Spoiling parents?

I have been crossing daffs for the last four years. I use blooms not good enough to show for parents and originally had high rates of viable seed. However, I now grow the bulbs deeper and in larger pots and although the bulbs are larger when I plant them out the fertilised seed pods fail after initial swelling. I was wondering whether creating better growing conditions reduced the bulbs potential to produce seed.

2 comments for “Spoiling parents?

  1. Hi John,
    There are many factors affecting the development of seeds and I am sure others will give better advice than me. Growing in pots may diminish the vigour of the seed parent, although I realize that in the UK pot growing is essential. Temperature at the time of pollination is a factor, moist pollen is unlikely to take and some parents are just plain infertile.
    As an aside, at the 2004 World Convention Ian Dyson reminded us that daffodils need a very deep pot for the most success. Or you could go to the old British way of using plunge beds.
    The wonderful thing about Daffnet is that you can keep asking questions, sift the information to meet your conditions and slowly build up a wealth of knowledge. No question is too simple as we all had to begin our daffodil experience somewhere.

    David Adams
    Where it is winter and we have time to browse on Daffnet.

  2. Hi John,

    I don’t raise my daffodils in pots. But your comment that you use daffodils to make your crosses that are not good enough for the show strikes me.

    I have been hybridizing now for about 17 years and the first 5 years of my hybridizing I was following your example and I got inferior seedling from my crosses.

    I only started having successes when I started sacrificing some of those show quality blooms for hybridizing.  I’m getting a much better quality seedling and have now registered a few of my crosses.  The first 5 years of my hybridizing gave me no positive results.

    Just my two cents.

    Clay

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