I've bought many first year TC hostas and most have done really well. I started buying them in 2009. There are a few that I've had that are still a single eye and haven't grown much, or have grown to mature size and are still a single eye. A very few are struggling along and I'm tempted to put them out of their misery. I buy them because of the same reasons as you, they're cheap compared to a full grown plant which means I have more money for more hostas. I have patience to watch them grow and think it's kind of fun to see a baby grow into a nice big plant. But there are those too, depending on the situation, that I want a more mature plant and buy it that way. One of my favorite TC's I bought at the end of summer last year, which is still in a pot, is Awakening Angel. It was such a small plant, and being blue I thought it would take a long time to get to size. Well, it is doing quite well, a gorgeous blue color, and I can see it being a fast grower. I am surprised by how fast it has grown. Empress Wu, though, that one has grown in size the most out of all of the TC's I got last year. Yeah, it's going to get real big, real fast.

Karen

Frank,

Where did you get your streaked tissue cultures? Which ones did you get?

Gesila

They are coming from Q & Z through the BnP Co-op.

Dream Maker 4" pot
Dorset Clown 2 1/4" pot
Fired Up liner
Justice liner
Kaleidochrome liner
Powder Keg 2 1/4" pot
Sparkle 2 1/4" pot
Wedding Night liner

Justice is the streaked form of Victory which is an edged form of Elatior. Giant streaker YAY!

Nice list Frank. Is the BnP Co-op a club you belong to?

I'd love to stick some of those little ones in my hydro planter.

Gesila

I emailed you a link to the group.

I am growing streaked seedlings from seeds I got from people at the Hosta Seed Growers Forum. Some I bought. My plants are under 24 hrs light, sit in pots in low fertilized water, growing slowly since mid of January and later. I culled most of the green ones. I will have around 20 4 inch 'market ready' streaked plants in a month. I enjoy that a lot. One mail-order place sells those around $30 each, plus shipping.

How do you know that the named streaker plugs you bought will have the same leaf markings next years? People at the HSG forum notice changes every year. Streakers are inherently unstable and will develop finally into a non-streaked plant(s) in the future. Notice, I am learning.
Bernd

As with most streakers, they have to be watched and dominant non-streaked parts have to be removed. Most streakers are sold after a year or two. That helps in making sure the plant isn't going to go straight to a solid color or variegation.

I will be using the streakers plus other hosta for hybridizing making my own crosses starting this year. This year it will be hit and miss due to the fact that I will have to wait for the blooms to get pollen and to pollinate. I will be collecting and storing pollen from everything I want to use so I won't have to only do crosses if the bloom times line up next year. Streakers will take some growing time measured in years before you will know if it is going to be somewhat stable or if it will change to a non-streaker the following year.

I built that big table in the basement just for growing hosta from seed. One cross that I am going to go for is to introduce streaking or variegation into Clovelly. I also wouldn't mind introducing some growth speed into GE, DQ, TB or even a montana. I have a few specific goals in mind but it is going to take some serious time. The growth rates of hosta is one thing that I am really interested in. Some hosta grow like weeds and I really like that. I want to see more hosta that grow fast.