Would you like to carry on your plant hybridizing throughout the year?
You can if you own a small greenhouse. What’s more, many greenhouse-grown perennials bloom in far less time than those grown in the garden. To the hybridizer, this time is most important.
Hybridizing Daylily
If you start daylily (hemerocallis) seeds in the greenhouse in November or early December, it is possible to have some of the seedlings flowers by August or early September of the following year.
The bulk of them will take 2 years to flower, but garden-grown seedlings take a full three years to mature. The iris hybridizer can lop months off maturing time.
Methods of Planting and Caring Varieties of Daylilies
There are two methods of planting and caring for seeds of dormant or northern varieties of daylilies. Most of the southern varieties (evergreen) are too tender for harsh northern winters.
Stratification: Containing Good Soil
With the first method, prepare flats of good soil containing at least 1/3 peat moss. Plant the seeds about one-quarter inch deep.
Cover them lightly with soil. Moisten the planting and set it outside to freeze. This is known as stratification. If you want to plant a large number of seeds, stack the planted flats one on top of the other.
After the soil has frozen (about 2 weeks) bring the planted flats into the cool greenhouse.
The seeds won’t need light to germinate, but when you notice green blades dotting the surface, (usually a 1 or 2 weeks with daylilies), longer with irises, start giving the seedlings lightly.
Keep them moist and give them biweekly feedings of ¼ teaspoonful of muriate of potash to a quart of water, along with their regular monthly feeding of an all-purpose fertilizer.
Gardening in a Small Quarters
Method number two is just fine when you garden in small quarters or when the seeds you are working with may be a bit on the old side.
Fill ice cube trays in your refrigerator about half full of water. When the ice forms, add a few seeds to each cube, then fill with water. With this procedure, the seeds will not float on the surface of the water.
Leave them in the trays for about a week, then thaw them out and plant them in well-drained bulb pans or small flats of good soil. This too works well with iris seeds (other than the Louisiana irises).
Fluorescent Light for Growing Plants
If you don’t have a greenhouse, try growing some of them under 40-watt fluorescent lights.
They should be placed up close to the tube so 4” to 6” inches away if possible.
When danger from frost is past, plant the seedlings in the garden.
If you failed to pollinate your own plants, purchase seeds from one of the specialists. Unless you have excellent stock, you will get superior seeds from them.
You’ll be amazed at the array of color and form you can obtain from 1 packet of daylily or iris seeds.
Hybridizing Plants
Of course, the greenhouse is just made for hybridizing the following;
- African violets
- Amaryllis
- Begonias
- Geraniums
- Gloxinias
…and many other exciting house plants and perennials.
In the greenhouse, it is possible to provide them with optimum conditions of temperature, moisture, light, and space.
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