I have had pods of my australis 'Mrs G' that I have grown the seeds up before. I put a nylon foot of a pantyhose around it so that when it bursts, I don't lose any seeds. Then I spread the seeds (fuzz and all) over a damp paper towel. Then I cover it with another damp paper towel & put the whole thing in a large ziplock bag & lay in a north window to sprout. In a few days or so... after I see the the little sprouts growing along, I take them out and spread them on a fine potting soil in one of those growing trays that have a clear lid. Cover them slightly with a bit more soil & leave again in the north window to grow. I'm sure there are a few other ways to do this too, but anyway you do it...Have fun!!

PS...be sure to be very careful when you add the nylon over the pod that you don't break anything off. If the plant is small, you may want to just set it in a tupperware box or aquarium, etc. to just catch the seeds. My plant was outside & huge so I had no choice but to bag it. Also it seems it takes quite a while before opens. Good luck.

Hi Denise,

Congrats for your seeds! It should be a wonderful surprise.

Did I understand correctly??? After 35 years growing hoyas this is the first time it happens? 35 years? WOW it is a long long time!

Mitzi from Brazil

That is amazing! I can't imagine ever finding something like that on one of my hoyas!

Congrats!!! That is sooooo cool!

Wow Denise, nice going there ! That is such a lucky find. Good luck with your future plans with the contents of that pod.

poseidon

Whoo Hoo Denise...Congrats! I have only collected the seeds but never sowed them (I gave them away). I don't have much luck sowing seeds for some reason. I used either nylon Knee highs or cut up frost cloth and used twist ties to keep the seeds from popping and blowing away. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing in my excitement and for the advice. The amazing part is that this pachyclada hasn't grown much at all for me, yet it pops out a bloom now and then. I found it interesting that the one plant that doesn't do much for me is the one that gets a seed pod. Which makes me think...maybe I should go search the rest of my Hoyas that have bloomed this summer!

BTW, are they self fertile or does this mean that I probably have a hybrid between two?

Denise in Omaha

I think they are self fertile.My acuta gets a seed pod every summer that it blooms.I have some seedlings from last year growing.
Congratulations on the pod.I use moss and just lay them on top and then I cover the container with plastic warp and a few days later you should see them growing. After you get 2 real leaves you can transfer them to small plastic cups.

Wow! Congratulations!! That's just so exciting!

I wouldn't worry about getting the seeds to germinate for you. I found Sue's seeds very obliging. I wrote about what I did here and RFG provided some more tips here.

Let us know how it goes! It is so nice having little seedlings growing indoors while everything outside is starting to close up shop.

What great news. Congratulations are in order. You are going to have 'hoya babies'. Eventually, that is. I have no luck with seeds. I got seeds from Sue, and they are growing slowly. And reaching for the stars. No real leaves yet, and they are almost three inches tall. they are under lights and still stretching. I don't know what their problem is.
I'm hoping your seeds will do great for you. You may luck out and find an unusual seedling. LOL

Hey Denise that is great. I have one on my red center pachyclada. Maybe this is the time of year for it. I have noticed alot of moths out on the hoya's at night the last month or so. I don't do seeds either, something about them and me. Mine are spoken for so maybe when they grow up for her I can get a seedling back. They do seem to take forever before they 'burst' though.

Dee

Congrats Denis
Your plant is indoor or outdoor?
Your seed pod is big now, I think it will take about a week or two. When the color will turn a little yellow, brown, it will be anytime soon( please see pic. of my post'pachyclada seed'). I still have one more to open very soon, the weather getting cooler, that why I have to wait longer now.
I take a sandwich plastic bag, pull it up to end of seed pod, and close lightly the side, keep a little air for the pod (at center). will show you the pic. tomorrow, it getting dark in GH now.
My little babies start a new leaf already.

Hiya Denise,

Well congratulatons to You!!! A pod & multiple peduncles, how very exciting!

All I know of Hoya seeds is that they're short lived/ perishable. I was told to plant them ASAP after receiving them (from Lesli/GA in early Hoya forum days, remember her?)

