by DBoweMD » Sep 28, 2007 7:41 am
Streaky plants from non streaked parents occur pretty rarely, about 1:10,000 seedlings.
Streaky plants from streaked pod parents are about 1:3.
Sometimes a seedling with start out solid in the first several leaves and then appear to sport to a multicolored plant. I'd say this is also in the 1:10,000 range. The vast majority of variegated plants sported from a solid to a variegated plant, many years after growing as solid plants.
Some result from a streaked plant settling out to a center or an edge variegated plant, or both on different divisions.
I imagine this parallels the event where TC of a solid plant results in a streaked or variegated sport.
When it happens (variegated seedling from solid parents) we get all excited and pay special attention to that plant. Maybe that is why we see these variegated seedlings from solid parents make it to market more than once in 10,000 times. Bob Kuk's Skyrocket (Gold) and Unforgettable (Green centered version) are out of Gold Regal, as an example. I can't remember which it was, but I know I've seen this in Zilis's book and wondered the same thing you did.