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Post by carola on Apr 5, 2022 5:45:54 GMT
Thinking I read somewhere that it might be possible to cut a peony plant down to force secondary buds to grow that might have more immature flowers that could be used for hybridizing. Do you know anything about this? I cut down 3 plants so far. Should it be done before buds have formed? I recall in my first planting of Mr. Ed that there were anemone form flowers shorter than the normal flowers but I don't see that in the field now. It was suggested to me that I should try it on young plants rather than more mature plants......
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Bob Johnson
New Member
Posts: 7 
What is your main area of hybridizing interest?: Herbaceous hybrids
How would you classify yourself as a hybridizer?: Serious
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Post by Bob Johnson on Jun 19, 2022 3:01:40 GMT
One certainly hears about this, but you never really hear much about the exact method, or what the timing of the technique should be. So I suspect we need to think about how plants grow and develop in the first place, how they expend their energy, and how things operate in the crown area if, like myself, we haven't actually tried it.
Here's how I see it. Buds for the next season's flowers and stems actually begin to form during the previous spring, and then we see them looking fat and pink by fall. In the cutting-back method, I suspect what is happening is that by cutting back this years' growth, we are forcing these immature buds to take over and start growing a year before they normally would. Which might explain why they could be expected to produce less-developed flowers.
In theory, one would not want the plant to have expended too much energy when the initial stems are cut back, or it would not have much left in order to get these new stems going.
So if we want to think about things in those terms, it would make sense to cut this year's stems back as soon as possible in spring, so the plant has plenty of energy left to divert to these nascent buds, as well as giving them as much time as possible to get going.
My sense is that if one waited until the original stems were too far along, the plants might have used up most of the energy they've stored up in order to bring the plants to the stage where photosynthesis can begin to take over. Think about plants which are fairly far along before they get cut down by botrytis. I suppose one might see new replacement stems spring up, but maybe not.
Again, this is just complete theorizing on my part, but if I were going to attempt this, I might go all-in and cut 100% of the stems back as soon as I felt I could get the whole of the immature shoot, before the plant had expended too much energy on them, and then sit back and see what develops. Because I'm not sure one is trying to produce weak stems as much as one is trying to get buds which might otherwise be next season's stems to get going this year instead, before their immature flower structures have had the extra year to double up.
Bob J.
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matts
New Member
Posts: 3
What is your main area of hybridizing interest?: More than one of the above
How would you classify yourself as a hybridizer?: Beginner
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Post by matts on Jul 22, 2022 15:28:48 GMT
I've never tried this, but this topic is covered in Wister's book 'The Peonies' on pg 126-127, the end of Chapter 6.
Bob's supposition regarding the manner of bud development is echoed in that book.
Additionally, the method is described by Murawska in the March 1958 edition of APS's 'The Bulletin'. He destroyed 100% of the stems of Le Cygne within a few days of emergence to force the secondary buds into action. These secondary buds often produce immature flowers that aren't fully double. In scenarios where the mature fully double cultivar lacks stamens and/or pistils, these immature flowers sometimes have stamens and pistils which are useful for hybridizing. The plant returns to normal blooming tendencies the following year.
Carol - can you share what you learned from your experiment this year?
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