first attempt at growing hibiscus from seed

Here it is, maybe showing a little more yellow...it didn't bloom until Sept. 26, in 2005.

There goes! I've not seen a yellow hardy hib. before. They're lovely. Nice going Janet!

Mike, Ella, please check your d-mails.

Kim

Here are the seeds I started last week. There are already sprouting! I can't believe how quickly they came up...

Janet.. your yellow is very pretty. Thanks for posting a pic of it. : ) Do you happen to know it's name?

Way to go on your little sprouts. : ) I love watching seeds sprout. Ya I weird, but there is somethign very satisfying in taking a seed and givign it a warm home and watching it grow. Some pop right out and go to town... some sit and sulk for a bit until they have the optimium water and heat requirements.... some light light.. some dark. and each one seems to stick it's head up in a slightly different way. Even the roots for the same seed type can be different. It amazing to see. __O-O__/ ( my glasses hehehehe)

LOL, can I borrow those pair of glasses sometimes? Please, please. lol
Kim

http://www.hibiscus.org/species/amanihot.php
Abelmoschus manihot 'Lemon Slice' I believe....I have some other seeds for this one, and it is opened, so I believe it is the same one...lol It used to be called Sunset Hibiscus...so I read.

That looks more like "sun rise" hibiscus, but I love it.Those little sprouts are a good sign of new life.You will more than likely have to let them sit in the pot until spring.
Ella, I'm weird too, I love to watch those seeds sprout, but what amaises me is how the axun starts down, before the cotyledon goes up.Seeme like everything needs a foundation.
Kim, I finished potting 22 sprouts from the white lilly, some call it "easter lilly", but it is a beautiful white lillium.My daughter gave the plant in a pot to me last year, and ask if I could propagate it.I took most of the peals, and put them in a mass planting, and grew those 22, plus I planted the larger bulbs, and they bloomed this year.That makes 24 from one bulb.Isn't it amasing.BTW, the cross vine in my propagation bov is blooming.Is that a hoot?Mike

Yeah! That's music to my ears. I just like to hear news like it. Made my day. You'll love this vines, there is no doubt. And yes, Mike. The parrent vines are making a second wave of blooms at presence. Remember, sun, sun, sun and lot more sun. On their second year, they're practically on their own. Handle drought like you wouldn't believe! And the lily. They take a second year to yiel blooms. It's worth the wait. Congrats.
Kim

Wow, Mike all those lilies, I bet that will make a beautiful sight!

Mike... Wow!!!!!!! That's a lot of lilies and sure gonan be alot of beautiful blooms. I was looking at your little propagation box over on the other forumn. Thinking about giving it a try. I got a coupel of things I want to give a try at proagating and they need a high humidity content. Your box looks like it just might do the trick.

I was wondering. Have you been able to propagate with tiny bulbs to using your method? Just a coupel more weeks til I send your box and I have a plant here that ha s the common name August Lily. The bulbs are small. I'll throw a coupel in. They only make a single plant and stalk , but if ya have a growuping of them they make a beautiful little clump. A friend shared some with me.

I got seeds of them too, but it takes years for the seeds to grow up big enough to make a bulb. here a coupel of pics of it.

pic from my friend's clump in her yard.

Mike... I stil trying to figure out the lid on your prop box. I se e scews. Is the lid screwed shut tight?

Ella,
Personally I haven't experienced growing lilies from seeds. But, from what I've read/heard of Formosian lilies. Those pic. above may as well be her? hmmmm. Some called them "Ditch Lilies", others call them Phillipine's lilies" due to their artibutes -- they like it moist, they originate from the Phillipine, and they're trumpet, late blooming season, as well as tolerating heat well compared to most of the more tender hybrids.
Kim