I planted them up (don't recall what season) & they sprouted beautifully & got a couple of inches tall. Unfortunately, my seedling set up dried out unexpectedly & I lost them. I had the same sad demise of some Stephanotis seeds someone had shared w/ me (several years later).

Lots of luck w/ them & hope you share some pix as time allows. Should you wish to share some seeds .... ;>)

Karen

Might I make a suggestion: Instead of bagging the entire pod. Simply use an old vegetable twist tie wire and wind this from bottom to top. This allows the pod to develop unobstructively and breath to prevent any rotting or accidental breakage.
When the pods split, you will see the seeds all gathered in between the wired segments.

Congratulations Denise! You should have lots of seeds to hone your seedling raising skills.
It is likely that your plant was self pollinated but in almost all of these highly evolved plants (Asclepiads, orchids) that use pollen masses (pollinia) that still means an insect was present to transfer the pollen. There are a few orchids that have developed self pollination to take place in case cross pollination fails and this can happen early in the flowers life span or as the flower begins to fade. Some orchids have been found to almost exclusively self pollinate, Asclepiads are not as studied but it has also been found that some Ascelpias sp (milkweeds) have developed to be self incompatible.
Check your local dollar store as the ones here have had these 4"-6" pots with their own little plastic domes complete with vents. All you really need to an enclosed container to be sure that the potting media does not dry out while the seedlings are in their first stages and then they become much less fragile as they develop a root system. Maybe one of those little seed propagation domes you see for starting vegetable seeds would be easy to find.

Mike

RFG - I'm wondering if I'm understanding what you suggest. Is this what you mean??

Mike, I had just emptied one of those containers I get tomatoes in at Sam's - about 12" x 6", 4" deep or so, clear plastic, with a few "breathing" holes on the top. I think it will work with a couple drainage holes poked in the bottom.

I'm always amazed at how delicate seedlings seem to be. How in heck do they make it in the wild when they're so hard to bring up in a controlled situation?! I guess that must be why one plant will make a bazillion seeds - in hopes that a few will make it!

Denise in Omaha

Denise it would be better if there were no breathing holes in the container lid at first because drying out even once will kill the seedlings. Maybe you can cover the top with plastic wrap.

Mike

Got it. Thanks, Mike!

Denise in Omaha

Hey Denise,

I gotta say I'm w/ Mike on this, that's exactly how it happened, just one drying out & my H Lacunosa seedlings were toast, I almost cried.

I'd agree a container w/out the holes would be best, I rather like using the hinged, clamshell type plastic, that one can get in Delis. I use those to propagate leaves like Begonias & A Violets. One can moisten them & essentially seal them shut & nearly airtight, so they barely lose moisture over time.

Do you need to open them up from time to time & blow some air on them or something? LOL Seems like they would mold over or something with no air at all. I have put big long vines of things in a ziplock before to root, but I opened them every day & blew air in there & then resealed. Sometimes it worked...sometimes not.

For seedlings Mairzy, I'd found it OK to open them every 2-3 days for fresh air when I'd checked for moisture (it's when I FORGOT that I had a problem. I didn't find seedlings needed airing out as often as cuttings.

The image could use more tightening up. You goal is to prevent the capsules from exploding when they ripen.

I would say germinate the seeds without any covering. Hoya pachyclada is a succulent, it is used to a dry environment. But do keep the soil moist during the germination period. Plant the seeds thinly. I will bet that you will get some variegated seedlings among this batch. This is the form that produced the variegated pachyclada. Good luck!

Follow up! My seed pod burst. I found it on 11/9, so if you figure I found it almost immediately after it formed, and found the open pod right away, too, then it took 7 weeks for it to ripen. Here's what I found...

That twist-tie did the job nicely. Here's the seeds after I untwisted it...

I'm anxious to see if they germinate for me. It'll be fun to raise seedlings if I can! Anyway, here's a photo of the empty outer pod (I'd call it a "sheath" - would you say that's the correct word?) and the inner "seed holder" (I'm sure there's a technical word for that - what would it be??)...

