The seedling on the right is a bama music x unknown cross, and is sprouting up with creamy white foliage. It seems to be doing fine and is keeping pace with others started at the same time.

Any experience or guesses on to how to explain its unusual coloring? :} I'm stumped ...

Albinos don't usually live very long so please keep us up to date on how it is doing.

I've had several albino seedlings and they will keep up for awhile then die.

O.o ... noooo! *sobs*

maybe it doesn't like the sun ... did anyone try to keep one out of the sunlight?

*yanks it into the deepest darkest corner of the porch!*

... how long do you think it might have? any idea on how old/big they've gotten in the past? will update, thanks :}

I never knew plants could be albino.

I've had albino iris and hosta seedlings........they have always died.......

I would think they'd fail because of the whole chlorophyll/photosynthesis thing.
Maybe they live only as long as the nutrition from the seed lasts...

Oh! ... you made me look it up! ...

http://whitershadeoftail.wordp...

Right on all counts: "The incidence of albinism is known in all living species" "Total albinism in plants is lethal-an albino seedling will die within days of sprouting because after it has
used the stored energy from the seedcase it can no longer sustain itself ...They can not survive sunlight though because they have no protection and will shrivel."

okay, i'm gonna give it a nice shady spot and see what happens. It didn't die "within days" as its been over a month...but its possible its just still using energy from the seedcase to grow....

EDIT: Ahhh...found a source that says some may be "able to survive to maturity on soil ... if first allowed to establish itself on medium containing 3% sucrose."

I'm going to try 3% sugar water :D

There ya go!

Best wishes, and keep us posted!

Thanks sooo much all of you :D sometimes it takes a village to raise a plant...

It just got its first drink of an alternative carbohydrate source that it needs to fuel plant growth (works out to about 1/2 teaspoon of table sugar dissolved in about 1/2 cup of water)

... i'd have never taken those extra steps without the nudges ... and even a small chance that it goes to maturity and then lives happily off of nutrients in the soil is enough for me to try!

Well, there's a name for a daylily, It Takes a Village.
All the albino seedlings I have had ceased to exist. Didn't try the
sugar thingy though.

I had a entire set of albino seedlings last year from a Tooth X Unknown cross. Lost them all, but didn't try shade or sugar water. I did have a couple of regular seedlings from that cross, and am glad, I got some pretty first year blooms from them this year. ~Jan

I sure hope it survives! I have Bama Music, but have never put any pollen on it. I just love it for being pretty and I thought the name was cute, so I had to buy it!

Update?

(above - an albino flower - click to see fine detail)

mindreader! lol ... i thought I should update ...

first, i saw the little one start to fade, so i read more about the care of albinos and found out that the roots are not developed enough yet (at seedling stage) to convert the sugar-water into the needed carbs.

albino plants have been shown to get through the seedling stage by dipping the ends of their leaves in a small container of sugar-water that is elevated and kept next to the pot, by cutting the leaf tips off at the end. This allows the seedling leaves to soak up the liquid directly. the tips are re-cut just slightly every other day to re-open the tissue needed for the "IV" drip. some research says it may also help to mist the leaves with sugar water. then, after roots are established, the plant can be weaned (it will have mature roots that can get nutrients directly from the soil and water).

i learned all this after my albino faded too much, though (the leaves were already collapsed and couldn't IV-feed) ... but, the seed case is still firm, and there is still some tissue much like the 'eye' or 'tongue' that appears when first soaking a daylily seed for sprouting. so, i've put the albino seed back into water and am watching it ... as it seems to be trying to re-grow another eye. if it does, i'll be giving it a second go-round. if not, i have my plan all ready for the next albino seedling that comes along.

so, do daylily seed cases have nine lives?! :D tune in next week ...

Thanks Tina.
That sure is fascinating!

Yes, fascinating. I didn't know that. We learn something new every
day for sure.

An update on Alberto Albino ... he has a new, variegated sibling!

Alberto, having been reduced to a tiny, fuzzy knob of tissue after I messed him up with sugar-watering directly to his soil bed (turned it into a hard sugar cube and he did not do well), has recently been back in regular seed starting mix, and looks like he is making another attempt at a root/stem shoot:



Go, Alberto, Go!

His new baby sister, Sugar Baby, caught my attention from the seedling nursery when she suddenly developed creamy stripes on her leaves and ... *eeks!* ... started failing (her leaf tips were collapsing and shriveling). So, I brought her inside and got her into the incubator that I had readied for Alberto. He's still happily tucked back in and snoozing in the dirt, so she gets to try out the new crib. Here she is at week one on the sugar IV



I was worried at first that her leaves would not grow fast enough to keep pace with the needed snips every-other-day to get fresh leaf ends into the drink...but she is putting all her energy into that new shoot extending up at the top and keeping pace. I also made one of the waterings to her dirt-bed with a 10% hydrogen peroxide/90% water mix, to keep a tiny spot of green fuzz from growing on top of the dirt (a possible side effect from her sugar diet in the shade?). Here she is today, still going strong. If it turns out she can or should get back into regular sunny nursery conditions, I'll wean her off the sugar-IV:



I'm already searching for a new set of "incubator" containers ... just in case Alberto pokes his head out of the seed starter pot sometime soon to join his baby sister.

Go alberto go!
And baby sister also!