Ella, that lilly, whatever the name, is beautiful I am a lilly lover too, and feel so loved just being around them.The colors, that only a master can paint.
The box, can be anything that you can fit together, and come as close as possible to making it seal.The one you saw in the pic, is 16"x36", and I had 6 mil plastic on it, and came into a sheet of 1/4" plexie glass(don't buy it, too high), and was glad to get it for hauling it away.The box is hinged, to lift up for acess to the cuttings, and it works as good as a green house for cuttings.I have window cauckin between the plexie, and wood, it makes a good seal, but not as good as this simple one that I am about to show.Mike

Ok, now this box is a 2"x6" made into a box 16"x 10", and it has no bottom, because I root things like chrisanthium, and herbacious plants, that don't take too long to root.It is as simple to make as anything.you will notice that it is a double layer of 6 mil plastic, and seperated by slats.I ran 2 slats, @ 10", and 2 slats @ 36", on top of the first sheet of plastic.Every thing is stapled together on the cover, except the top, whitch is 3/4" plywood, and that is nailed to fit from corner to corner, on top of the 2"x6", then I took 4 pcs of scrap lumber, and beveled it to guide down over the 2"x 6", and it makes a pretty good seal.Mike ; see pic My mistake;The 2 10" slats go down first, then plastic, then 36" slats then plastic.Mike

I haven't posted my large burgandy one...I forgot the name, but I used to know what it was called...lol Here it is...

Gee thanks Janet for the reminder, I have a Biig question . My fantaisa, that I grew from seed is being eaten alive by this rust, like I lost ALL of my hollyhocks from, and I want to know what to do.I hate to go to the trouble of growing a plant out, just to see it killed. HEIP!! Mike

I lost several things on my porch from that as well....it is ugly! Sorry I don't know what will help...I used a fungiside on my Camellians and then Messenger and they pulled out of it...but I lost a lot of seedling that were growing in flats on the porch...pansies too...it was just weird stuff!

My red one above may be Crimson Wonder...I believe that is right anyway...lol

Janet your burgandy is really really nice. : )

To find out for sure if it is Hollyhock rust, take the tissue test. Take a piece of white toliet paper or white paper towel and rub the leave s with it. If you se e yellow /orange on the tissue, then it rust. If ya don't then it other problems.

Also, if it passes the rust test then ya got oen of two choices. Pitch it before it infects the rest of yoru plants as thos e spores when you water or the wind blows will infect the other plants.

The rust usually come s from high temps and high humidity. if you can keep your plants cool durign rust season than you have a chance of reducing it.

If it is rust, once you know you have it, it take s winter cold to kill it back. But for the next year, it best to scout the under side of those susceptabile cultivars leave s for early signs so you can take a plastic bag and cut thos e leave s off into the bag and burn.

Her e is a reciepe I had foudn for Hollyhock rust when I was huntign for some different cultivars. Just incase the day ever came when I might need it. I don't know if it works or not, but couldn't hurt to try. I have foudn that sometime s alot of these " home remedies" work better than chemicals and such and a whoel lot cheaper.

Rust is usually forme d when the temps are high and the humidity and the leave s get watered and don't have tiem to dry properly.

Her e the receipe...

Here is a recipe I have used on occasion. I got it from a Sharon Lovejoy column in an old Country Living Gardener magazine.

Healthy Hollyhock spray

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 T. canola oil
1/2 tsp. DW soap or Murphy's Oil Soap (I used Murphy's)
1/2 cup white vinegar

Mix with 1 gal. water and spray on hollyhocks every few days. I don't do it regularly, just when I see evidence of rust starting.

You could make a batch up and try it on one or two seedlings, if they look like they gettign burned, then I would giv e them a good wash and maybe ad d mor e water to weaken the solution some.

Ella, there is no rust rub off on the tissue paper,whew!!I did cut the infected stems off, and soaked it with daconeal(SP).I had those seeds ever since february growing, and did hope to see them bloom.Mike

Mike... Glad to hear it is not rust. : ) It didn't look liek rust to me when I saw your photo. It kind a looke d like a problem I had when I first started growing hollyhocks.

