Hostas do not grow from seed. A sincere thank you to everyone who supports this site by using my Amazon affiliate links and search box to purchase books and other items. Mine turned out to be a green leaved Hosta with nice ribbing. Yes, hostas can be grown from seed. If the winter is cold I will bring my seedlings into a protected area such as a greenhouse or cold frame. Thanks for all of the great tips! I have done that but in the first year you may only get a couple of leaves. If you are a seed saver you may want to leave the flowers on as nature intended. Today I just picked pods from 5 or 6 varieties of hostas (with permission! All comments are moderated... your email address will not be published. I would start the hosta seeds inside and transplant in the spring. If you want to get exactly the same plant it’s best to dig and divide your Hostas this month. Rhonda, I would recommend starting with hosta plants, not seeds. Hosta seeds are ready to be harvested when the seeds have turned black, and for me, the best time to start seedlings is sometime in January. Thanks for the page. Plant your hosta seeds approximately a 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in the potting soil. For soil, I use a bagged potting mix for seedlings because it has given me better results than any of the other starting mixes I have tried. Let the seed dry on the plant and them collect it. Place the seeds …

Hostas are such great plants for the garden.

When the seeds mature, they will be black. Above is a seedling from Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ which is a large plant growing to six feet across. Cover lightly with the potting medium without compressing the soil onto the seeds.

If the seeds are only partly formed and white, they will not germinate. I picked the seeds shown in the video below from this variegated Hosta. I welcome links to my blog or to any of my articles, but please do not copy my photos or content. I picked the seeds when green, are they still good??

Can you divide a Hosta by talking a clump from one end rather than digging it up. You need to buy hostas as dormant, bare-root divisions or potted plants. I think the hardest part about seed saving is finding the seeds. When I saw it produced seed I had to try to grow the seeds out. I have found that germination is often poor with purchased seeds, but the germination rate for seeds I collect from my own hostas is astonishingly high. I just dry the pods and plant the seeds… but if I’m going to keep the seeds for any length of time, I do store them in a glass jar in the freezer. Although it is true that most of the hostas grown from seed will be a solid color, that doesn’t always happen. Learn which plants thrive in your Hardiness Zone with our new interactive map! Its hard to dig up large Hostas so I can totally relate. Plant your hosta seeds approximately a 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in the potting soil. It can be planted right away or stored until spring.Since most Hostas are hybrids the seeds will take on the characteristics of one of the parent plants. What’s important when growing Hostas from seed is to use fresh seed. I’ve divided before, but voles and moles have eaten almost all of mine up – will have to start with a new fresh batch this year, unfortunately! How Did Your Vegetable Garden Grow This Season? That is what I enjoy so much about growing hostas from seeds… you never really know what the results will be. I was very glad to read this as one of my favorite hostas outside produced seed pods and I was hoping I could plant and grow from them. Why save seeds? Some illustrate the post... others show our surroundings and the things we love about our version of simple living and voluntary simplicity. This plant isn’t even a year old and it’s eight inches across and fills a one gallon pot. This year its leaves are very twisted and almost black, and are so thick and tough they look and feel like shiny, heavy vinyl. Many people cut off the flowers on their Hosta plants as they prefer them for their foliage. Each pod contain a few Hosta seeds. Hosta seeds should be started indoors in the late winter or spring.

I fill each pot nearly full with potting mix and press it down lightly. For soil, I use a bagged potting mix for seedlings because it has given me better results than any of the other starting mixes I have tried. I bottom water only, so all my transplanting cups and pots have holes in the bottoms. Entire contents copyright © 2007-2020 by ChoosingVoluntarySimplicity.com, all rights reserved, About This Blog (and About Me) - Contact Me - Privacy Policy. In a couple of weeks you should see tiny Hosta seedlings germinate.

In the past I’ve had some success just direct-seeding into the ground outside, but I’m sure that I’ll have much higher rates of germination, then of mature plants, by pampering the seeds and seedlings like you recommend. So I may end up with a Hosta that isn’t the same but that’s okay. Hi David, yes you can dig up a bit of Hosta from one end. For example, I now have several tiny miniatures that came from seed I collected from large hostas. Also, since hostas are hybrids, you cannot grow a hosta from seed that is the same as the parent plant. If the plant isn’t the same maybe it will be one you can name yourself. I never cull any of my hosta seedlings… partly because culling goes against my philosophy, and partly because a seedling that doesn’t look very promising at a few months or a year old will often turn into a beauty. Then I scatter seeds … I can’t wait until next year to try my hand at germinating my hosta seeds. any suggestions? Some of my hostas produced loads of seed pods this year.

