Hi All! I recently received these from the Lily auction and I'm not even sure they are daylily seeds. If they are I don't think they are viable as I have NEVER seen very hard white/beige DL seeds before. I would really really appreciate feedback on what people especially those with lots of breeding experience think of these. Thanks! They aren't the best of photos but are the best I could come up with in short time. The cross is supposed to be "Sharon's Delight X WB. Cottonmouth"



Edited for spelling 11/1/14

I'd say definitely no, though I'm no expert (just answering till others can chime in). They actually look like some kind of corn seed to me. Anyone else?

EDIT: But, see below ... we discovered some interesting things and they may indeed be "peeled" daylily seeds!

Hi Brian, Those don't look anything like daylily seeds to me. I've never seen any that aren't black, but even then, they don't look like these. Hopefully someone else will know if they are actual daylily seeds. From what I understand, if they aren't black, they aren't viable. But, to me, they don't even look like the correct type of seed.

do not look like any daylily seed I've ever encountered.

They look like peeled daylily seeds. I once peeled a seed that wouldn't germinate as I had remembered reading about peeling daylily seeds somewhere, it grew, was doing great outside, chipmunk dug it up to hide it's seeds in the pot and killed it, I was so mad at that chipmunk!!!! I tried to find a photo I took of it but I guess I deleted it.

Interesting information, Margaret! I peeked at google and found an archived AHS link to a report about peeled and unpeeled daylily seeds from experiments at DePaul University in 1954. It seems they were trying to determine if the seed coat was preventing needed oxygen from reaching the embryo during or after the cold-stratification process. Though they stated that peeling the coat had "no stimulatory effect" on germination, and that the necessary level of oxygen diffused through the "relatively impermeable enveloping structures," their table seems to show that control-group seeds (unpeeled) germinated at a rate of 48 percent versus 72-76 percent for the peeled seeds.

See Page 89:
http://www.daylilies.org/AHSar...

So, this prompted me to take a seed from fridge storage, "peel" it as best I could, and try to photograph it. It is rather more round than Brian's seeds, but I suppose it is possible his could just be flatter daylily seeds to begin with, as I have seen some of those in my own harvests. I did notice a nodule at the "end" of the seeds, like Brian's above. Perhaps this prompts another experiment to see how such seeds germinate and grow, and maybe Brian will verify with the seller that peeled-seeds are the usual way they handle and sell daylily seeds? Would be interesting to see if someone has pictures of peeled daylily seeds that closely match up with Brian's.

My cold-stratified seed after "peeling" some of its outer coat:

I just unpeeled 2 daylily seeds to see what they look like and they look like those.

These aren't great photos because I took them with my phone but you can see pretty well what they look like




I would ask the seller about this as this is not the norm (as I'm sure you know) way to sell daylily seeds. It also should have been stated in the auction that they were peeled.

I agree with Michele that a seller would/should mention if they are peeled. But, here is an even more intriguing AHS archive link (same researchers) that does seem to more strongly state that peeling of at least the "invisible membrane" that encloses the embryo tip just under the seed coat greatly increases the percentage of seed germinations (circa 1950s -- who knows if that has been formally confirmed...). I suppose if someone hybridized particularly expensive or hard-to-propogate cultivars and hoped to maximize germination it might be worth peeling each seed, but the peeling process seems pretty onerous. I hope you might ask the seller how they did it, Brian! Maybe there is an easy way to skin a DL seed?

See page 27:
http://www.daylilies.org/AHSar...

chalyse said:-- but the peeling process seems pretty onerous. I hope you might ask the seller how they did it, Brian! Maybe there is an easy way?

If the seeds have been dried for awhile then the black shells just crumbled away when rolled in you fingers. The 2 I did this morning I did in a few seconds

Awesome - it is nice to have something new to try if a highly desired cross results in healthy looking seeds that just don't seem to sprout. *puts little oxygen masks on each seed ...*

The cultivar Moonlight Orchid produces white daylily seeds. I was told by some folks on here that they are not viable. This is what they looked like,

What makes them unviable? All the seeds I have seen have been black.

Corn seeds btw look like kernels of corn or course and the ones I've seen are about twice the size of a dl seed. They are also quite hard. Popcorn seed is smaller and rounder like the ones pictured, but anyway, I am rambling, they do not appear to be corn to me.

I had a seedling a few years ago that produced white seeds. I planted them and they sprouted normally. When daylily seeds are immature they are white and then they might not be viable. If white seeds are from a pollinated flower and the pod developed normally (for the usual length of time) then white (non-black) more or less normal-sized firm seeds are probably viable. I have a few seedlings still potted and growing from the white seeds. Unfortunately I potted the pod parent and it died that winter so all I have are those few seedlings. They will most likely produce normal coloured seeds and I will have to sib-cross them together to see if white seeds is a mutation.

Every pod on Moonlight Orchid produced white seeds for me. I was told by a couple of hybridizers on here that the seeds probably were not viable. Darn, I think I threw them out, now I can't try growing them.

That's too bad Cindy, you may have gotten some interesting seedlings, live and learn I guess.

Hemlady, MO is a fav in my yard. Peeling seeds seem like a lot of work to me.
Moonlight Orchid

Mike, that is a pretty one!

MO is tall and it has flimsy scapes, The spideryish form breaks easily if you have winds. It is a nice one to pick early in the morning and bring indoors or display on the patio table.

Frilly, yours sure is a different color, pretty too!