I have a small few seed pods developing on Wild One. Today I noticed this larger seed pod had opened. Imagine my surprise to see this. It looks like corn kernels inside the pod.

Anyone have any idea what has happened to this seed pod?

Daylily seeds are white until the black coating forms on the outside. For some reason that one seems to have split prematurely. Do the seeds look full-size, i.e. should they have the black phytomelan on them by now?

That's what happened to a couple of mine last year. I'll see if I track down the thread. You're looking at immature seeds...I rescued mine by putting aluminum foil over them until they matured a little, then I put a foot Sox (hosiery) over them.

Edited to add: cross-posted, whoops!

The thread "Seed Harvesting Questions" in Daylilies forum

This post, in particular, might help:

http://garden.org/thread/view_...

DND - I've had several seed pods do what yours did in reference to the photo on that link.

This is a bit different in the fact that the entire seed pod is opening revealing very plump, white, immature seeds. I did pull one off from the top and squeezed it to make sure no bug larvae or anything had made their home inside the seed. It just squirted out what appears to be clear liquid. Definitely not ripe seeds. The pod was large, but not ripe yet. Very green. Seeds were completely white. No black yet.

What would cause this to happen? I've never seen this before.

It is a cross that was hand-pollinated on (I believe) May 15th Wild One x Galaxy Explosion.

I'm wondering if super hot, dry conditions would do that? Maybe it's the plant preparing to abort the seeds since it isn't getting enough water (or nutrients?) to keep itself alive?...

Actually, I was thinking quite the opposite .... Too much water. We had a lot of rain and when no rain, I water several times a week. Is it possible there is too much water for daylilies. I wouldn't think so. I do have leaf streak and possibly thrips again in that daylily bed. Coul such pests or fungus cause this issue? I've never seen this before.

It's hard to say. I wasn't aware of any pest issue with my plant that did it, but that's not to say it couldn't have been present. Maybe if the plant is sitting in water for too long, it has to focus on not getting root rot and eliminates any seedpods so that it can do so? My plant *is* in an area that can get very soggy and wet at times because the drip hose is right in that area and sometimes the irrigation causes it to get soggy if we're doing regular waterings. It could be completely unrelated, though. If it happens to me again this year, I'll try to document what I can about the circumstances of the daylily.

Who knows? I'm clueless at this point. That bed dries out rather quickly, so standing water does not happen. Perhaps the change from wet to dry is the problem, but if so, wouldn't more of my seed pods open early like this one?

The immature seeds in this pod are so big, it's almost like that is the reason the pod split open early. The seeds are bursting out of it. Odd it is.

As far as I remember fungi can cause seeds to sprout in pods but I don't know of any daylily pathogens that are known to do this. There are some daylily pests that in theory could affect a pod but if it was any of those we'd see more of this. I'd just put it down to an aberration unless you see more than the odd one. At least one of the seeds in the picture doesn't look normal (browning) but that doesn't necessarily mean much.

Becky, what did you do with that seed pod? I have on similar but it goes a bit further than that. The seed pod itself looks totaly deformed. See photo below,

The seeds did not mature properly and became non-viable. I still have other pods left on that cultivar, but I actually had 2 large seed pods on Wild One that did that where the pods seemed to burst open before maturity.

I think there may be something not quite normal with the seeds. Might it be that the seeds grow too quickly, become too large and force the pod open?

Possibly. Thought did occur to me.

Becky, I had exactly the same thing happen, but only one time and it was seven or eight years ago.
I don't remember which cultivar it was that did this, but I know it was neither of your two.
I just attributed it to one of those occurrences where chemical signals within the plant went wonky. The seeds never matured.

GaNinFl said:Becky, what did you do with that seed pod? I have on similar but it goes a bit further than that. The seed pod itself looks totaly deformed. See photo below,

It looks to me like a six-chambered pod where two chambers probably failed but various amount of seeds formed in the other chambers. I don't do polys, but some have suggested that more than three chambers suggests polymerous blooms.

admmad said:I think there may be something not quite normal with the seeds. Might it be that the seeds grow too quickly, become too large and force the pod open?

Something like scape blasting.... where the seeds absorb an excess of moisture, grow rapidly, which increases pressure within the pod causing the pod to "blast" open?

The seeds inside the pods were white and large. They did darken to black, but became squishy and failed. So it could be excess water or perhaps a disease or pest. Though none of the other seeds pods on the same plant and other cultivars in that raised bed had that problem. Something wonky, for sure! Both those pods were on 1 cultivar .... Wild One. I have more pods on it, but they appear to be fine and still maturing. I will know soon if those pods produce viable seeds.

Char said:Something like scape blasting.... where the seeds absorb an excess of moisture, grow rapidly, which increases pressure within the pod causing the pod to "blast" open?

Perhaps.
OR
Perhaps something genetic that was not quite typical in that particular cross.