By Hooker T. Nichols
This article is about how a relative new Louisiana iris hybridizer handles his ripened Louisiana iris seeds. There are two different roads one can travel upon when it comes time to harvest your fully mature seeds and either plant them immediately or simply place them in a dry container until planting later on in the year.
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| Cynthia Maldonado with seeds. Image from The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative |
Some of the few seasoned longtime hybridizers harvest the seeds from the stalks when the pods begin to turn nearly white just before they turn brow. Some will tell you to plant the seeds immediately without nicking the corner of the seed or completely removing the cork covering from the seeds. I personally have never had the time to plant the seeds early post bloom season because as soon as the iris quit blooming I morph into a daylily and begin hybridizing daylilies. If planted directly into the soil or individual gallon black pots you will get some germination before fall with the majority the following spring.
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| Image from The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative |
I simply allow my pods to completely dry (turn brown) on the stalks. I remove the seeds from the ripened pods and place the complete seed lot in a Styrofoam cup. After they have air dried, I put the cups in a cabinet and leave them there until early February. Then each seed lot is planted in a one gallon black pot with good soil. In less than six weeks I begin getting germination. When the seedlings are 3 to 4 inches tall, I transplant each seedling into its own individual gallon pot when it remains until September. They are liquid fertilized every seven days until early September. By that time, each seedling has formed a small clump. I tap the plant clumps out of the pots and line them out. I get about 100% bloom the following spring because of out mild winters and long growing season which is 200+ days per year.
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| Drawing Plate I. Dormon Caroline By Their Fruits. |
Following removing the seedlings from the pots, I then place the pots in full sun and let them bake all summer. In early September I start watering the pots from which the 3-4 inch seedlings were earlier transplanted. You will get another rush of germination. The pots are healed in for the winter and the process is repeated again. After the second individual transplanting is complete, I then dump the pots.
Louisianas bloom the same time as the Spuria irises. They are a wonderful way to extend your iris bloom season. Try growing some of the new Pseudata irises and you can extend your iris season several more weeks.
