Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Seedlings of 'Double Knock Out'

I used 'Double Knock Out' extensively in 2011.  It was crossed with nearly every seed parent that I was using at the time.  One cross that I much anticipated was one where I replaced 'Home Run' with 'Double Knock Out' in the cross that gave me 'Thrive!'.  So the cross looked like this:  ('Marmalade Skies' X 'Baby Love') X 'Double Knock Out'.  Usually seedlings look better in the greenhouse than when grown outdoors, however, this one looks even better when grown out in the elements.


When breeding for the Hulthemia blotch, I have found that when a cleaner rose is used in the cross (any of the Knock Out series, 'Carefree Sunshine', 'Thrive!', "G168-2" - the seed parent of 'Thrive!' and some others) that there are very few resulting seedlings that exhibit the blotch.  It's as though there is some other dominant factor that is inhibiting the blotch (which in other crosses the Hulthemia blotch seems to usually be expressed as a dominant or co-dominant type trait).  You can be sure that I was very pleased to find out how well this 2012 seedling has been doing outside for the first time this spring.  It is from a cross of <({'Halo Today' X ['Geisha' X ('Tobo' X 'Singin' in the Rain')]} X 'First Impression') X "Mixed Hulthemia Pollen"> X 'Double Knock Out'.  Despite being fully one-half 'Double Knock Out', it does a very good job expressing the blotch (see photo below).  Needless to say, I have used this seedling, code name "P85-2" very extensively in crosses this year.

1 comment:

  1. Wow great information on your theory as well as details on your processes to further them. If only you were my next door neighbor so I can learn first hand. Thank you for your time, Steve...

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