beckygardener said:I must confess that I really don't understand what happens to the genetics of a tet or dip conversion. There is a possibility that the seedlings might produce the opposite if the conversion reverts back? It's a concept that seems to complicate my hybridizing because it goes beyond my scope of understanding. If the genes were to convert back, does that mean the seedling would be a sterile daylily? Sterile pollen AND pod? Or does that mean it would be "opposite" fertile? ("Opposite" meaning if it was a tet conversion and reverted back, it would be a dip ..... or a dip conversion reverting back to a tet.)
And what genetic traits would such conversions carry? If a tet conversion, would the genetics still contain the dip pedigree? Or would those dip genetic traits end when converted to tet (... or a reverse conversion of a tet to a dip)?
beckygardener said: where does the pink petals come from? No "pink" back through the 4th generation. Could Celestial Eyes be pink? If so, would that petal color be considered a "recessive" gene?
beckygardener said:Maurice - Thanks so much for taking the time to try to educate me about conversions.
I understand that any "new" tet conversion hinges on how stable it is. I wonder if over generations if the tet conversion "dip" genetics disappear in future hybridizing or if those genes continue forward into new tet seedlings? Do we know what happens by say the 3rd or 4th generation with conversion genes?
beckygardener said:Seriously, THANK YOU! Those are questions that I have had surfacing in my thoughts constantly as I am hand-pollinating blooms.
I now know that daylily genetics are like a poker game. Any genes could wind up in any seedling or not.
So .... this is what is really throwing me for a loop ... how do well-known hybridizers know how to create what they want in a bloom/plant? Is it just the luck of trial and error or do they have a true plan?
I do realize that hybridizers plant thousands of seedlings observing and waiting for particular traits. Almost all are culled before or after blooming if they don't have those specific traits. So is it just a matter of crossing desirable traits, growing out hundreds/thousands of seedlings and waiting patiently for those desired traits to show up?
What happens if they don't? Start all over or change the hybridizing plan?
Or settle for something less or different?
How do they get from point A to point B in their daylily hybrids?
I would love to read about an example of how to create something specific using a real, named hybrid.