learning to hybridize

Early this year, for the first time, I decided to label my daylilies in the yard. When I made that decision, I was insisting -- I believed -- that it was strictly to know what I had. It wasn't a prelude to hybridizing. I should have known better.

Little Grapette -- notice the tags where I've tried to pollenate

I think it was on the garden tours last month that I decided to try my hand at hybridizing. I'm still not entirely sure why I want to do it. But I do. So for a stretch this summer, I was going out every day and crossing what I could. Two tets in bloom? Try crossing them. Two dips in bloom? Try crossing them. I'm also noticed good seed pods that I had no hand in pollenating. I'm not above trying to get them to grow and seeing what happens. Maybe a "Little Grapette" × unknown will come out beautiful. I'm torn where it comes to good looking seed pods where I don't know what cultivar the mother is. In those cases I don't even know if I have a tet or a dip. Do I have it in me to start using a microscope to figure that out? I can't see registering a plant if I don't know is ploidity.

What seeds I'll work with is a question I'll have to face soon, since summer is winding down. I've been watching a bunch of Youtube videos on how to hybridize, including what to do once I have (hopefully) viable seeds. Of course, some of them contradict each other about the best way to encourage germination. I take that as a good sign. If there are different approaches, then maybe they're strong enough to survive even if I don't do everything perfectly.

Of course, being a novice and all, I realize that I'm prbably making a ton of mistakes, and I can only figure that, with experience, I'll do things better. There are already a few things that I know I can do better:

• There's really been no rhyme or reason to what plants I've crossed with each other (except for making sure to pair tets with tets and dips with dips. Oh, and I wanted to make sure that I crossed "My Little Fool" as much as possible, in the hope of being able to register one of its children under the name "Sewer Service." Presumably I'll get to the point of identifying characteristics that I want and breeding to try to achieve them. That will be easier to achieve once I have more labelled cultivars blooming in my yard.
• Related to the above, I have to learn how to save pollen for breeding in the future. That way I'm not limited to pairings that both bloom at the same time of the season.
• I paid no attention to time of day. That was naive. I should have reasoned that plants are more receptive at some times of day than others. Relatedly, it will help me to learn how to recognize when pistils are most receptive, and how to judge healthy-looking pollen.

At any rate, I figure I won't have anything to register until 2021 at the earliest. And hoping for 2021 is probably over-optimistic. Even if I get good looking seedlings, I'll have to see if they can survive a winter outside, and come back full. After that I'll want to take a couple of years to have a big clump so I can some away without depleting my own supply. I wonder how commercial growers, who introduce new cultivars with the goal of selling them do it. I'm not hoping to make money off these, so I don't need a whole lot. I'll be happy if I can bring a few fans to LIDS meetings for them to give as door prizes. Commercial growers need more of their introductions than I'll need.