Hybridizing Dahlias

Bessie · 2023-09-14T03:43:02+00:00

Krista to discover if seeds are growing in the seed pod, after there are no remaining anthers on the pod, gently squeeze the pods between your thumb and fing...

Bessie

Teddahlia the ADS Breeders Panel video hasn't come up in my suggested videos, so I'll look it up. I'm familiar with the concept of freezing to save genetic material. In the 80's I used silica gel dessicant to dry roses and zinnias for use in dried flower wall hangings.

Teddahlia

https://www.youtube.com/live/xYPNGVCpj40?si=RVBC9CXP1SVABiE8

Bessie

@Cosey you did an amazing job as part of the Dahlia hybridizing YouTube video 9/23. I'll be watching it a second time to take some notes. ☺

Teddahlia

Cosey: At the beginning of the seed collection season, you always worry about whether there will enough good seeds with the emphasis on good. Now that we have breeding for umpteen years, we feel confident about using seeds from our second year seedlings although the pollen side of that venture may be bit short of what we would like. One of our best ones last year was a seedling from seed collected from our trial garden entry HH Peachy Keen at the trial garden. I dug the entry and could not resist keeping the very ripe pods. I bet it crossed with the KA Bo Peep entry that was pink as this seedling is pink and they both are cactus types and they were not very far apart. When you collect seeds from your best second or third year seedlings that are planted together, you are sort of "line breeding" as the pollen all comes your own seedlings. I have only 50 or so seeds in envelopes right now but they are forecasting lots of good seed ripening weather and I am certain we will get our number. The math says that if we want 1,000- seedlings and the germination rate averages 20%.....

Bessie

Teddahlia I've transferred the pollen from my first year seedling that is a white waterlily ( Hollyhill Creamy is the seed parent) to all the other waterlily plants in my garden. Even though it's a first year seedling, it hasn't stopped blooming since its first bloom and is a fairly strong growing plant. I'm dreaming of a white or pastel colored waterlily with the Hollyhill Serenity or Hollyhill Daydream form. Naivety is bliss.

Cosey

Teddahlia I don't do a very good job at removing all the unwanted seedlings in the 1st year patch. Plus I have a mix of programs blooming. Dr. Hammetts Beeline seeds. Dark foliage collarette trial. I also always plant my open center dahlias I like for the garden near the 1st year seedlings if I'm just preserving the genetics for another year (ie, didn't get the chance to plant them in my flower beds. We build a porch on our house and construction was from March thru July. 😵‍💫).

I will monitor for seed production though. I now have 4 good 2" and under ball/poms that seems to make reliable seed. Next year they'll be bumped up to the seed parent bed.

I have taken to heart your words about keeping private seed parents. I'm in the habit of collecting 2nd year seedling seeds to test their capabilities. I had some major flops but some great, surprising successes the last two years.

Cosey

Bessie If you lived closer you could come collect all the pollen you wanted. I have 50 plants just hanging out. RRA does have a super small pollen center. I removed a bunch of back petals on about 20 flowers. I doubt anything will happen but it's always worth a shot!

Bessie

Cosey I've been wishing for a Dahlia friend that was nearby! I've also thought of pollen traveling via USPS mail😅. I bag several of my Dahlias just to have pollen I can collect to move around the yard. Since this is my second year growing Dahlias in a gopher hotel, I'm still imagining my ideal growing setup. I haven't figured out what I'm gonna do with Seedlings next year. I may have to hijack some of the raised bed vegetable garden.

Bessie

Cosey don't give up hope getting seed from Rock Run Ashley! I just picked 14 "seed pods" and two of the pods had seeds( 5 + 13) for a total of 18 seeds. Twelve of the seeds feel very firm. No clue if they will germinate. 🤔 The list of possible pollen parents* is really long. If I was betting, I'd bet on Hollyhill Regal as a majority contributor pollen parent. Most every day I manually move pollen to various receptive stigmas.

Hollyhill Regal, Sweet Nathalie, Snoho Sonia, Peaches and Cream, Marionberry Milkshake, Crighton Honey, Heather Feather, etc.

calico20hill

"Bessie"#p6286 ...Build raised beds for your dahlias.It is what I have and I like them very much. So much easier to work on them then on the ground.

Teddahlia

Seed gathering in the MFD and MB row:
I was surprised to find lots of seeds from my best 2021 MB white seedling. The seeds are a bit short but very fat and very ripe and 50 seeds from three pods is a good harvest. The plants near it are a good match too. Dikara Superb is blooming late and I bet no seeds this year while we got lots last year. I like to collect seeds from the MB MFD row. Blyton Romance would be good one to breed as it is very pretty as is 20th Ave Major but I bet neither one will make seeds. Rivers Yellow Snow is a real keeper and I hope to get some seeds but nothing so far. I always look for seeds from HH Regal and one of it's 2022 seedlings is a keeper.

White MB that made seeds.

Bessie

Should one be hybridizing with a first year seedling? Kristine Albrecht shows she is willing to when the flower is special enough. https://youtu.be/votm5-xp5tk?si=Xr_ssLvepjAirUT4

SteveM

Bessie Should one be hybridizing with a first year seedling?

Definitely. It is the fastest way to move your goals along.

Teddahlia

There is a big difference between using a really good first year seedling for hand pollination where you select an excellent pollen parent and just saving seeds from a bee pollinated plant. The bees seem to be confused about what pollen to use.

Teddahlia

I am in the process of collecting seeds after a batch of wet weather. The seed pods are not ripe and I have been marking the juicy looking ones with flagging tape to harvest later. There will be a nice harvest of seeds but it will take the week or so of dry weather to ripen them. Oops, there are only 4 days scheduled of dry weather.

Bessie

I found some seedpods that needed to come off the plants. I can forget so easily what I pick, so came up with something that others might want to occasionally use. Using an ultra fine Sharpie, write an abbreviation or name on the stem.

Juliarugula

Bessie
I like the sharpie/stem idea.

Teddahlia

I buy masking tape at the Dollar store and write on it. I wrap it around several pods and sometimes get so many I need a rubber band. Clearview Jonas is a very nice flower and a crowd favorite at the Swan Island trial garden where it replaced a virus infected entry.

Bessie

Teddahlia last year I didn't get one seed from multiple blooms. I didn't have compatible flowers to pollinate it. This year it's very close to Enchantress, an impressive semi-cactus. Enchantress has seed pods, too. 😁

Teddahlia

On the masking tape I can write: "Hollyhill Black Beauty grown by HH Peachy Keen". There is plenty of room to write this and I can read it without glasses. I write it just once even if there are 10 pods.

Bessie

Teddahlia noting what's growing nearby colected seed is important info. For the past two years I have produced a map with the location of every dahlia in my garden. However, with multiple growing locations of a given variety, I think i should start keeping tract of the location in the garden the seed is collected from. Thanks for the tip Ted.

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