Hi All,
Daffnet seems a bit quiet at the moment so I thought I would pose a question that has intrigued me for a long time.
Does the quality of the flowers used in a cross reflect on the resultant progeny? I know genetically two varieties crossed will have the same genetic makeup but if you cross two superb quality flowers are you chances greater than if you crossed two mediocre flowers of the same varieties. I know that the late Max Hamilton was of the belief that two quality flowers produced better off spring, what are others thought?
Cheers Robin
Selecting the best to cross with the best among species is quite logical, and the result can be a vast improvement within the species. Crossing the best flowers of the same cultivar (a clone) is another story altogether, in my opinion. I find it laughable when catalogues state that bulbs are an “improved” this or that. If crosses were made to improve the cultivar, I see the resulting offspring as a different cultivar. That said, I think you might be inquiring about the quality of the parents from different cultivars. If you cross a poorly formed ‘Altun Ha’ (a cultivar that is noted for its quality and form) with a poorly formed ‘Banker’ (another variety noted for quality and form), I personally don’t think the resulting offspring will be any less promising than the offspring of excellent examples of ‘Altun Ha’ and ‘Banker’. The reverse of this is that one might not expect the next best in show winner to result from crossing a superb example of ‘Ice Follies’ with a superb example of ‘Dutch Master’. Still, hybridists more experienced than myself might wish to chime in with their own opinions and concepts.
Robin,
I have searched your words for a couple of days trying to figure out what your are really asking.
I see no fault in what Greg Freeman wrote.
One answer is that when hybridizing look for improving the refinement of the resulting flower. You can’t do that with two “ruff” daffodils. Your best show daffodils “sacrificed” for breeding gives the best chance of refinement in the next generation. Just look where the daffodils have gone since the one’s that we now call historics and the today’s show winners. At one time those historics were the show winners but daffodils are more refined today. The show winners of today got there by selective hybridizing the best to the best to get the quality and color the hybridizer wanted.
In my experience with daffodils the seed parent seems to have a strong influence on the petals and the pollen seems to have the greatest influence on the cup. So to improve the offspring you select the parents based on how good is the form of the seed parent considering the petals and the cup of the pollen parent. That’s why there is no or few all pink daffodils, the color of the petals seem to always want to stay the same color while the cup or corona has a tendency to be more changeable. We can do a lot with the cup and need to select well formed petals to keep and improve daffodil.
Then again form is subjective and in the mind of the beholder.
My two cents,
Clay