Re: Question

Hi Rich,
       I've never seen a sport of a "sterile" plant that set pods. We've all
seen sports of very fertile plants that will not set a single pod, though.
This can happen for several reasons. All the 'Krossa Regal' sports have
severely impaired fertility, but sterile is a word to be used with caution.
Remember 'Undulata' was called sterile for a long time before Tony Avent
grew a seedling from it. I've been close to germinating a KR seed, had one
that was large and brown, but it didn't go. Ran did germinate one or two but
lost them early, I think. Many people have reported pods on it. The problem
with KR doesn't lie in failure to set pods, I've done this repeatedly with
hand-pollenation. What happens is that the scape dies back before the pods
mature. I think in normal plants the pods that are developing viable seed
let out some kind of hormonal signal that "tells" the plant not to abort the
scape. In KR, this seems to be missing, so that even though viable seed is
developing in more than one pod, the scape just starts turning brown from
the top down soon after it ceases flowering.

.............Bill Meyer



> Good evening, all:
>
> Are sports of sterile hosta also sterile?  For example, 'Regalia' is a
sport
> from 'Krossa Regal'.  Is 'Regalia' pod & pollen fertile?
>
> Hostally,
>
> Rich Horowitz
> Stoughton MA
>
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