Conversion News Flash!

Good Morning Daylily Friends,

I am pleased with the progress that I have made in trying to convert several daylilies. These daylilies were all treated late in October and through the first week of November, 2009. I tried to treat at least five of the same plant. I am glad that I treated five because with several I have lost too many. However, I have at least one in every conversion effort that is still growing nicely. The one plant that disappointed me the most was ELFIN REFLECTION. I had thought that it was a semi-evergreen, but it has turned out to be more dormant than semi-evergreen. At first I thought that I had done well with ELFIN REFLECTION, but over the past three months it has shown that it is reluctant to grow.

In my observation about converting dormants here where I live, it is harder to convert them in the fall. The plants are going in reverse, but a plant that is being treated should be trying to go forward, and grow. When a dormant is in reversal, it is likely that it will not survive a fall treatment of Coltricine.

Just below I am showing pictures of METRO BLUE and JELLY BASKET:









I am particularly delighted that I have made good progress with METRO BLUE and JELLY BASKET. Both of these are Elizabeth Salter introductions for the Spring of 2009. Both plants look very good. I'm very hopeful about these.

One other plant that I hope that I have converted is SUNGLASSES NEEDED. My friend Marlee Price went to participate as a Judge in Savannah at their daylily show. She was impressed with SUNGLASSES NEEDED, and hoped that I could get it converted. So, I grew it for a season to increase the available number of fans, and then this past fall I also applied the Coltricine. In fact, I tried to convert five plants, and as of now I have only one plant remaining. I'm showing a picture. SUNGLASSES NEEDED is a Joiner double. It has a tall, lanky stem, and the flower is very heavy. Once converted, the stem should be much stronger. I'm going to continue to try to convert diploid doubles until I get the work accomplished. I'm looking forward to creating beautiful tetraplid doubles.

I also have recently been posting pictures of WAXEN SPLENDOR, Plant 3. I'm still confident that Plant 3 is converted, but now I am showing WAXEN SPLENDOR, Plant 2. You may recall that this was a big fan, and that I went in and cut this plant back to the growing tip. The plant then responded, and now looks like you see it in the picture. WAXEN SPLENDOR is a red, Jack Carpenter plant, and I would like to use it in my emerging red program. I'll say this about WAXEN SPLENDOR, it grows fast as a diploid, and from the number of growing fans in Plant 2, it looks like it will also grow well as a tetraploid. The next few weeks will be very important for Plant 2.

The last plant that I have been working with from my conversion effort this past fall is PINK RUFFLED LOVE. I thought that I had it converted this past spring, but it just didn't produce enough tetraploid pollen. So, I cut it apart and treated it again. It is also a dormant, and as I have said, it is difficult to treat dormants in the fall. However, I have had the best success with my work from this past fall with PINK RUFFLED LOVE. Go figure. Perhaps it is true that if a plant is partly converted, it is easier to treat it again to bring it to a full conversion. I sure hope that this is correct, and that I have a full conversion.

Well I hope that this "Conversion news flash" finds you in good spirits today. I know that my day is going well since General Lee has predicted that down south we will have an early spring.

Bill