Tulip breeding explained.
1
Selecting father and mother variety.
Characteristics as color, bloom size and shape, length, disease resistance and bulb growth of the “parents” are very important.
3
Seed collecting.
The mother plant will produce new seeds. After a while the seeds can be harvested.
5
Harvesting from crates.
The seeds have grown to miniature bulbs and didn’t flower during the spring. Natural selection starts here. After harvest they get stored and planted in the crates again. In total this process repeats for 5 years.
7
Field selection.
Selection of the Tulips happens by mother nature and human. Natural diseases and viruses will infect the plants that are not strong enough. Unfortunately, it happens that some beautiful Tulips will not make it. The breeder selects on the visual characteristics of the Tulips. Think about color, bloom size, bloom shape, length and leave type. This mostly happens during flowering time.
9
Reproduction.
The “winners” are no champion yet. The bulbs of the selected varieties need to be reproduced to a number of bulbs big enough to introduce it to the public. During the reproduction some varieties don’t seem that strong against different diseases. This means they will not end up in this catalog.
2
Pollination.
A brush is used to apply the pollen from the father plant on the pistil of the mother plant.
4
Planting seeds.
In December the seeds of the mother plant be sown in special crates with fine potting soil.
6
Field planting.
After the 5th year in crates the bulbs are ready to get planted in the field. Every year on one of the fields there are thousands of 5 year old Tulip varieties flowering. While they are blooming the selection continues.
8
Winner.
After a second year in the field just a few Tulip varieties are left as winners”.
Now you know the whole process to hybridize and breed a champion Tulip, think about what the Tulips all have been through to get here. They are 1 of a 15,000. The varieties that follow are an example. They are proven varieties for parks and u-pick gardens.
