I did have about 4 times as many Bee pods. I guess Mother Nature knows what she is doing. I only hybridize on the weekends, I just started a new job that works four 10's, so I will have more tries next year. Not only did most not take, but most that did would shrivel up and fall off, but there is always another summer, and I am continually learning from you guys/gals, so I have hope.

I move my stubborn ones inside about a day or so before it opens, I leave inside for a day or two after putting the pollen on. I find, like the above, the heat is the real enemy for me.
Betty, Im glad Im not the only one moving pots around. Every year I say...no more, then the next year,.....well you know

Thank you for your insight. And Betty, those crosses sound wonderful!

I don't do pots, because before you know it, the cold is here and I may not get them in the ground. Moving them inside sounds almost like creating greenhouse conditions...which would be ideal for pod setting.

I don't make crosses when it is in the mid 90s. This summer was ideal almost every single day.

Steve

I have a question. Since we have cool nights in the summer, typically low to mid 60's, would I be better off collecting pollen in the morning, and putting in the fridge, and wait until evening to use it? I know that I may need to wet the Pistol before pollinating. Would that help skip the heat problem? We typically get mid 90's to low 100's in summer, this year we had nights in the mid 70's, but the highs were up to 114. Any input would be great.

Thanks,
Gale

For the first year ever I did a few early evening crosses...4ish or so. A hybridizer told me about it. Not having time for that kind of record keeping, I have no idea if they took....lol. Never have I been accused of over thinking something! But I do trust this hybridizer completely...so it might be worth a try.

Steve

I've had 'Four Eyes' since it was introduced and its first year here I couldn't set a pod on it. The pollen was successful but I was soooo disappointed in not setting a pod.

I do grow in full sun, no shade of any kind and in zone 9b, the heat starts getting brutal early on.

This year the plant is a mighty clump and was receptive to nearly every dabbing attempt with other pattern pollen. It rejected my attempts at putting toothy pollens on it.

My deductions? This is one that needs full maturity to strut its stuff and can be persnickety in choosing its dancing partners.

Edit: Fresh pollen always in the early mornings - or just after a light rain at other times of the day. I don't do evenings.

Judy,

That is a great point! I have one that not only needs clump strength, but also only sets on rebloom (DR. VAN'S LILY MERLOT). Others only set near the end of their bloom cycle...like "cabbage butterfly".

I've had others tell me Heather Grace is pod sterile, I don't have it so can't say for certain.
Wild Hair has refused to set a pod for me in the past two years, even with perfect setting conditions...nothing. Appears to be pod fertile for others, it's listed as pod parent to 3 kids. If it wasn't so darn pretty I'd threaten to toss it on the compost pile. That always seems to work for the ones that refuse to bloom....

Char,

I get one or two pods on WILD HAIR every year, so don't give up. Both were from LOVE AT FIRST BITE this year, so maybe it felt like it was back home...lol.

Steve

Re needing a mature clump for pods to form, I have a SF of FOUR EYES that I got from James in October 2014, and my crosses were made in May 2015. And I remember that at first they kept falling off, and before it was over I had the three pods on my one scape. Beginner's luck, maybe?

Betja said:Re needing a mature clump for pods to form, I have a SF of FOUR EYES that I got from James in October 2014, and my crosses were made in May 2015. And I remember that at first they kept falling off, and before it was over I had the three pods on my one scape. Beginner's luck, maybe?

MINE STILL HASN'T BLOOMED!!!

Char, I've set pods on WILD HAIR. I didn't have any luck this year but I only tried twice.

I was completely unable to set anything on SMALL WORLD LIZARD.

STARDUST DRAGON was a nightmare. I only got a couple pods despite trying at least 30 pollinations. ALIENS IN THE GARDEN was another nightmare. Just refused any and all advances. GREEN ABYSS was difficult but eventually set pods. BONIBRAE LEMON LIME CUPCAKE was a difficult one. I eventually was able to set a couple but that was it.

Ahead said:For the first year ever I did a few early evening crosses...4ish or so. A hybridizer told me about it. Not having time for that kind of record keeping, I have no idea if they took....lol. Never have I been accused of over thinking something! But I do trust this hybridizer completely...so it might be worth a try.

Steve

Mark Carpenter mentioned that he has been able to successfully set pods as late as 7 pm.

This is great information, thanks! 7:00 pm...wow, have never done crosses that late.

I think because of my cold climate, there may be some that never get to clump up, in that they have more of a struggle to survive. Nothing wrong with beginner's luck, Betty...we all could use some. I don't have any of the ones you mentioned, James.

I always start out the season with about 60 to 70 or so chosen pollens to use. As I get older, I do assign more and more pollen wires to cultivars that are difficult to pod set. I did that with THANK YOU DAD and GREYWOOD COWGIRL CASANOVA this year because I wanted to make sure I didn't miss using their genetics. Both are stunning.

Steve

Steve

HEY STEVE! Kabby waving wildly to you! Welcome to ATP!! Glad to see you, don't dab so I have nothing significant to say regarding that.

My son Ashton will make all his tet crosses in the morning and by the time he gets them tagged and takes a break it will be noon and in the 90's when he starts doing dip crosses. We will have 10 dip pods to every tet pod. I set pods on diploids anytime of day or night. I work lots of hours and often have to leave home in the dark of the morning. I come home even with temps in the high 90's and the only key to setting seeds is finding or having good pollen. If I put a bloom in the fridge or have something I want to use growing in partial shade, I have used the pollen at 5 pm and 98 degrees and set seeds regularly. It is as hot or even hotter here that at Carpenters and I know I have set seed at 7pm and later. I don't really try this on Tets as they are difficult at 9am or 10am on warm days.
Terry

Thanks Terry,

Very interesting! I have found some large flowering tets do well later in the day also. After reading your post, I may not give up so easily on the hotter days, especially when it comes to my dips.

And Kabby...is that you, Pufferfish??? LOL How nice to see you here. I came in for a cup of coffee and have now stayed through dinner...lol.

Steve