I saw something awhile back that I thought was really cool... First off - the story of how I got to that point... My girlfriends mom has a ranch type house up in the higher desert regions where Joshua Trees grow... Well - she knows that i like plants and I'm really good at growing them and taking care of them - have a natural green thumb I guess... Anyway - there was a small Joshua Tree growing along side a fence that she was going to dig up and throw away i guess - so I dug it up and took it home here at the beach to grow... Yes - it's doing very well - still green and growing... I trimmed the bottom spines of it so I could manipulate the dirt and such but other than that it's just as vibrant as it ever was... Well - the adults produce those green pods that contain all the seeds as you probably know - so I snagged a few of them and brought them home with me to plant and see if I could get to grow... (None of them did) But one thing I did was cut the pods open and dig out the seeds - and as I did... I noticed there were these green, almost translucent worms living inside the pods - really cool looking... So I took them and put them into my doorway garden box - and left them... I totally forgot about them until recently when I added a few plants inside the box - and I accidentally dug one of them up and it was like twice as long... Anyway - I just thought I would share that with everyone - have any of you ever seen that or know what type of worms they are??? I have never seen anything like them before... (5 minutes later) I actually looked that up and found this information if you are interested: The Tegeticula Moth lays eggs I guess in the pods and the worms are actually larvae of the moth? Here is the link for more accurate info: http://www.faultline.org/place/pinolecreek/archives/002040.html Enjoy :)
Good story (and link) for Natural History Appreciation and Discussion, so moved to that forum. Thanks.
Hello, Yes we call them Yucca Moths and they get as big as hummingbirds. Yucca Brevifolia , AKA Joshua Trees are very interelated to the Yucca Moth. We are just getting very early blooms for our Area. They should look like fat water melon seeds. That come from the pods. You could plant healthy seeds, with much success. Transplants are harder because of the very long taproot the JT has. Anyway one of my favorite plants. YORES truely Miss Shelli from Joshua Tree, Calfornia :)
The seeds are brittle though. I bought some in Utah two years ago and by the time I got them home to Wales, every one had broken up. I tried planting the handful that only had minor nicks on the edges, but to no avail. Nothing grew. Serves me right for smuggling seeds!!!
Interesting Catus Jack ... I've had many different Yucca species seeds sent to me and none have ever exibited the problems you've mentioned. I wonder what happened? Cheers, LPN.
Brittle and Broken up = old and dehydrated. Is probably what happened. Seeds collected in the wild are not collected under ideal conditions. The Desert Gets either a ton of rain or none. No telling how old the pod the seeds were collected from. If you collect seeds from a Yucca in your garden. Or purchase them they are probably in decent shape. But I would say the establishment sold very old seed.