I had started soem seeds indoors and they was looking really good when I put the plants out side in one gallon pots, it didn't take logn for them to start looking funky. What I found was with using organic materials and especially using leaves as mulch, the hollyhocks from the ground were getting them rolly polly bugs up in them. Think while they may have breakign down the organic mater they was munchign some roots too.

I put a little bit of Seven Dust on the soil, gave it several days to work and then transplante d the small plants into two gallon containers, and placed them on a pallet of f the groudn in a semi shade d area. I also would give them one 8oz cupfull of a weakened miracle grow solution every two weeks. next thign I kne w the darn things took off and with in about two months went from looking like yours to growing out beautiful big new leaves and then went on to bud and bloom. Seems they like a big pot and a regular diet of fertilizer.

I have learne d with Hollyhocks that even though the seed packets say will bloom first year, that usually they don't. They do the biennial routine. That it not til the next year that they really show there stuff. I hope yours bloom for you this year, but got a feeling they won't until next year.

Try transplantign them into a two gallon or a thre e gallon pot if ya don't have any two's and doing the fertilize trick. Oh, and try and just water around the plant. I mean like try not to get to much of it's leave s wet and put them in a semi shady p[lace, not hot afternoon sun til they get bigger.

If the damge from thrips or mites, which it could be too, then the Daconil should take care of that.

I got a whole slew of Hollyhock seedlings that were transplante d into 6 pack cells a few weeks ago and I know when I step them up into the one gallons they gonna look no so pretty anymore for a bit while they come out of shock and the heat. They gonan look somewhat like yours do. Right before winter comes I wil step mine up then into the two gallons, cover with leave s for the winter and then in the spring will take the leave of f and start fertilizing and they will grow right and bloom next year.

I am not sure how true this is, but I have noticed that Hollyhock plant roots seem to need alot of space even though the tops may be little. Only reason for needign the space and so much fertilizer, I figur e is becaus e of the amount of energy the Hollyhock needs to store to be able to make such a big stalk and bloom. Liek it has to have alot of feeder roots to get plenty of nutrients to store.

When I went to se e if more pods were ready to pick, I found this new little guy on insect patrol. I have lot s of lizards and the hatchlings are now out and about. The mommas and daddies are used to me messign with and in the flowers, but the babie s sure are skittish when ya trung clean up dea d blooms and pick pods. Sometimes, their jumping scare s me more than I scare them. : )

Ella, I too have a good population of them. Have you ever seen two males lizards fighting? I tell you what! They're like warriors in armors to defend their teritory. A sight to see. I've got a clip on vedio of them in early spring. I'm waiting until DG has this feature, so I can share the clip. What more, while they were fighting, I had the camera right up onto their faces, and they paid me no mind -- too busy fighting for a good cause -- I figured. lol

Ella, believe it or not, but fantasia is a hibiscus, and it really looks like a hollyhock.I had lost all the hollyhocks that were so pretty their first year, but I never saw a flower, in fact, in the 15Yrs. that I have lived here there has NEVER been a hollyhock bloom, and I do so want them to grow.I think what lilled mine was the rust, and I must have brought it on by watering over leaves.Mike

Mike... Sorry about that, sure doe s look like a Hollyhock seedling. Glad ya told me it is a Hibiscus. Out of curiosity when did you transplant it to that pot?

There are certain types of Hibiscus that have massiv e shock transplants when they are younger plants and the leave s turn and kind a shrivelup and die, but will start producing new healthy leaves once they start feelign ther e feet in their new pots.

Have you given it a tiny drink of some espsom salt too? If not I would and make sure the roots stay on the drier side.

I have moved all my Hibiscus to where they are in the shade now adays with this heat. I look through the little black holes on the bottom side of the pots. If I see it dry then I give them a drink , otherwise they gotta wait til the next morning to se e if they need a watering

Oh man, we got to get you some blooming Hollyhocks. Don't remember if I sent you Appleblossom or Peache s and Dream seeds. If I didn't send ya any of the Peaches -n -Dreams, let me know. They are the easiest and the best I have found of the Hollyhocks to grow.

