Great Ex. seedlings

[SeaHosta]

So I decided to get an early start, and planted many hundreds if not thousands of seeds a couple weeks ago. Expecting nothing or very slight germination, I planted all the seeds from the white pods on my Great Expectations. There were 2 pods that had one green stripe each on them. Many told me that these would not be sterile and that I should expect no germination. However, these seeds seem to be exhibiting equal germination to all others I planted. This may be attributed to the 2 pods having the green stripe, as I only have approximately 20 or so that have put up a leaf. But, I see many more roots emerging from the other seeds of this variety.

My question: Does anyone have any experience with growing seedlings from white seed pods? What should I expect from these. Might they germinate and them simply just wither? I guess it doesn't really matter, I'm just curious.

Kevin

[JoshS]

Typically, white pods will result in lethal yellow seedlings. They germinate a pale, creamy yellow color and over a few weeks fade away. They just don't have enough chlorophyll to sustain themselves.

But! Hostas are good at breaking the rules, so you never know!

[Bill Meyer]

Hi Kevin,

I've grown seed from Great Expectatins a few times, so I can tell you from experience that it normally has a very good germination rate.

You can expect a fairly even mix of green/blue ones and pale yellow ones. Of the latter some will not produce enough chlorophyll to grow at all while others will grow slowly. The yellow ones that do grow are an interesting pale yellow, much lighter than other gold sieboldianas. Only a few will grow well enough to make decent (but still slow) garden plants.

Calling the pods white in GE's case is a little off-target. There is white tissue, which will not grow on its own, and there is yellow/gold tissue that grows just fine. Much white tissue has a little yellow or green coloring to it, and is rarely pure white. There is a border between white and yellow tissue where it either has or doesn't have enough clorophyll to be viable. Great Expectations sits right on that border. The actual center tissue does not produce enough clorophyll, so we will never see an all "yellow" or all "white" GE. It does however produce seedlings on both sides of that border.

Attached is a pic of the only one I saved. It is really bright in the spring, fading a little as the season wears on. And it is pretty slow.

..........Bill Meyer

[SeaHosta]

Thanks for the replies guys. Nice to know that these little ones may have a fighting chance.
Kevin

[wishiwere]

I have a few pods that were striped too from a G.E. I'll have to try them to see what comes up this winter. Thanks for asking the question and to those that responded. Always makes winter pass by faster when there are seedlings to watch