Hello Anja,
I'll try to answer some of your questions based on my experience with crossing broken color iris and especially Tiger Honey which I've used and also had good success with takes and high seed count. Yes, there will be 240 different flowers (germination may be only 50%-75%) With Tiger Honey your chances for broken color are pretty good when crossed with plicatas. Now the differences will be subtle and most will look like Tiger Honey. Sometimes it's hard to tell one honey tan with white random splashes from another, but genetically they will be slightly different since a different grain of pollen produced that certain seed. I've got quite a few from Honey Tiger that when they bloom I say oh, that looks like Honey Tiger, then there are the few that are different and makes it all worth while.
Now to some of the other stuff.
BC X Plicata will give you a mix of both, broken color is hard to get so I'd say the higher percentage would be plicata.
Plicata X Plicata will give you plicata, but some will be selfs or non-plic with no plicata showing because plicata is recessive and doesn't always show in the offspring.
BC X Non-Plic or self colored will give you solid color with haft marks, lines, sunray or veins around the beard area.
Your Before The Storm X Tiger Honey sounds interesting, I hope you get a black with random silver-white splashes.
Like I said broken color I've found is harder to obtain than one would think, unless it is BC X BC.
Mr. Walter Moores may be able to add to this since he has done a lot of work with plicatas, I saw a plicata of his the other night that had yellow standards and plicata falls, I think the name was Confederate Muster, he also has used the reblooming broken color Ziggy (which has produced zero broken color for me)
Greetings to you,
Randy Squires

I'll add my 2 cents worth here, too. I crossed Batik (broken color) X Autumn Circus (plicata) and got about 25 seedlings that bloomed. About 11 were plicata, like Classic Look. About 12 were solid purple, with a white zone around the beards. 2 were broken color like Batik.
I also crossed Jumping (plic) with Gnus Flash (BC). Of about 20 that bloomed, one was broken color. None of the seedlings looked like Jumping or Gnus Flash. Most were bi-color, sort of like Gnus Flash without the color breaks. Some were bicolor with plicata falls. I discarded almost all, but it was fun to see the unexpected variety.

Hello Randy and Anne,
thank you for your detailed answers. Seems to be very difficult to obtain BC iris. But I´ll try. I can´t wait to see the results but I know I have to be very patient. Maybe I have the first blooms in 2007 or 2008?
My dream is a black and yellow BC, but probably this will only remain a dream.
Randy, do you have a website where I can see some of your seedlings? I´m very curious.
Greetings from Germany
Anja

I don't need to add much to what has been said above.

When working with recessives, you are bound to get a lot of undesirable haft marks in the first generation, and, in general, flowers you would not keep. But save the best of these that have good form and cross them back to a plic or a bc and you'll get a number of nice plics and bc's.

Take these to the second and third generations before you give up on the project.

Walter Moores

Anga,
No website but here is a photo of a Tiger Honey seedling.
Like Walter said, take them to the second or third generation crossing back and forth or keep adding things towards your goal, eventually you'll have something real distinctive.
Toucan Tango X Tiger Honey

Wow. This really was wonderful reading for a new TB iris convert. I'm going to try my hand at this in the Spring. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Cathy

Your question about percentage of takes prompts a response. My own experience is that in less than perfect weather (warm, dry) during bloom the percentage of takes goes down drastically. I've had years where 70 or 80 pollenizations resulted in 4 to 7 pods surviving until ripening. Many balloon pods--normal looking but lacking any seeds--formed.

Usually the problem begins with caked or non-viable pollen. The suggested procedure in this case is to bring an un-opened bud indoors, bloom it in a small glass or cup of water, then use the dry pollen on freshly opened blooms outdoors.

I've had poor success rates with stored pollen that isn't refrigerated or frozen.

Sealed envelopes cut in half make good pollen collection packets, but are only good for a day or two or three.

I've never had "takes" from pollen sent by mail, probably because the envelope in which it was sent got too hot in the mail or in my mailbox.

Neil Mogensen US AIS Reg 4

Hello Neil,
thank you for your answer. Next year I would like to cross Gnu Generation (SDB BC) as pollen parent with some TBs (BC) as pod parents. Can I store the pollen in the refrigerator for about three or four weeks? Could the result of such a cross be an intermediate BC?
Randy,
your photo of the Toucan Tango/Tiger honey seedling is wonderful. If my Toucan tango and Tiger honey both bloom next year (I planted Toucan tango only one month ago) I will try to do the same cross.
Greetings from Germany
Anja

Anja,
I came across this old post of yours. How did your seedlings turn out? any pictures to share?

This was a very informative post.

Hi Berrytea4me,
I got some nice seedlings out of my crosses. Most were self coloured but also a few nice Broken Colours. Sorry, I do not know how to post pictures to the forum. If you like I can email some pictures of the BC seedlings to you.
Greetings from Germany
Anja

Hi Anja,
Glad to see you are still watching the forum. How exciting that you have seen bloom on your seedlings! I have made my first crosses this spring so the anticipation is killing me and I have not even gathered the seed yet :)

Have you continued hybridizing?

I would love to see your seedlings. You can either e:mail them (you should be able to see my e:mail address in the post if you logged in to gw) or, if you would like a short lesson in how to post photos (very easy using Photobucket.com) I'd be happy to send you directions.

Hi Anja!

I hope you figure out about posting pictures. Sure would love to see your seedlings.

Shadow

Anyone have luck hybridizing Before the Storm or any black iris with say a pink one? I am interested what would happen...

Alison, you may want to start a new post. No one will see your question down here.

I can tell you though, that it would depend on the genes in the two irises involved. Some irises have parents that are entirely different colors, and you know how looks can skip a generation!
Renee