Hi, this spring i starter breeding peonies, i made a bunch of crosses between lactifloras and i’ve noticed that a few pods have already opened up in june, showing the yellow seeds. I read that viable seeds should be black. Does this mean that the cross was unsuccessful? This happened only with lactifloras, not hybrids.
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Hi, thank you so much for replying. I’ve waited and now the herbaceous ones are almost all brown. They look kinda crispy though, do you think this will impact their viability?
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As far as I can see, they are not good and will do nothing. Good seeds are more or less round. If they have that shape, it is probably because those were ‘hollow’ seeds. Good seeds are ‘full’ and when placed in water will sink (unless dried out very much). It’s not unusual, I also have some results from crossing giving nearly all hollow seeds. If you have several varieties, I’m pretty sure you’ll also have good round seeds which will sink and do have an embryo inside.
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The seed pods have opened up too early, but the seeds themselves are good. The yellow ones will turn brown. Leave them as they are, at the beginning of July they’ll probably be ready to harvest. If you harvest them now, they’ll simply rot. Hybrids at this time will be red, those will turn black. You need brown or black seeds, not yellow or red ones.