It can be planted right away or stored until spring.Since most Hostas are hybrids the seeds will take on the characteristics of one of the parent plants. It is really a quite spectacular plant… one I would not have if that rather ugly seedling had been culled. They are pretty hardy plants but I recall bringing my seedlings into the greenhouse during cold spells. Transitioning from Spring to Summer in the Vegetable Garden. I have a huge Hosta in a good position and would really like to leave it in the ground but just reduce its size at one end. Hosta seedlings thrive on frequent transplanting. Prepare nursery pots or flats filled 3/4 of the way to the top with a commercially bagged, nutrient-rich, organic potting soil that is sterile and drains easily. By the time I transplant them outside in late May, the seedlings will have a large, well-developed root system. Some of my earliest seedlings from solid color parents are now showing blue or gold edges. This makes growing hosta from seed … I will still have a new Hosta. Some of these will develop streaks… other seedlings will start out as streaked and mature into a solid color. I will place the seeds on a saucer to dry for a few days before planting. The pods are ready to be harvested when they turn brown. Hostas can easily be started by seed and will produce a new plant seedling in a matter of weeks. ready to be harvested when the seeds have turned black.

All Rights Reserved. Can’t wait to try growing hostas from seed!!!! All I can say is free plants, that’s a good thing. Hostas can easily be started by seed and will produce a new plant seedling in a matter of weeks. Enjoying the July Garden & the Fruits of Your Labour.

Now that August is here many of the flowers are starting to dry up on the plants leaving behind the green pods. When seeds from streaked hostas are planted, some of the seedlings should be streaked, but many will be a solid color. Above you can see black Hosta seeds which are about 1/4″ long. Today I am going to show you how to save Hosta seeds from your garden. They are still green but I’ll keep an eye on them.

Keep the seeds covered until the seedlings each posses at least one fully formed small leaf. Crack or lift the cover if you see mold forming on the seeds or soil, and cut back a bit on watering.

You would have more success with germination by removing the outer pod that encloses the seed. However, when hostas are propagated by seed they very rarely produce a new plant that is an exact replica of the plant from which the seed was taken. Golden Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata hortensia), The Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15 — Fruits and Vegetables and Pesticide Residue. At the end of the growing season the seed pods can still be green and there can be ripe seeds inside. Hosta seeds don’t need a cold period or stratification to germinate. It gives them a better chance.

Hosta are most commonly propagated by dividing the plants in the spring or fall and replanting the divisions. Transplant your hostas out into the garden soil in the late spring after the last frost is well passed or in the summer or fall at least six weeks before the first frost.

Division of plants always gives you the exact same plant as the original one. Will the resulting plants be the same? Behind each Hosta flower is a seed pod waiting to be explored. Can u plant the seeds in the ground in late September in ohio or will they have to be started indoors. Clear plastic wrap, nursery pot lids or domes. I noticed you have a lot of posts regarding hostas…. This week I started doing some live videos on seed saving over on my That Bloomin Garden Facebook page. This seed will be planted in early September so that the plant can get its root system developed before going into winter. Be very careful to examine the plants before you buy, though. Written by Shirley Filed Under: Growing Hostas, A “Green” & Natural Method for Cleaning Stainless Steel, Our Search For a Firewood Source Continues….

I have not been happy with purchased hosta seeds. I sow the hosta seeds in quart-sized plastic plant pots, hopefully labeled and one variety to a pot. When the seedlings have developed a few leaves, I transplant each one into a small two ounce cup and then after further growth, into a four ounce cup. By mid-August, my hostas are no longer. This is just my own experience, of course, but any purchased hosta seeds I have tried have had an almost nonexistent germination rate.

Space the seeds at a rate of one to two seeds per square inch or thereabouts. Some hostas produce huge numbers of pods and seeds… others produce pods but very few seeds, and sometimes seeds are not viable and will not germinate.

Home » Growing Hostas » Growing Hostas From Seed. Waiting to transplant until a later season is perfectly acceptable if your seedling pots are large enough to hold the maturing roots or the seedlings can be carefully transplanted to larger pots. Thank you. However, this early in the season I doubt very much that there will be any ripe seeds inside your green pods.