planning crosses for 2009

dany, what kind of temps do you have now?

If you can hand cross this year, try using some pollen from those small white flowers Kikyo (ten-ten) white speckled platycodon type, do so, I'm getting the strangest plants and leaves.. some are short and some are tall plants, I'm hoping they grow and bloom.. you never know which parents were used to get that kikyo though, so several types are coming out. Some of the leaves are skinny too, so I am waiting to see what the leaves look like when they unfurl. Too bad there isn't a dial that we can use to speed things up..lol and directly to blooms, then to seeds..

I checked my flats out, they are 38 cells to each flat, they are huge cells though, I thought there were 72 but those are the smaller flats. These flats are bigger than the 72 cell flats, I'm just hoping I'm ready for the transplant, each has 3 to 4 seedlings in them, some of course are empty, and some germinating at different times.

Mix seeds are good, you get lots of neat surprises that way.

Now the temperature is good to try the babies outside, last week there was a dry wind not really good for the plantation.
I try to imagine an drip system for watering, is there a thread on DG for that ?

the cross that you say will be something like that !

Dany, I look forward to the results of all your efforts.. it is very amazing with what I see here..

Dany, drip systems are very effecient and economical. The plastic hose is cheap, but the connections is where they get you. I wish we lived close together, I am not using mine any more, but loved them when I did. Then add an electroic timer to turn the water on and off, and bou do you have more time for the fun things during the summer. No hose dragging.

I grew 20 x 90foot rows of many kinds of potatoes a few years back, spaced at 2 feet and each plant had its own little hose.

It also helped to control the weeds, since the weeds were not getting watered. Good luck to you. Frank

We get some horrible dry winds here too, use one of those snake like hoses that stand up and have holes all the way up, then they turn into misters. I used to put those on in Southern California for the dogs and me too..lol, it was dry and hot.. I may have to find some here for this area, you can even hang them in the trees or hammer a nail into a pole and hang there.

Well, here is one speckled F2.

The throat has magenta spots and it is purple spots with bluish tinge around the edge.

Wow, that is a nice one... keep up the good work..

A.

Oh, I've got some Rebeccas, Star of Yeltas, I. indicas and a wild purpurea blooming, the purpureas reseeded. That's about it here.

Pretty cross, Karen. :-)

It isn`t exactly a simple "cross" but it is a cross of a crossed cross that was selfed and this is a F2 selection.

Karen ,
Beautiful bloom !!

But : small - medium - large ? or XXL
I suppose medium

Karen, lovely speckled bloom.

ohhhhhhh you all have no idea what it is like for a 'newbie' to read your posts..... It is like sitting in on a calculus class taught in a different language.

I fear that I will NEVER learn all this stuff

It just came to me that what I thought was Ron's 'last name' really has to do with Morninglories.......

I never even thought to look at the vines ----- and, here you are talking about the stripe/color of vines.

And it seems if you like a particular bloom you actually tag the bloom -- and not just the vine assuming all the offspring will look like the bloom.

Little by little...... but I don't think I have that many years left in me.

Hi missingrosie,

It is really very simple because even my little boy can do this. People make it seem difficult with all the fancy technical terms and jargon. Bookkeeping skills and a good eye for details in your plants are a big plus if you want to breed morning glories for a hobby.

Each vine has the same genetic material (unless it is possible for morning glories to be chimeras or to have two sets of dna present in different parts of the plant.) Usually, one vine has the same dna and the seeds are the result of 1/2 the recombined dna combined with 1/2 the recombined dna of the parent plant or recombined dna of the plant through self pollination.

Tagging a bloom is a way to make sure you get the pod resulting from the plant you liked.

Dany, I think this one is a small flower throw back. In many batches of large flower you can see the occasional rare "scissor" cotyledon which is a little bit skinnier looking than the rounded cotyledons of the large flower and that will give you a bit smaller flower and leaves too sometimes. It is possible to cull seedlings to remove any of the small flower throwbacks so all your plants will be large flower. In this case I wanted to see the speckles so I grew it. :)

Thanks Patootie,Beckygardener and Gourd!

2005, that speckled little gem there is the product of much breeding and the seeds sould be in demand for that reason and not the size of it. Imagine what you would get with this one crossed with one of those black ones. If you have some of the blacks, you ought to cross these two. The blacks as parents throw the most interesting and beautiful seedlings of all, according to my visual taste buds. Frank

You are right Frank. I needed the patience of Job to find that little bugger. The most challenging thing was Waiting and having faith this was going to happen. True,the next goal will materialize and more crosses and plans for seeing the possibilities. :)

Thanks Gardener - I have learned a few great tips from others on this forum and have received seeds too (whoo hoo) so I know I at least am starting with the 'right stuff.' Last year I learned NOT to put pots together closely -- even tho I was so careful with the planting and knowing what was planted where.

I learned also that it is almost impossible ("almost") to unwind vines that are tangled in neighbor pots. Scissors came in handy (unfortunately)

As you know, forget trying to control the pollination with my above methods.
Although I have tried to hand pollinate two of my favorite MGs - we will see.

I guess I have to decide if I just want to enjoy whatever flowers come my way -- tending to the growth and health or add a great deal of work to it by trying to control the outcome. It clearly is a lot of work and for geared towards someone who enjoys the entire process including keeping records!

You are right missingrosie, what is your board nickname? Mine is Gardener. You can call me Gardener.

A lot of folks call me Rosie (Rosie was my coon hound) when I joined DG - she had just died and I was (still am) 'Missing" Rosie.

missingrosie - Love your screen name and the reason behind it! :-) Went through the same thing. I got 2 new pets to replace the two I lost 2 years ago. Life is not the same without pets, so found an awesome dog and cat to adopt from the Humane Shelter. :-)

Maybe I am getting closer to that now. Rosie was a spit-flinging, howling, hair-raising (and losing), overly-protective, scared of her shadow kinda gal --and while we loved (loved) her, when she left us heartbroken --we coped by appreciating the freedom of not having to deal with all of the above 'attributes' gave us. We no doubt will adopt new buddies, but will likely be a while.