Iris species

[Rafa]

More fantastic pictures, this time, from my friend Jim kee, an expert Iris grower.

[Oron Peri]

Rafa

I'm still having a shock from the photos you have sent from J. Lonsdale ...

It seems that we grow our plants The Mediterranean way: pots on one side of the garden, labels on the other side...

[Lesley Cox]

John's pictures undoubtedly give us a wonderful lesson, superbly illustrated then explained in text. For the majority of us however, they ignore a basic fact - we have no source of such fabulous seed in the first place.

[JohnLonsdale]

Pat - indeed, I have emailed Thomas Fietz and he will include photos and some text in the next ASI yearbook.  I think Jim Waddick is also going to include something with the seed distribution of SIGNA.  It's good to hear from you - I've been meaning to contact you for years!

Lesley - not sure what you mean by "For the majority of us however, they ignore a basic fact - we have no source of such fabulous seed in the first place."  At least 75% of the seeds sown in this batch came from commercial sources through regular channels (i.e. I bought them with money) who ship world-wide, or if they don't ship directly to NZ would certainly ship to someone who could forward legally to you.  I have no idea which species might or might not be importable in NZ/AUS, but I'm assuming the NZ/AUS contingent are not those you are referring to as the majority.

Hans - you are right that a number of plants pictured are certainly not a year old.  In fact looking at the pictures, most are not.  I must have deleted the images of the year-old elegantissima and barnumae plants before mailing them to Rafa - so ignore that bit of my message!  Sorry for the misleading information. 

Rafa - you are right that fungal/bacterial contamination of the seeds whilst germinating is the biggest problem.  In addition to sterilizing everything as best as possible, it is important to keep the seeds as unexposed to contamination (air) as possible while they are 'cooking'.  I'm convinced the biggest source of fungal contamination is the seeds themselves and sterilizing their coats is the best way to succeed.  I currently use a peroxide-based sterilant but would like to use bleach also - but I am not sure what concentration or exposure time to use.  I suppose the parameters worked out for orchid seed would work well - and if it doesn't damage tiny orchid seeds then it is hardly likely to hurt the relatively massive Onco seeds!  Does anyone have any idea what the optimum parameters might be for bleaching seeds?

Best,

J.

[Lesley Cox]

John, that's good news about your commercial sources. I assumed many were seeds from your own plants. We are able to import quite an extensive list of oncos/regelias (and junos) so now you have me fired up. Would you name those sources please? either here or privately if you prefer?

As for the money aspect, I'm very happy to ignore the phone bill, the power bill and the fact that the dentist is seeing me more than I'm comfortable with, lately. Who needs them?

[arillady]

John,
I had a quick look at your website and it is stunning. I like the choice of colours used - makes the photos stand out so well. Good to see so many angles of different species too. Did you do the website yourself?
The last of the arils are in flower - the lortetii/samariae clan - have not had time to photograph anything at the moment. I have an open garden on Saturday and my nose has been into pulling weeds, mowing and trying to generally tidy up.
Pat

[Hans A.]

Does anyone have any idea what the optimum parameters might be for bleaching seeds?

Hello John,
i use a concentration of  20 -25% of bleach for preparing the seeds for embryo culture - soaking them for about half hour. I am not sure if half hour is enough for Forced germination as all the attempts in a combinations of FG and EC failed finally  because of fungi infections (I supose the seedcoat was not desinfected completly).
An other possibility is to tip the seeds in alcohol and burn them - i personally prefer bleach.

[JohnLonsdale]

Lesley - regarding commercial sources for Onco seeds, you can try Jim Archibald (a dozen or so listed in the current list), Josef Mayr (a dozen or more listed this summer, a few still on his web site), Vlastimil Pilous, Vojtec Holubec and Jan Jilek (these three are sporadic for Oncos but have good seeds of other bulbs as well).  Seeds are also occasionally available through Species Iris Group of North America and the Aril Society International, and possibly other society exchanges as well

best,

John.

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you John. I've had juno seed from Pilous and Jilek with some success and oncos from Archibald with nary a one germinated in 20 odd years, but then, I've been sowing them as "ordinary" seeds, not in the very specific conditions as illustrated above. Time for another try I guess.

[BULBISSIME]

First Iris kirkwoodii showing signs of germination 16 days after cutting :



All sp with cutted embryo are germinating, others are still waiting for... scalpel ?? 

[art600]

Now to get some seed 

[Rafa]

Very good Fred. I think I see in second picture embryo is cut? in that case it  will never germinate.
John Lonsdale has notice that also it is important to avoid exposition to the air. It is better to keep the seeds into the bag and to not open it until the embryo make the levae and root.

good luck with this seeds and keeping posting your results please.

[Diane Clement]

I'm really interested in trying this method of germinating.  Is there an article anywhere showing exactly where and how to cut the seed?  Sorry if I missed it somewhere

[Susan Band]

Diane,
I found this article helpful http://www.dils.dk/dk-pages/readarticle.php?article_id=11 I didn't follow it exactly but I have  got I. kirkwoodii and I. aucheri alba germinated so far (10 days from sowing) 2 packets have rotted but the others look okay although they haven't done anything. Still hopeful.
Susan

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for this link. It explains - and shows - everything so very clearly. I've printed it out and will hope for some results with seed recently ordered, of arils.