Ella, you sent appleblossom, and thankyou so much.When is the best time to plant the hollyhock seed, and I beleieve it is best to plant outside direct.I have grown them in cups, and lose them in the transplant.I know if they ever get started they will replenish themselves.
I transplanted it in to the pots they are in about the time I started this thread.I grew all the hibiscus from seed, and the red is really taking off.I think its because I had them in a more sunny spot.
I had snail mail today, thank you Kim, and I know we all talked about how to plant these formoson lillys, and I want to do it right, so I am open to input.
I hadn't done the epson salt bit yet but will tomorrow.I think I will need to get the lilly seed in the dirt too, and grow them in a cold frame.Do youall understand the box design? if not I'll explane it better.Mike
Sending a pic of the T red,

Mike... Your T-Reds sure are lookign might good there. They coming up and along real nice. LOL. Won't be long before wil be wonderign if your growing marijuana . Hahahahahhahahaha. They sure happy . : ) Hope they keep growing big and strong.

I started some Hollyhocks a few weeks ago of the Peaches adn Dream and then when I transplante d them did a batch of the AppleBloosom, which I just moved from 288 piece s of seedling trays cut cup into 6 packs. I have people save me their empty six packs , especially at Pansie season and I brign them home and give a soap bath , then a chlorine bath and us e them.

I waited the ten days and yesterday they got first tiny drink of a weak Miracle grow and are starting to get settled. They wil stay in the 6 packs til I see the roots starting to fill out the pot then they wil spend the winter in one or two gallon pots to get a good winter chill. If they don't get a winter chill they won't bloom. We had a pretty mild winter here last year and while mine looked pretty rough through the winter they never totally went to sleep, but we got some last cold blast and frost and the hail strom which was enough to trigger them to bloom this spring/summer.

LOL... I have to start stuf f in trays and pots. The property here is liek the inside of the bottom area of a " U " . If I sow in the ground then when we get rains everythign floods and moves and slides and my seeds then disappear. had the one year the guy up behind me on the corner of his property had his daffodils travel down through and acros s my place. It can pretty bad here during hurricane season.

If you transplanted the Hibiscus back then, it shoudl have coem out of shock by now. Have you checke d the root s lately? Tip the pot and take a look at what's goign on. Other than that, I would give, a bit of epsom salt, trim of f anythign that looks bad and give a coffee cup size of miracle grow every two weeks.

Only other thing I can think of which I learne d the hard way with a bunch od Delpiniums I had transplanted that just about totally croaked was when I had transplante d them, I had transplanted to deep. I didn't think it was but the plants sure did. I had to go and fidn out what the problem was with my plants and then had to go through and re transpant them all , gently scouping some of the soil back of f the stem where I had it to deep so the plant coukld breath again and not have to struggle to try and get it's leaves up from the crown.

You might give that a try, tip them out, wash a bit of soil from the crown and repot up again with the crown closer to the surface and then water in good and start fertilizing. I had a lot of trouble when I first started doing perennials and woodies cuz of transplantign to deep. Annuals ya can just about totally bury and they wil do fine but not these guys.

I am having trouble tryign to figur e out the beveled edge part. ?????? About how far do I come in and can I use a roater to do that, or wil I need another type tool? Also, is there an easy way to hold the wood down to make that cut and not cut yourself? I don't have a whole lot of upper arm strength to try and hold a piece of wood and a tool at the same time. : (

I'll send ya Peaches and Dream seeds and when my seedlings get big enough will send ya a couple of them too if yours don't make it.

Kim.... If you can help us out with the Formosian lilies, I'd appreciate it too.

Janet... If you happen to get some seeds of f your yellow one. Would ya like to maybe make a trade for a couple whenever they get ready?

