yucca seed

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redsquirrel
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yucca seed

Post by redsquirrel »

has anyone had viable seed set on any yucca over here?

simple question but one thats bugging me.i see loads of gloriosas/recurvifolias etc in flower every year but have never seen any seeds??
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Nigel Fear

Re: yucca seed

Post by Nigel Fear »

Darren, I did hear they need certain pollinators indigenous to where they grow naturally, some sort of moth with the right proboscis.
Adrian

Re: yucca seed

Post by Adrian »

Never had any seed here or at least not so I noticed anyway.
Never thought about it before to be honest.
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redsquirrel
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Re: yucca seed

Post by redsquirrel »

i think i might have read that too Nigel but wonder why things like the hundreds of yuccas growing round the coastal areas of cornwall dont get anything that ive seen.surely something else can do the proboscis bit??
p.s.never heard that word before but will look it up now icon_thumright
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flounder

Re: yucca seed

Post by flounder »

Darren, have you had a 'nose' on google for that word yet? :lol:
Conifers
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Re: yucca seed

Post by Conifers »

flounder wrote:Darren, have you had a 'nose' on google for that word yet? :lol:
Who nose?
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redsquirrel
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Re: yucca seed

Post by redsquirrel »

i did indeed,
from one of those wikipedia sites
2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) the elongated mouthparts of certain insects, adapted for piercing or sucking food

does that mean pollen or something might be behind a sort of skin or cover that needs to be broken?
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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: yucca seed

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

redsquirrel wrote:i did indeed,
from one of those wikipedia sites
2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) the elongated mouthparts of certain insects, adapted for piercing or sucking food

does that mean pollen or something might be behind a sort of skin or cover that needs to be broken?
Insects have a proboscis which is their tongue. It's a hollow structure for sucking up nector from flowers (as well as water in pools and even blood from dead animals!) Certains butterflies/moths have longer proboscis than others so plants have evolved to have different depths of flowers to be pollinated by certain insects. As the insect feeds pollen is brushed onto the insect and then transfered to the next flower. Some other animals are used by plants for pollination e.g. Beetles for Magnolias (as there weren't bees when Magnolias evolved) Some bats also lick out nector (Yuccas?) and Hummingbirds. Sorry for rambling!
GREVILLE

Re: yucca seed

Post by GREVILLE »

My 25 year old Yucca Gloriosa has been flowering itself to death for much of the growing season over the last three years. Lots of self-sown seedlings appear underneath it but not one yucca among them.

I wonder if I should try daubing a brush from flower to flower. I've got my fifth flower stem this year going at the moment, but I need a step-ladder on a slope and it's probably too late in the year anyway :roll: Or I could breed the moths icon_thumright

Pointless, as I pull up two or three suckers from below every year. However, I have grown Y. campestris from seed this year and growing these this way is a worthwhile exercise.
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redsquirrel
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Re: yucca seed

Post by redsquirrel »

ive got 3 tiny brevifolias in their second year here.how they survived outside last winter still baffles me but i do fancy trying more types of yucca because of this
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