Seed pods..

[steg]

I was walking around today looking at which hostas have seed pods and which don't (and which have been eaten).

I began to wonder:

How many seeds would a seed pod hold if a seed pod could hold seed????

Anyone know?

[Hosta12_Ia]

I don't know the answer to the question but....

How many seeds would a seed pod hold if a seed pod could hold seed????

made me chuckle.

[Chris_W]

Three?

Just kidding - it will depend on the plant. There have been times where I've opened up a nice plump seed pod to find only a few good seeds inside. But others will have 20 or so good seeds inside.

The seed pod itself has 3 sections, and each section has 2 chambers. Each chamber can hold up to 10 seeds or so, for a total potential of about 60 seeds. Some times you might only have 5 or so seeds in a chamber with a bunch of immature seed mixed in. Not all will be viable, and I always feel the embryo to see if it is plump before I bother with it - the rest of the seed that feel really flat I just pitch - so in general I might keep 10 to 20 really good seeds in a well developed pod.

[woodthrush]

Would Holly Hostaseed go around scattering seeds all over the land?

We had a hard freeze late in May this year. We noticed there were far fewer bees this summer also. Last year, I had pods on just about every plant that bloomed but this year, there are far fewer pods.
Pam

[steg]

Thanks Chris. I was curious and the thought made me laugh too. So I figured I'd post it that way.

Is it common (or not uncommon) for the seed pods on one hosta to be of different sizes???? I have 2 developing and their are drastically different in size. The were pollinated only a few days apart.

DSC_0004 small.jpg (48.53 KiB) Viewed 868 times

Does pod size matter?

Absolutely Holly Hostaseed.....were would the "volunteer" hostas come from?

[Spider]

"Does pod size matter? "

Now isn't THAT the age old question?

[newtohosta-no more]

Even though I have nothing to contribute to this post I still had to post and say thanks to you all for making me laugh this morning.

[Linda P]

Thanks for the laugh!
I hope Holly Hostaseed is out there somewhere, scattering hosta seeds at random.
I'm pretty sure she visited my garden. I have some volunteers that are really nice plants,
so I'll give Holly the credit for those.
On a serious note, I have seen seed pods of varying sizes, possibly due to the weather conditions on the day they were pollinated, or perhaps they just were not visited by equally industrious bees? Just speculation on my part.
I have hostas that usually set pods that have none this year, and others that are usually sparse and are loaded with pods. Some, like Gold Regal, crank out tremendous numbers of viable seeds year after year, no matter the weather.

Linda P

[steg]

I just thought a little humor would help enhance the learning.

Both were pollinated indoors about 3 days about. As for bees, it was me - I suppose I could have hit one much better than the other. I'll see what happens when I open them up later on.

Also, how long should I keep the scapes on the plant? I know I can put them in sugar water to "finish up". How will I know when they're finished? The plant is indoors and I'd like to get it back in the ground as soon as possible. Lots of questions - may just have to play and learn in a trial and error fashion. With only those 2 pods on the plant, I'd like to maximize my chance of getting it right though...

[DBoweMD]

minimum 5 weeks after pollination until harvesting. Best is about 8 weeks.
If you know what day you did the cross you are good .otherwise I say 4 and a half weeks from today.
Then squeeze the pods to see if they seem hollow, and if a seam will crack open loook at the color of the seeds. Black means they are ready.
Dry them in paper envelopes for a week or so, then you can plant them or freeze them.

[steg]

Thanks Dave. I can back track to the date I crossed them. It was the week after Labor day. Tue --- Friday, after our trip up north. I had brought the plant with me to continue and the final ones were completed at home. Those are the ones that formed the pods. Minimum 5 weeks, but shoot for 8 weeks. Got it.



Mike

[ViolaAnn]

Are ALL black seeds ready even if the pod is still a fresh green? I have some pods that seem to have been developing forever. None look like they are ready to open.

Ann

[ViolaAnn]

One more question. If frost seems imminent, should I cut the scapes and put them in sugar water?

[DBoweMD]

Yes Viola, they should be ripe if they are black.
They may not germinate if the genetics are not good, but once the seeds are black I don't think they will get better.
Open a green pod and tease out the seeds, if it has been more than 5 weeks since it flowered. Elegans or Ventricosa should be good ones to try with.