Has anybody ever seen Hibiscus seeds with little hole s in them? A friend sent some of her seed she had gathered. Alot of them had little tiny hole s in them. I don't know if that the way this particular cultivar of which I have no I idea of the name is suppose d to be or if the seeds are no good? I thought it might be a bug, but the holes are so perect in almost all the seeds, I not sure and it has me puzzled since I have no seen alot of varieite s of Hibiscus seed.

Pic of my Peaches and Dream seedlings.

Ella,
Formosian lilies seeds should survive the winter outdoors, since they're hardy here. Sow them late in the Fall and protect them from critters outdoor, then they should be ok. I didn't sow them myself, but a fellow gardener in the neighborhood did get them going last fall. In a flat, and harden them off later. They were small at present, but next year they should take off and flower. They appear "grass like" when first germinate from seeds.
Kim

Ella, you really don't need to have a bevel on the boards that keep the lid positioned, it just makes it easier to slip it over the box.You really don't need for it to be wood to hold the top part with the bottom, it could be tin.Just something to hold the top to the bottom.
Kim, Ella, I read up on the formosan lillies, and all you need to do is put the seed in a milk jug half, with drainage, and wait.Boy, those things get tall in the philipeans, 10', or so.I think that they will take more than a year to get blooms, but not sure
The holes in hibiscus seed is where a weavel sucked out the goody, but not all the seed are affected.Looks like a string of beads, without the string.
I like the idea of the 6 pack seed starter, for hollyhock anyway.I think I'm going to raise some this time.I'll be sure not to water the folage, and keep an eye open for fungus.It makes me sick that I had a large start of first year hollyhocks, and the second year they rusted out.I think I'll retil the area, and spray it good with funguside.What do you think?Mike

Morning all! : )

Mike.... That some good news. One year I had just a small piece of wood and wanted to use the router on it. Had never used a router before and thought I would give it a try. I knew I need to put somethign under it to keep it from slipping. I didn't have any of that spongy looking material and the closet thing I coudl think of with soem thicknes s was a potholder. My other half at the time said don't use the potholder it won't work. Well, I really wante d to try this new toy so out to the shed with the potholder I went.

I laid the potholder down. Laid my little piece of wood on it Got the router and placed it on top the wood. Then I hit the on button. Oh geez......... The router was bouncing all aroudn in my hands and the piece of wood slipped and it caught in the potholder.

Ther e was potholder fuzz flying everywhere's. Caught the router on the top of the worktable and it bounce d out of my grip and had the dickens of a time trying to chse it to turn it off. Didn't think about pulling the plug to stop it.

By the time I got done, it looke d like somebody had had a pillow fight in the shed. I was determine d not to show my stupidity at the time, so I went aroudn cleanign all the mess up. When my other at the time got got home , I aske d him to show me how to do the router the right way. he took a look at the shed and said ya tried to use a potholder didnt ya. Think I turned all the shades of red, and he just laughe d his head off as I related what had happened. I ha d missed some piece s of fuzz.

I can run band saws and scroll saws and big hand saws if I can get a knee on the wood to hold it, but to this day, still can't hold a router steady. I may get a one inch line straight the rest looks like squiggles, and that is even if I can stay on the board. : ) LOL

Sounds like the eastiest and good plan for the formosian seeds. I'm out of milk jugs, but got a bunch of small orange juice plastic jugs so I'll use a couple of them. Only think I found was that ya need to make sure critters and snails don't eat the growing tip or they won't grow the plant will die.

Ewwwwwww. A wevil. Yuck. I do appreciate the information though. That explains why the few I tried to start have just been sitting there doign nothing. Time to start over. I stil have a few seed s of them left of the one s she sent so I'll thow the holey one s out and see if there any that might still be good.

As far as the rust goes, i would clean up all the debri on the ground if there leaves or whatever. The spores if ther e any left, they gonna be harboring on the top of the soil. Don't throw any of that debri on yoru compost piles . It wil stay there and just reinfect yoru plants.

make sure your Hollyhocks have plenty of space between them to breath , 18- inches between each plant, and don't plant them near any other plants in the hollyhockfamily. They are host plants and can habor the spores.

