Would Pitter patter make a good tetraploid daylily? Has anybody tried to convert it, and what were the results? If it can be converted, I would like to have a fan or two for my collection.

Moved thread to Daylily forum.

If you find it exists, let me know, please. I would also be quite interested.

I noticed this spectacular photo of Pitter Patter (did not know such plants existed back then or even now) and noticed the source.


It might be that he has already converted it? The fifth paragraph talks about convesions.
http://dave.mussar.com/

By "noticed the source" Larry meant click the image and Joy noted the source of the photo she uploaded in the caption, Hillside Daylilies. Click on the blue "More Photo Details" and there's a clickable link to Hillside.

I have the Diploid version, grown from a proliferation by Rich Howard. Since I don't hybridize, it's perfectly fine.

It is not just about hybridization, but color, cold hardiness, etc, too.
Here is Pink Stripes dip (left) versus tet (right).
Tet expresses twice the number of color pigment genes.

Now imagine Pitter Patter but much more intense

Hmmm.......

Well, is there such a beast? No evidence it's gone through the colchicine treatment.

Tetraploids have twice the number of genes that diploids have. However, usually each cell in the tetraploid has twice the volume of the cells in the diploid. The cells of the tetraploid will have less than twice the surface area of the cells in the diploid. Colours may be different intensities between diploids and tetraploids because of the difference in the ratios of cell volumes to cell surface areas rather than to the gene ratios.
If Dave Mussar has successfully converted 'Pitter Patter' to tetraploid there may be no evidence until he introduces a seedling from the conversion. I will ask him - he is a member of my Facebook Daylily Biology group.

I dunno, folks. The spotted daylilies I've seen so far IMHO mostly just look like they have thrip damage. Zoia, your tie-dyed hippie flower is the only one so far that I think is kind of pretty. I do like the striped ones! I love fantasy flowers on African Violets, but I just don't feel the same lust to acquire a spotted daylily. Only offering this observation as my uneducated, unbiased, unsolicited consumer opinion in case commercial success is a major goal in somebody's hybridization plan. Maybe if the spots were multi-colored? I guess beautiful fantasy daylily flowers have to start somewhere though. Thank you all for what you are doing!

I did buy some seeds on the LA, that could have (million-to-one shot) turned out multi-colored. I think the cross was Purple Leopard x Pitter Patter (technically absence of color for the latter). But the seeds were fungus-infected and turned to mush. So, the hybridizer was thinking along those lines, hawkeye .

Perhaps one day we will see multi-colored spots? I doubt anyone is making them to get rich, though. The only way I can think of to get rich is to make a really cool daylily that is sterile and does not clump up too fast. That way it will always be in limited supply.

Pitter Patter is not sterile, but it still commands a very high price despite being from the 1970s. It is a good investment plant that seems to hold its value for over 50 years.

I almost didn't get mine, Rich had to go check if he had another in the greenhouse. He did, luckily, and I took this one home. I, personally, like the polka dots. Mostly because it's so distinctive. When I was planting it out, a found the tag that labeled my plant as a proliferation. Which accounts for why Rich still had his original plant.

I love all the striped, spotted and stippled varieties that are coming out. Most of them are still too pricy but as more come out, hopefully the whole genre will start to deflate in price.

I have been trying to convert Pitter Patter for several years now with little success. I did have a chimeric plant that had a bit of tet pollen and was able to make a few seeds with it but have not seen anything of note yet. I took the 4 fans of the chimeric plant indoors under lights this past winter but there was not a single grain of tet pollen to be seen so I will need to retreat those plants again. I did manage to convert Spots and Stripes (a spotted Pitter Patter kid) and made around 400 seeds with the pollen last summer, all of which have been planted. The plant has a scape on it now and I'm anxious to see if it remains converted.

Pitter Patter passes on its spots only to very few of its kids. I bloomed several hundred kids last summer and only a few showed any spots. I suspect it might be a bit temperature dependant as people who grow it further south or in the Midwest seem to get more spots than I typically see. I do have some selected seedlings lined out that show spots. I. Several generations into breeding with it and have done all manner of backcrosses, sib crosses and the like. I even have a few selfings of Pitter Patter that I have added to the mix as well. It's an elusive goal and I suspect might be even more so at the tet level but we will see.

Attached is a kid that I hope to introduce in the future.