Quote:
Originally Posted by
You could also try refrigerating some cuttings of the fall-blooming
plant in hopes of forcing bloom at a time nearer that of the summer-
blooming plant, or vice versa.
It will be interesting to see when the hybrids bloom, should you
manage to obtain any. If you haven't raised the parental species
from seed before, you might try that so you'll have better ideas
about germinating the hybrids. Seeds of woody plants often need
some manipulation to get them to germinate.
Sounds like an interesting and fun project. Good luck!
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Thanks, unfortunately I have just the normal deep freeze. I only wished
I had access to a laboratory, still, we can all dream.
I had not thought of freezing cuttings, although the plants are supposed to be hardy down to -15 C. I had wondered if grafting onto a different rootstock might cause a shift in the blooming time, or perhaps I could try a combination of the 2 options. I am unsure what species would provide good root stocks.
I am growing some Loquats from seed, 10 seed produced 3 plants, and so far I have discovered that the seed must be planted as soon as possible after extraction from the fruit, viability drops off very steeply in storage. Also I
found that the moisture level is fairly crucial, too much either way meets with failure. I understand the plants are only partially self-fertile, so 1 plant on its own may never fruit, which causes many gardeners to give up.