Treat the ground with your fungicide before ya do any tilling. I really don't think you wil need to till. If you till you may just til under hidden spores, keepign them in the area. I think tilling would be a mistake. I just take a bag with me and clena the area real good and then apply a fungicide that has either Chlorothalonil, sulfur or myclobutanil in it.

I woudl do the area good then let it rest and keep your plants in pots til the spring, and then redo the area in the spring again before planting your plants to make sure any spore s that blew around while cleaning or misse d spots are caught.

Thing is rust spores are so tiny and while cleanign that area up you may unknowninly get rust spore s on you. When I go into people's gardens that have rust, I take anothe r pair of shoes in a walmart bag and new socks and a change of clothes. I lay them at the garden edge f wher e the rust is. When I coem out of the field, I change into my clean shoes and socks and stuf f the infecte d ones in a bag and seal it til I get them home and in the hous e and can spray with some clorox to make sure I not trackign spores back into my yard.

If nobody aroudn and the area private I cange my clothe s too. sealign the bag of clothe s til I can get them home and washed. When I can't change clothes immediately, I make a straight beeline home and straight in the house to change making sure I stay away from any plants that might be host pants for air borne spores.

If you do happen when yoru new one s get growed, see a leaf with rust on it, I would cut and burn them leaves, make sure ya wash your hands good after touching each plant before touching any other plants.

When workign around plants that are infected, I always carry a small bucket of bleach water with me to dip my cutters in each time and wear rubber glove s so I can dip my hands in the bleach water too before touchign the next infecte d plant.

When ya put them in the ground, mulch aroudn them with some clean unaffected mulch and keep them a bit on the drier side. Watering the bottoms in the morning is a good idea, so that if the leaves do get wet then they got plenty of time to dry. They like to be on the dry side anyways.

I miste d my seedling when they first came up, but now that they have thre e and four leave s and I have transplante d them, I take a bucket of water with me and an empty one of them sam's water bottles I drank and fil it from the bucket and hold my fingers over the top and go aroudn and hand water the seedlings. I water close by the edge of one side of the pot then come back and do the other side stayign as far away from the plant itself as I can, the wate r will spread aroudn in the pot.

Hollyhocks are what I call a high maintanc e plant at the begining, but even so they are well worth the trouble when ya se e ya blooms and a plant that shouldn't be given up on. : )

What would I do without you Ella?You make me lol, and your way of teaching is totally from experence.So you have to be a sergical nurse, in order to be around holly hocks, their first, and second year, and thank you so much for the advice.I would have put all that "humas" in my compost pile, had you not respoded to this hollyhock question.I wonder if my watering the tops is the reason for the rust to begin with.(But it rains!!)
Try not to use a router, some of us need to stay away from some tools.I lost a toe, back when I was careless with a skill saw.I was thinking of something you could use that is already beveled, like door molding.All you need to do is secure your top part directly in line with the bottom.The top lifts off real easy, to mist.I promice if you made one of these small boxes, you would come up with more.You can put them any where you don't have invasive roots, and you can always put a peace of tar paper under it.
About formosia lillies.I have noticed that a lot of the seeds are empty looking, and others are dark inside.Could it be that the empty looking could be non viable, and the full ovary is fertal??Something to think about.Mike

Oooops, sound idea there Mike. If they're nonviable seeds. I'll have to try to germinate them myself, and then share the seedlings. lol. My bad. Like I said, I'm new to seeds germination too......
Kim

Kim, I didn't say that all were nonviable, but in the pod you have both.Not a problem, I have a milk jug full of each, seperately just for my theory.Mike

Mike, do keep us all informed. This is a learning curve for me. I appreciate you're sharing the info.
Kim

Mike.... Ouch!! Sorry about your toe, a Blessing it wasn't the whoel foot. You'd be surprised at some of the stupid things I have done over the years and believe me there been lots, but I have a good excuse. ; ) When I was born it was 40 below and a bad snow storm in Michigan. My dad had an old '49 something or other and the heater didn't work, so they bundled me up in extra blanks for the 50 mile journey home.

