Hybridizing tips for Brugmansia and Daylillies

Tip number 1: hope to get lucky and don't be disappointed if you don't. All it takes is one seed to get a nice hybrid. Its just a matter of selecting the right seed to plant. The more seeds you have the more chances you have of getting that "one" seed.
Tip number 2: The better the hybrids you are working with the better hybrides you are going to be able to create. Work with dogs and you get flea's and perhaps another dog if your lucky. In short, a large percentage of your hybrides are not going to be as good as the parents you were working with if you are honest with yourself.
If your working with hybrides that have been extensively used for several years by several hybridizers, chances are whatever you create will not be as good as whats currently out on the market as these crosses have already been done hundreds of times over by other hybridizers. Why recreate the wheel when some has done it for you? Get the wheel and put it on the cart.
Down to Basics with Brugmansia
First, cut the calyx from the underside to get at the pistal a few days before the corolla extends out of the calyx. Cutting from the underside in a straight line removes the chances of rain washing the pollen of the pistal. Collect pollen for use on such a flower from a flower that is fully extended before it opens or shortly thereafter. Brugmansia pollen is generally good for about 6 days. Only make a cross if you trully want to see what that flower combination is going to bring. I suggest planting the entire seed pod from a cross or half if you have made that same cross to another pistal on that same plant. Then you can select out the larger healthier seeds to plant. 200 seedlings from a cross should ensure that you get at least one you like, but as they say, the luck is in the draw. Brugmansia are generally not self fertile, this means you must apply pollen from another cultivar to get a seed pod except in very rare cases.
Daylilly hybridizing notes
Much of what applies above applies here as well. Use the nicest hybrides you can find. If that means you can only get 2 daylillies to hybridize with that are trully spectacular, that beats the pants off of 5 that are simply beautiful, but not spectacular. Decide what characteristics you want and get hybrids with those characteristics to start with. Hope to get lucky. Generally speaking, one can apply the pollen to the pistal the day before the flower opens. The stigma will be poking out a bit sometimes which makes it easy enough to apply pollen. The day before the pistal opens one can also pull back or tear off the sepals and petals to expose the pistal. One does not need to tear the entire corolla off, just enough to expose the pistal to pollinate it. Best time of day to pollinate seems to be early morning just after the pollen ripens. You can collect daylilly pollen just after it ripens with a q-tip and store the pollen in film canisters for later use in the freezer. Otherwise the pollen isn't much good after the first few hours of daylight generally. Simply apply the frozen pollen on a pistal a month or year later with that pollen that you have frozen. Daylillies are self fertile. Some cultivars are better for seed production , others better for pollen, and still others have good seed production and good pollen to donate. What this means is simply this. Some hybrids are easier than others to set seed on and some hybrids have more viable pollen than others. Even the most stubborn cultivar that has poor seed setting ability and not the best pollen in the world can self seed though if one applies the pollen directly to the top of the stigma. Personally, I prefer to self a plant only as a last resort, but thats just me. I like to see more diversity.
Taking care of hybrid seed
Daylilly seed needs to be chilled for a few weeks before planting.
Brugmansia seed needs to be fresh. That means as soon as you pick it soak it in water for a few hours and plant it unless you don't have a green house. In that case, wait until winter is over and danger of freezing is past. In the later case you will get much more sporadic germination and lower germination rates. Brugmansia seed typically takes 2-4 weeks to germinate when it is fresh. Old seed begins to germinate and continues to germinate for up to 2 years. Always pick seedpods before they turn brown and start to split as insects are known to bore into the seed pod and eat the insides of the seeds. Personally, I don't want to plant empty seeds. I don't peel my Brugmansia seed and I only have about 2 or 3 in 75 come up with a seed head on it. If a seed head does come up attached to the embryo, simply mist and gently squeeze and it generally pops or slides right off the cotyledons.
Lastly, I just hybridize for fun. If anyone is serious about hybridizing and would like to add their own comments to this thread please do so. Any and all hybridizing tips are related to propagating so if you wish to add tips, please add them and state whether these tips apply to poppy's, Hemerocallis, Psychotria, Myrtillocactus, etc. etc. Just because the thread is started with two types of plants does not mean we have to limit it to those types.
Hope this helps those of you who have been asking for hybridizing tips,
Brugmansia

yes, it helps. And it helps to look through old threads:)

Tig,
Now you didn't tell me you were thinking of hybridizing. You should look up one of our other members as they have one of the best seed setters and pollen donors I have in their hands right this moment. Of course they are the only ones with that hybrid in the world as its one of mine. I think you would be impressed with it as its also my earliest bloomer.