Hybridizing Daffodils
Last month I said we'd talk about making your own daffodil hybrids. Most daffodil hybrids with only one bloom per stem are fertile, while those with more than one bloom per stem are likely to be triploids, and therefore sterile. Or at least it's highly unlikely that they'll set seed.
Pollinating the blooms is simple; you take pollen from one flower and put it onto the pistil of another flower. Daffodils have six stamens which contain the pollen (the anther, at the end), and you want to be sure and use it when it's fresh and dry. When the bloom first opens, the pollen has not yet dehisced. Wait a day or two. The pistil is in the center of the six stamens, sometimes exerted, and sometimes buried deep within the stamens. Pollinating can be as simple as taking a pair of tweezers, pulling a stamen from the desired pollen parent, and taking it to the seed parent and putting as much pollen on the end of the pistil as you can. Some people prefer to use a small artist's brush. And some people apply a solution of honey and water to the stigma (the tip end of the pistil) before applying pollen. This helps the pollen to "stick" to the stigma, and also provides a bit of food to the pollen as the pollen grains grow. If you want to be REALLY sure that it's your intended cross and not one made by the bees or spiders that takes, you can cover the bloom with a piece of nylon stocking. But I don't know of anyone who covers blooms after making crosses. If your cross is successful, the ovary, the little round knob just under the bloom, will begin to swell, and seeds will form. This seedpod can grow to the size of a walnut or pecan. If you're crossing miniatures, maybe it will grow to the size of a peanut.
When you make the cross, you will probably want to record the parentage, either in a notebook or on a string tag you attach to the stem, for future reference. And it's also a good idea to tie the stem to a bamboo stake or something similar, so that you can find the seedpod six weeks later. Otherwise as the foliage matures, you might forget about your seedpod and it could be lost. To test if the seed is ripe, shake the seedpod. If you can hear the seeds rattling around, it's probably time to cut the pod. Or if the old blossom, which has dried up and is attached to the end of the seedpod, loosens, that means the pod is getting ready to split. Definitely pick it then, or the seed may be lost on the ground.
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