Thanks for coming back to share in my excitement!

Denise in Omaha

That's AWESOME Denise...good luck sowing the seeds!! We want updates once they start to grow.

Congratulations Denise. I think you will do very well with these seeds, keep us updated.

I added a link with some info on the fruiting of plants in the milkweed family, in this case Asclepias syriaca, the common milkweed.
Plants in the milkweed family have fruit that is referred to as a seed pod or more technically a follicle. The pods are dehiscent which means that they split open along a predetermined suture or seam (single seam in the case of Hoyas and milkweeds) to release the seeds once mature. The dry outer part of the seed pod that opens up is referred to as a valve or carpel.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruiting of Asclepias species

Hi Denise,

Very exciting, good for you -- if you haven't yet planted the seeds, I'd though I'd share what I'd started my latest seeds in (per suggestions of RFG) the seeds seem happy enough.

I chopped up some long fiber sphagnum & mixed it w/ perlite, about 50/50 each & put in into clamshell container, moistened w/ mister, placed seeds on top & closed it all up.

You can see this set-up & mix in my pix on the other thread abt Pachychlada seeds (thread by SueTran I think).

Happy germinating (I got 12 sprouts from 14 seeds, so you should probably do pretty well w/ these too.)

Good for you Denise. Mine never opened but shriveled up and poof nothing inside. RFG the bag tie is great idea! Thanks for sharing.

Hi Denise,
Congrats on your Pachyclada seed pod. How are they doing? From what I read you were pretty excited.
alba in Hawthorne,CA

Denise, I hope you have luck with your seeds. I had seeds from Suetran and out of 14 that germinated, I'm down to four. They now have their first set of real leaves, and are growing very slowly. They are about 4" tall and in 4 oz yogurt cups. I guess this time of year the growing is slower. Just have to have patience.
On another note: I received seeds for ovovata back in August. One seed germinated about a month ago and is taking it's time go grow. I was going to put it in it's own pot but I think I see another seedling popping up. I have to take a close look because it may be just algae on the perlite. So really, patience is needed for these seeds. I hope something good comes from them, maybe a variegated one. LOL

They DO take forever to grow! No wonder when Josh does updates on seedlings he spaces them like 3 months apart. I know they are developing, but I need to start taking more progression photos so I have empirical proof that change is really truly happening... otherwise I won't believe it.

Just needed to vent. ^_^

Well GG,

May you find that more productive than I did. I hadn't noticed the timing of Josh's seeds progress post.

Maybe I should take a lesson there, cause as to my H. Pachyclada seeds, they're still pluggin' along, it's just that they look pretty much the same as when I last posted their pix. They're a tad taller, but have same 2 leaves each & don't look particularly different than earlier pix I shared. Given all the personal difficulties, sadness, illness & the like on that thread, I didn't wish to add photos that didn't really show anything different.

But mine ARE still going GG, so take heart.

Meanwhile Denise, anything to report?

It's funny because we're all used to how slow Hoyas can be at times. It just feels different when I'm staring at little plants that don't even quite look like Hoyas yet. I just want one leaf that looks firmly pachyclada-ish. Then I'll feel like we've turned a corner and I'm no longer nursing a nestful of orphaned sparrows.

I'm in the same boat with you guys. At last count, there were over a dozen itty-bitty seedlings, most of them a little tall and lanky with those two beginner leaves at the top. They look pretty fragile, but must be tougher than they look. I've got them on a south shelf in my GH, getting dappled south sun through other plants on the days that aren't gloomy (not today!) I think the challenge will be not letting them get too dry, which is why I put them on this particular shelf - I have to walk by them every time I go into the GH. I'm with you, GG - I'm waiting on that first set of REAL leaves to get truly excited!

Denise in Omaha

Hi Denise,

Congrats to your new babies! Believe me, it takes a decade to start growing, my pachycladas seeds are slowly growers! I think they will take more than a year to have more leaves!

But it is a great pleasure to observe them growing!

Mitzi from Brazil.