Well, somehow in the proces s of transferrign me from the nurses hands to my Mom's I got turned upside down and didn't make a peep all the way home. When they got me home and undid the covers to present me to friends and family, instead of seeing a baby face, all they saw was my big feet wiggling in the air. I ain't ben right since. Hahahahahhahaha . Hey it an excus e for my dumb and stuip things. I just glad I can laugh at myself and don't mind sharing my stupidity with other folks. : )

I would imagien that the top waterign is what started the process. I never top water anythign unles s I jet sprayign for aphids, usually on Daylilies and Iris in the spring, except for Canna for the hummers. Takes a bit longer, but I hand bottom water everything. Usually takes several hours, but then the water goign to the roots, and not being wasted and it give s me tiem to stand there and check leaves and scout for any unwante d bugs or problems and also lets me check on health of plants and beneficals and how they doing. Course even I still run into problems sometimes and have to hunting or help and advice.

Even though we don't se e it there tiny miniscule place s on the plants that water is catche d and retained, coupel that with high humidity over long period and it a disease problem waitign to happen.

true it does rain, but usually when it rains especially for us in the South durign the summer months the humidty temps are r eally high. That when alot of the disease problems start surfacing. Whenever I get a rain, ( stil wondering what that stuf f is, sur e need it bad here) I go out after it stops and wil I gues s ya call it brushing or shake my leave s to get most of the moisture off. So they can dry out good.

yep, your right Mike and I would say 100%. The one s with the dark spots are gonan be the most viable. I woudl be surprise d if any of the non spot one s germinate and one s with only tiny dark spots may germinate , but probably won't be healthy. Learned from somebody on a thread discussing Amarayliss eeds , some of mine when I opened the pods of being totally flat and some full looking.

They told me that when the seed pod forms that the seeds in one area of the pod wil be more fertile and more viable as those seed s are forme d first adn get the majority of nutirents and as as the pod gorws and develops more seed those ones that delvelop later wil be weaker as the plant is runnignout of energy and thinsk it made enough seed and is already starting the proces s of startign to send it's sugars and starche s back down into the plant to conserve for next year.

Please, share if your non viable lookign ones sprout. I would be very intereste d in learnign if what I learned is not always right. Shoot it take s a ton of energy just to produce oen baby, can ya imagien how much itmust take to produce hundreds of seeds and have them all squishe d in that tiny pod to boot. I think I would cringe. LOL

Opps.. Forgot to say, thanks for the idea about molding. I got soem of that. Great idea and I wil have a cover to fit. : )

I hope you are sucssesful at making these small propagation boxes, because they are very handy, and with the double plastic, they hold the moister where it counts.I am going to show you the box I just finished, except for the four panels, that will enclose the bottom, so I can mix compost under it to give it bottom heat.Now the box is mine, that large money gusler in the background is not, it belongs to a friend (no worries no wife very little responsibility), who wanted me to go with him for a while, and WE let him know that I have other things to do.(like the box!! Mike

Oh kim, I think that every pod of formosan lillies, has good seed and empty seed-no matter.

Mike,
I think I've had an extra bubble envelope at hand, thus I had room to send you the pods. I sent Ella some lose seeds. Ouch, I'll see if I can send you some seedpods, Ella. So sorry. We still have plenty of time to put those seeds down.
Kim

This message was edited Aug 5, 2007 8:00 PM

Kim, I don't think anyone can find a pod that is completly ripe.The ones you sent me are fine, I just planted both kinds to see if my theory is correct.I planted one container with the seed showing the "eye", and another with the empty looking seed, just to prove my point.I will have lillies all along the paths.I like lillies as much as you do.Mike

Btw, Thank you again for those seed.Mike