Polytepals by Mick Morry

I noticed the questions on polytepals. Now without really knowing the science of what's going on--I think Pat or someone should get in on this personally. However I do have perhaps one of the largest lines of regular polytepals in the world. I have dozens of seedlings that polytepal at least 15-25% with some of them doing it 50% of the time. I have the 4x4's, the 5x5's, but I also have perfect double the segments with 6x6's. When I bred my first one 7 years ago when I first started hybridizing I went right into action using it. My first was actually the first seedling I ever bred. I since named it I DREAM IN GREEN it's (ALWAYS AFTERNOON X TWIST OF LEMON). I only have seen TWIST OF LEMON have poly's maybe just once or twice, however it breeds them obviously as I have never seen ALWAYS AFTERNOON do it. I DREAM IN GREEN had green sepals and polytepalled on numerous occasions. I DREAM was registered in 2006 and is being released this spring and is behind my entire startup line. It created my Area-51 which polytepalled only once in a blue moon. However it has 35 kids and counting that are solid regular, every year polytepallers. My WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION is another polytepaller that seems to throw kids that polytepal just like it. A couple of years after breeding I Dream I started hybridizing for fluffy whites and yellows to beef up my line and throw at eyes and patterns.

One of my crosses SUN MOON STARS came out of my big flower with a really big edge program and yup it polytepalled. So logically I went right to work using it. Well 3 seasons later and it's polytepalling kids are nearly as vast as both Area-51's and I DREAM IN GREEN's list of polytepalled kids. In fact I believe every seedling I have ever kept of SMS is one that has at least polytepalled once. This year though the SMS seedlings are complex. I am in 4 generations and they are still polytepalling and so are the 5th generation 51 kids. Now I am breeding for polytepals with it being an actual goal and I could be just getting lucky, however the multigenerational kids and the trait being passed on generation after generation no matter how deep and complex the crosses become says something. Polytepal genes are tremendously dominant traits that come back again and again and seem unwilling and unable to be bred out even when you try. I have tried to remove the capability to see what could be done to reverse the poly's from happening and it is darned tough was your line is developed to breed them as mine is. So if you hate poly's don't use them as the trait comes back and can skip 2-3 generations and show up all of sudden and show up consistently. Polytepalled lines must be some of the easiest to built hardest to remove characteristic that one can breed for.

The next season I bloomed an (AWESOME CANDY X AREA-51), or the reverse -- memory lapse. Anyways I got three nice seedlings out of this early cross in my line. All three polytepal. One is already named being called GLAMOROUS MOUSE. It is a neon yellow that cascades with a neon red pattern and yup it polytepals. So do it's kids with over 50% of them picking up the trait. The next season I flowered my MAPLE LEAF FOREVER, another polytepaller with neon yellow/orange base and an orange edge and eye with mini sharks teeth. It had TWIST OF LEMON in it's background and like 51 and I Dream and the others the trait was passed on and exhibited regularly. This year the number of MLF kids are numerous and looking sharp. My TWICE IN A BLUE MOON kids were throwing tons of kids that polytepalled and so was my THE SOMME. There is real fun in breeding for the polytepallers and yes it is both predictable and easy to get great leaps in. The best lines to build from are Pat Stamile's early line. MYSTICAL RAINBOW, EL BANDITO, EL DESPERADO, DESPERADO LOVE, PANDA BEAR, most of his CANDIES, and many more. Other great breeders for them would be ALWAYS A PLEASURE, SUPERLATIVE that in my garden polys. I of course incorporated them to my more ruffly line and voila (SUPERLATIVE X MAPLE LEAF FOREVER), seedlings have indeed sprouted. My mothers line is beginning to polytepal a bit too as she built her line out of my program cut to PEAT'S, STAMILE'S etc. So once you have the line it's painless to keep the ball rolling. This year we flowered 6 seedlings planted last June 2007. All 6 polytepalled. So it's building and building and becoming second nature to the seedlings coming out of these lines I am working on.

This season we flowered a MAPLE LEAF FOREVER X TWICE IN A BLUE MOON seedling that polytepalled almost ever day. It had teeth, knobs and hooks and looks like a polytepalled version of Peat's MOLSON CANADIAN. It has the same cream off white base with a leaf like pattern that is red/crimson in the eye and a edge. This seedling has TWIST OF LEMON behind it from both parents as TWICE IN A BLUE MOON is an AREA-51 kid which came out of I DREAM that came out of TWIST OF LEMON. So it builds and builds and builds. Hope this helps. Got to open up more seed pods now. Ciao all.

Mick Morry
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
AHS Region 4-(Zone 4b/5)-Where we our northern hardy seedlings finally have re-bloom capability.