Your breeding goal?

14 years ago

Ok IÂve read back in the archives of this forum and a couple of people mentioned a specific goal they were breeding their Hippeastrums to achieve. One was miniatures another I read about was clustering of the bulbs. So what I want to know is if you are selectively breeding, what are you breeding for? And have you had some success so far, I know that seeing any results can take up to 5 years but from what you see now have you had some success?

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Comments (4)

kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
14 years ago
Too early to tell, but I am breeding for bloom shape/size and colors. For example, taking something as simple as a Minerva and breeded to add either some salmon or yellow into the background. Also like the picotee edge and have bred to see if I could get a red edge on a yellow or salmom bloom.

Time will tell...but those are my goals. The started greenhouse arrives this week (I hope) via Fed Ex ground, so will have lots of room for blooms. The kitchen had over 40 one-gallon pots last year covering almost every horizontal surface.

Kristi B.
Spring, TX
agent1xe13
14 years ago
The world of amaryllis is plague with secrecy, a secrecy that seems to exist only for the amaryllis and this secrecy is very detrimental to this market. When you breed them, you then have to start from scratch every single time since the work of previous breeders is not published anywhere, it is a state secret, you can't even know what plant was used to created such or such cultivar. So we know nothing about the characteristics that are transmitted by such or such plant in breeding when used as a female or a male since we know from other plants families that what a plant transmits as a father is not necessarily the same as when the same plant is used as a mother. We have no idea either of the ploidy of most cultivar on sale.

So what do I breed for? First to find out what is compatible with what, something we have no idea of yet. Second, what are the characteristics that are transmitted when such a plant is used as a female and what are the characteristics that are passed along when the same plant is used as a male. We know nothing about that either. Third, I breed to get plants that wont take years and years to bloom. Till now, I bloomed 4 plants out of a 90 plants test group in a year, the shortest time known being 363 days. The recipe to achieve that is known, it works, but it needs to be tested again and adjusted a bit to get better results. Fourth, I breed to try to get things that are off the beaten path, something that will not be another RedLion of some kind. Fifth, I breed to try and have smaller plants if possible. These are my main goals as a breeder.

I intend to publish the results of what I find out and of what I will get, and I already started to do that on my web site. The pictures of the 4 test plants that have bloomed in a year are there along with the pictures of their parents. Only 4 for now, but several more to come in spring 2010 and later. At least, and at last, there will be a place where everyone will be able to look and see what gives what. That will not be the end of the guess work, only a very small hole in the veil of secrecy.

Laurier
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kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
14 years ago
Laurier and others, when a bulb is registered with KAVB, the parents are disclosed by the registering party. With enough investigation (and perhaps personal communication), they could be found....just a thought. I think it's important not to reinvent the wheel!
Kristi
agent1xe13
14 years ago
Quote: "With enough investigation (and perhaps personal communication)"

...and a lot of money too. I looked into that possibility before, but it seems that they will only do it if you become a member, and then if you pay the fees involved on top. And it also seems that KAVB is not the only organization that does register amaryllis hybrids. The big problem with amaryllis is that there is no "one governing organization" to overlook all that goes on in the amaryllis world like there are with orchids, peonies, hostas, daylilies, irises, etc.

With orchids and daylilies for instance, no need to become a member of anything, the pedigree of plants is free and available on line at all time. With the irises, there is a small very reasonable fee to pay, but it is very affordable and available on line. In MHO, it should be like for the rest of them, available free on line at all time.

Getting the name of the parents for one plant may lead to the obligation of getting the names of the previous parents as well, and to the previous ones as well, and... you know what I mean don't you? But even if we have the names of the first parents only, which is way better than nothing at all, we still have no information as to the behavior of the parents as father or as mother, what are the caracteristics that are most often passed on or not passed on to the progeny. So however you look at it, when you deal with amaryllis, you always end up reinventing the wheel if you try to do some serious work, unless you have a lot of money to spend. Such a situation doesn't exist for most other commercial genera, only with the amaryllis.

Laurier

Your breeding goal?

Comments (4)

kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)

agent1xe13

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kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)

agent1xe13

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