Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Hybridizing advice by Bob Faulkner
Bob Faulkner
Dayton, Ohio
Do I hear a "Tut-Tut?"
It's interesting how many well intentioned folks will tell you how to
hybridize. Even at the beginning these folks were plentiful. The first
three years of hybridizing I listened politely and obediently to every word.
After all, if you don't know, you appreciate someone telling you.
So I did all the "you shoulds" I could, and I avoided all the "you
shouldn'ts" I could. By the fourth year I should have been a star.
By the fourth year I realized that my obedience to all the
'instructions' were leading me directly and in full force down the path to the Kingdom
of Boring.!!!!!
So on the fourth year I let my friend 'Mr. Instinct' and his partner
'Gut Feeling' take over the breeding program.
Those guys are so smart and helpful. We don't like to trust them
because doing so means I have to take chances.
Following safe instructions is like dancing on a sheet with the
footprints on it. You do it just right, you never look silly, but the results
are predictable, disappointing and nobody wants to see it.
The best dancers learn all the steps, then they add themselves to the
mix, they add heart, and the results can be pure magic.
If we don't add ourselves to our hybridizing, if we don't add our
heart, we are sure to miss much of the magic.
But there are some rules that should be understood, I will list some
of them.
1. Plant your seeds face up.
2. prayer helps.
3. watering is more beneficial that fertilizing.
4. In order to know if your daylily is special, it helps to have seen
a lot of other folks' work first. Don't get stuck in your own yard, it
will keep you from being selective enough.
5. Never steal pollen. Matter of fact, never steal anything.
6. visualize what you want to get, often. Even draw it on paper.
7. You can ask what people think of your work, but honestly, 95% of us
will say your flowers are beautiful. Don't trust us. Use your own
judgement.
8. Share your work. I believe we aren't given these beautiful things
just to hoard them.
9. There can be this tendency to want people to pat you on the back
all the time. Avoid this tendency like a hoard of locusts. Those who have
reason to brag never need to.
10. If you want good feedback, brag on others' work, a lot; and mean
it. You will be surprised what the results will bring you.
11. Don't tell others what to do, unless they ask.
12. Ignore rule #1.
To hybridize can be wonderfully rewarding. But if Norman Rockwell
tried to paint like Picasso the Saturday Evening Posts would have been much
less.
The daylily world doesn't need your version of "someone else." It
needs you. "Someone else" has already been taken.
Dayton, Ohio
Do I hear a "Tut-Tut?"
It's interesting how many well intentioned folks will tell you how to
hybridize. Even at the beginning these folks were plentiful. The first
three years of hybridizing I listened politely and obediently to every word.
After all, if you don't know, you appreciate someone telling you.
So I did all the "you shoulds" I could, and I avoided all the "you
shouldn'ts" I could. By the fourth year I should have been a star.
By the fourth year I realized that my obedience to all the
'instructions' were leading me directly and in full force down the path to the Kingdom
of Boring.!!!!!
So on the fourth year I let my friend 'Mr. Instinct' and his partner
'Gut Feeling' take over the breeding program.
Those guys are so smart and helpful. We don't like to trust them
because doing so means I have to take chances.
Following safe instructions is like dancing on a sheet with the
footprints on it. You do it just right, you never look silly, but the results
are predictable, disappointing and nobody wants to see it.
The best dancers learn all the steps, then they add themselves to the
mix, they add heart, and the results can be pure magic.
If we don't add ourselves to our hybridizing, if we don't add our
heart, we are sure to miss much of the magic.
But there are some rules that should be understood, I will list some
of them.
1. Plant your seeds face up.
2. prayer helps.
3. watering is more beneficial that fertilizing.
4. In order to know if your daylily is special, it helps to have seen
a lot of other folks' work first. Don't get stuck in your own yard, it
will keep you from being selective enough.
5. Never steal pollen. Matter of fact, never steal anything.
6. visualize what you want to get, often. Even draw it on paper.
7. You can ask what people think of your work, but honestly, 95% of us
will say your flowers are beautiful. Don't trust us. Use your own
judgement.
8. Share your work. I believe we aren't given these beautiful things
just to hoard them.
9. There can be this tendency to want people to pat you on the back
all the time. Avoid this tendency like a hoard of locusts. Those who have
reason to brag never need to.
10. If you want good feedback, brag on others' work, a lot; and mean
it. You will be surprised what the results will bring you.
11. Don't tell others what to do, unless they ask.
12. Ignore rule #1.
To hybridize can be wonderfully rewarding. But if Norman Rockwell
tried to paint like Picasso the Saturday Evening Posts would have been much
less.
The daylily world doesn't need your version of "someone else." It
needs you. "Someone else" has already been taken.
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