Hybridizers: Questions about hybrids, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Lilly,

"Too bad they don't come true from seeds or you would hit the jackpot and could retire. "

The zinnia breeding is just a hobby for me, with no profit motive whatever.

You are right, my hybrids of hybrids are extremely variable from seeds. Rose breeders (and daylily breeders, iris breeders, lily breeders, etc) do like I do, and make crosses between crosses, resulting in highly complex ancestry.

But when a rose breeder gets a "winner" bloom on a seedling, the process has just begun. A lengthy asexual process of propagation and multiplication begins, and it can be years before the new plants exist in numbers sufficient for commercial introduction.

With zinnias, an extended process of selection and reselection is necessary to "dehybridize" the new specimen into a stable strain or cultivar. It takes time with either the asexual route or the sexual route. Most of our zinnia strains today were stabilized by a multi-generation process of selection, roguing, and reselection for several generations.

I have developed a method of growing zinnias from cuttings. And I am experimenting with tissue culture. So I don't feel too disadvantaged by my situation with zinnias. And they do yield very quick results compared to almost any ornamental.

"The tubular petals I don't think comes from genes."

I dunno. I think they might. At least, a tendency to react to environmental conditions in a peculiar way could inherited. But you are right. Seeds saved from tubulars aren't necessary tubular. I am just hoping that there is a tendency.

ZM