ORANGE VELVET is Converted.

Hello Daylily Friends,

The new daylily that I have converted is ORANGE VELVET. I have been trying for years to get this accomplished. Indeed, many, many years ago Diana and I grew ORANGE VELVET, but eventually we sold all that we had. Then, Mary Howard gave more of the daylily to us to use to convert. ORANGE VELVET was introduced by Inman Joiner back in 1988, and perhaps for a decade it has been voted to be the most popular daylily in the State of Georgia. Mr. Joiner registered ORANGE VELVET to be a semi-evergreen, but here where we live in Marietta, Georgia, it is a dormant. Mr. Joiner listed it as being 30" tall with a 6 1/2" flower. In the Greenhouse it has seven laterals and 36 buds. It is a wonderful daylily which is why I wanted to get it converted. I am showing a picture of ORANGE VELVET as a diploid.

Now, here is a picture of my converted daylily: TET. ORANGE VELVET. As you can see the flower looks distorted. Most converted daylilies do indeed look distorted, but the power is not in the appearance of the daylily. Instead, it is in its pollen. I would note that a diploid has 22 chromosomes, but a tetraploid has 44 chromosomes. Since the tetraploid has twice the genes, this means that there is twice the good that there is in the diploid. You can see from my picture of TET. ORANGE VELVET that it has a more intense color. Thus, it will transfer a deeper color to its seedlings. So, twice the genes equals twice the intensity of color. The tetraploid also has more substance in its foilage and bigger scapes, bigger foilage, and bigger roots. The tetraploid is very good.

I know that my TET. ORANGE VELVET is converted because I have examined the size of the pollen by using my microscope. Normally, the diploid pollens each measure about a 6 to an 11 on the scale that I use to measure pollen. The tetraploid pollen for TET. ORANGE VELVET, measures about a 13 to a 16. Some of the tetraploid pollens are long and fat and then others are also large and round. It appears to me from looking at the pollen that I have a full conversion. There may be a few diploid pollens, but there aren't many. I am herewith showing a picture of the tetraploid pollen that was taken using a hundred power lens on my microscope.

Another fact that confirms my assessment that I have converted TET. ORANGE VELVET is the size of the bud where it attaches to the scape. The bud for a tetraploid will be wider and thicker and shorter. The same bud for a diploid will be thinner and longer. I am showing a picture of a tetraploid bud and a picture of a diploid bud. You can clearly see the difference. The reason for the larger tetraploid bud is that it is bigger and stronger. If there is no swelling of the bud where it joins to the scape, then, it is my experience, there is no conversion.

I have started using the pollen from TET. ORANGE VELVET and I can hardly wait for the spring of 2010 to see the new seedlings. What a blessing it is to have a conversion be successful.

Bill