Native Plants
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Sunday - August 17, 2008
From: Chicago , IL
Region: Midwest
Topic: Propagation
Title: Planting yucca seeds in Illinois
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
My neighbor gave me a few pods (5) off of her Yucca plant which have lost its bloom for the year, how do I transplant them, in the ground or root them in water first?ANSWER:
This must truly be yucca season in Illinois, because this is the second question on this subject in just a few days on a gift of yucca seedpods in Illinois. We are going to refer you to that previous answer because it pretty well gives you all the information we have on what to do with your seedpods. Please note that what you have are pods of seeds, lots of seeds, and if the pod was still chartreuse green when it was taken off the plant, the seeds will probably not be viable. The pods need to stay on the plant until they have turned a dark brown and appear brittle. And one more thing, please don't try to root anything from the yucca in water. It will die of shock, for sure. Yuccas are basically desert plants, and water of any kind is rare.
See this page of Images of yucca seed pods for examples of the various ways they look. These are from several different species of yucca, but are pretty representative and will give you a good idea of what you are looking for. But remember, what you need is a pod that has dried on the plant. Then it has to be broken into, and the seeds removed.
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