Jewell said:Has anyone here grown hostas from seed. If so how long till gemination; what have your results been; any references you'd recommend?
I'm in zone 4b. Last year I started hosta's from seed.
I placed the seeds in a damp paper towel , put that in a zip lock bag than placed the bag over a forced air vent that doesn't get much sun.
I know it took at least 2 weeks for the seeds to sprout. I transferred them to a mixture of seed starting medium and potting soil before the roots got so long that the roots grew into towel or each other.
I had great success sprouting seeds my issue seems to be starting them to early, as I didn't have a grow light but put them in a Southern window.
I appeared to get damp off with the first 2 batches. The third batch was later, like early spring and I got success. I now have about 90 small hostas growing in my yard.
Before they went in the ground, they spent most of the summer in the starting tray, on my shady side of deck. I did also put some in ground near deck earlier than than seed try ones, and it did not seem to affect the growth rate. My advice would be keep them in trays as long as you can, in case the weather turns really bad so they are easier to protect. Also keeps slugs from tendar plants.
I hope this helps.
Oh, seeds may not be true to plant.
I suggest starting with a larger plain green variety.
Also check out YouTube for tutorial's. I did and it helped.
Most states have a university horticultural exspert you can ask questions of on line. MN does, and are very good about getting back to you.
