Can anyone inform me the best way to sprout my Hosta seeds right in the ground?

This is a Hosta Plant I was offered. Anyone have a guess at what it’s name might be? It is said to be mature.
M

I don't think there is a good way to sprout your hosta seeds in the ground. You can try it but you'll have better success if you start them indoors and the pot them up. Start them in ziplok bags on damp coffee filters in a dark, warm place for a couple of weeks.

I agree with Viola.......

I had a ton of hosta seeds this year, so I just stripped off a lot of them and let them fall to the ground. Collected others and put them in the fridge. I will see next year if any of the ones that just dropped to the ground actually survived. I do not know of a good way to germinate them outdoors in the garden, but I would think if they were just planted shallow some of them would sprout and grow. All my hostas grown from seed have always ended up just being plain green ones, and I now have plenty of those already.

Of course, if you don't care at all which plant they come from, you can just let them drop. You'll eventually have some seedlings.

I like to know at least the pod parent of my seedlings and I have had quite a few interesting seedlings that I feel are worth keeping. Of course it helps if you've got interesting parents. I have a variegated seedling and a misty seedling from 'Spilt Milk'. I've got a lovely solid blue from 'Deja Blu'. I have a rare reverse variegation from the parent from 'Last Dance'. I've also got quite a few with lovely red legs from a variety of parents. I don't know who any of the Daddies are.

This is why I grow some of my seeds:


2009 seedling from 'Touch of Class'. Red legs. Photo June 9


2010 seedling from 'Deja Blu'. Photo July 1


2012 seedling from 'Christmas Pageant'. Photo July 1. This plant has ATTITUDE in spades. It's in a 12" pot.


2012 seedling from 'Lemon Frost' is one of my tiniest. Photo May 30 only because it shows my hand.


2012 seedling from 'Salute'. Photo Aug. 5. This one is solid blue-green but has lovely satiny leaves.


2013 seedling from 'Fire Island'. Photo June 16. Has an interesting shade of yellow. Petioles have only a hint of red.


2013 seedling from 'Spilt Milk'. Photo Aug. 1. I divided this seedling in 2017 as I think I will name it after a granddaughter, 'Heidi' and share it.



2013 seedling from 'Touch of Class'. Top photo June 16, bottom one showing red petioles, June 9.


2014 seedling from 'Emerald Ruff Cut'. Photo July 1.


2016 seedling from 'Dorset Clown'. Photo July 27. This one seems a slow grower, but will be interesting to watch.


2016 seedling from 'Purple Heart'. Photo Aug. 15. Nice form and red legs to this one.


2016 seedling from 'Spilt Milk'. Photo July 27. Love the misted leaves.

If you don't want to mess with the seeds indoors, there's always winter sowing. Google to see how to do it. I've had some success with this, and it's all done by Mother Nature outside!

How large should the sprouts be before they are potted?

You can put them in soil as soon as they have roots. I use tweezers. I re-use small yogurt cups and put about 4-5 seeds of the same pod parent in moist potting medium and keep them in good light. Label them if the source is important to you. Because I'm putting only sprouted seeds into the soil, I have a much higher rate of success.

Do your cups have drainage holes?

Is there a certain time of season to germinate?

How long can I store them?

Do Hosta pollinate themselves or do they need a second pollinator?

yES TO DRAINAGE HOLES. Oops, didn't mean to shout! Use a drill or heat up a kitchen fork if you've got a gas stove. You can make holes in several at once.

I generally start my seeds after Christmas, but I've seen posts of people that start them as soon as they collect them. They do not need a cold treatment to germinate.

You can keep seeds in the freezer and they will store for at least a couple of years. I don't though.

And hostas can self pollinate. Or bees will pollinate them or you can get up early to beat the bees.

SpringGreenThumb said:This is a Hosta Plant I was offered. Anyone have a guess at what it’s name might be? It is said to be mature.
M

Any guesses?

Btw...

If a Hosta had Virus x but it wasn’t showing up yet and then I sprouted seeds from the infected Hosta would the seedlings have Virus x also?

Not sure what kind of hosta you were offered. Were the flowers fragrant?

I think the jury is still out on whether the seeds can be affected but most people think not.

I'm not sure if the flowers were fragrant. I never saw them.

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here. Last fall I gathered a lot of hosta seeds to plant this winter. Alas, I can't remember where I put them! Seems I didn't put them in the logical place, like with all my other seeds. Today I went outside to see if I could find any left lying around. It seems I have about six :(. But I'm going to give them a try anyway.

Another note, I'm impressed everyone knows the names of all their hostas! I tried one summer to identify all mine, and short of some that I just happen to remember their names, I'm at a loss. The metal tags I put in the ground lost their writing. I'm in zone 5a (at least I was, things are changing here fast). I was still picking tomatoes and peppers in October. Garden should have been wrapped up by mid September.

Anyway, I hope to learn a lot here and visit often. Hostas and Huecheras are my favorites.

Welcome, skits!
Trying to identify most hosta once the tags are lost is an almost impossible task most of the time, but some are more individual looking and sometimes just the mention of a name will jog the memory. Maybe you put the seeds in the fridge some place?

The seeds I tried to sprout went rotten without sprouting😥

Perhaps another try next year?

I winter sowed seeds from 'Vivacious'. I'm hoping for at least one streaked seedling...

Well, I finally found my hosta seeds. So far (a week?) I haven't had any sprout. I'm trying some now in wet paper towel in a bag to see if any are viable. My vegetable seeds are sprouting (I'm kinda early, but have cabin fever). I'm going to try this giant jalapeno this year from seed. Hopefully some hostas will sprout so I can hold off on my mass vegetable plantings.....