Thursday, February 18, 2010

Converting Mimosa Umbrella

Hello Daylily Friends,

Well it is time to begin work on trying to convert some of my dormant diploids. One of my favorite diploid daylilies is MIMOSA UMBRELLA. It was given to me years ago by my deceased friend, David Miller. I simply thought very highly of David, and of course I likewise think very highly of his lovely wife, Virginia Franklin Miller. When our Cobb County Daylily Society had its first "Daylily Show" back in 2004, one flower that I entered in the show was MIMOSA UMBRELLA. It was so beautiful. It had two open blooms when I entered it in the show, and to my delight, it won "Best in Show." So I think a lot of MIMOSA UMBRELLA. It came from a good friend, it is beautiful, and for me it won best in show here in our Club. The first thing that I do in the treatment process is to use scissors to cut off the top of the plant. Then, I take my usual tools, a single edged razor blade, an exacto knife, and very good glasses to begin the work.

It is important to use the single edged razor blade to cut horizontally across the daylily. I keep cutting, trying to maintain a good level edge. However, maintaining a level edge is not always possible because of how the dayliliy positions itself in the pot. To the extent that I keep the cut horizontal, I have a good thing. If the cut is not horizontal, then I use a brace under the pot to keep the surface level during the treatment process. Once I have a level surface, I like to also use the single edged razor blade to trim off the edges around the daylily. This prevents potentially harming plant growth. I then take the exacto knife and cut around the "growing tip" to have it open and exposed. When I have the growing tip nicely exposed, I like to trim it back just a bit so that it sits lower in the "bowl" that I have created with my exacto knife. I am showing a picture of what a trimmed daylily should look like after it is properly cut.

Several days ago I showed how to mix Coltricine with distilled water. I made a mixture containing 400 mililiters. To use this product to treat my dormant diploids, I put 200 mililiters of the mixture into a separate, smaller bottle. I use the smaller bottle when treating daylilies simply because it is safer and easier. I also put one (1) mililiter of DMSO into the 200 mililiter bottle. I then use an "eye dropper" to extract the Coltricine from my bottle to apply it to the diploid being treated. Again I would suggest and urge caution when using the Coltricine, especially after DMSO has been added. The DMSO makes the Coltricine much more dangerous because if you get the mixture on your skin it will definitely penetrate. So, be careful. Finally I am showing some of the fourteen (14) diploids that I treated this afternoon.

I have a number of additional diploids to treat, and I will probably get those cut and treated tomorrow. Today I'm too tired to do anymore.

Bill

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