Question
QUESTION: I'm one of the experts on this website but i need to ask how to grow lillies from seed. I have a stargazer lily with a seed pod and it is swelling but i do not know how to collect seeds and i have got the plants in a container. i have got a lily bulbil that i started off this year and kept it in my greenhouse and that has started dying down now. i know you have experience with growing lillies from seed but i am an expert in other plants as you will see from my profile. hopefully you can advise on these lillies.
thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Jonathan,
Thanx for your question.  And special greetings to another "expert".  First, the Stargazer lily is a hybrid so, the resulting seedlings will not exactly resemble the parent plants.  More likely than not, the seedlings will revert to an inferior plant from the Stargazer's genetic past.  I don't recommend growing the Stargazer or most hybrids from seed because you're not going to get what you have in the parent.  To me, that's a waste of time.  But, I have found growing lilies from seed to be a fun and exciting event and have grown some species lilies like Lilium formosanum, Lilium philipinense, day lilies and Iris sp. from seeds with some pretty wonderful results.  If you are getting bulbils from the lily, these should come true as they are actually mini clones of the plant and are not the result of cross pollination.  Bulbils spend the first season growing a root system.  I grew some tiger lily bulbils and learned about them.  The root system will be very extensive the first year. At Autumn, it will appear the bulbil is dying but it is going dormant.  In the second season, the bulbil will produce green top growth.  the third year, the plant should be mature enough to bloom.  Bulbils are a great way to grow new lilies but be sure to let the bulbils have a cold treatment outdoors.  They'll need the outdoor winter temps for going dormant and then when spring comes they will start their outgrowth again.  Now, if you're doing this with seed, the seed will need the same cold treatment, generally.  Some lilies do not require a cold treatment but I think the Stargazer does.  First, place the seeds in a damp paper towel (not soggy wet) and place this inside a plastic baggie and then place in the fridge for about 3 months.  Then, take the seeds out of the cold and plant barely covered in good potting soil and keep warm and moist but not soggy.  I'm not sure if what you have is hypogeal or epigeal.  What this means is hypogeal germination means the seed germinates below ground first, growing a mass of roots and then its second year, will begin growing the top growth.  Epigeal means the seed germinates above the soil line and then sends roots down into the ground.  Either way, the seeds probably need a cold treatment except for L. formosanum and L. philipinense.  Now, with all of that said, there is another way you can propagate the Stargazer lily and get a true clone (an exact copy of the plant).

Here's a good website on epigeal and hypogeal germination that is fairly easy to get.

http://www.pwk.resteddoginn.ca/seeds.php

Anyway, here is a link you can study about scaling bulbs.  You'll get plants and blooms quicker and they'll be true to the parent plant.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=007f64

I hope this helps.
Tom

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QUESTION: Hi Tom

Thank You for your expertise. i will leave the pod to ripen and see what the out come is. I will also read the links too. Thank You so much!

Answer
Hi Jonathan,
You are most welcome.  Be sure to contact me any time if I can be of service.  Let me know what happens.  Earlier when I said it was a waste of time to try to grow hybrids from seeds.  I realized that was rather harsh.  When I first started out growing things from seeds (don't know your level of expertise in growing from seed...) I did grow many hybrids from seed.  The lessons were valuable and the results were fun.  So, I take back what I said about it being a wasteo f time.  Let me know what happens!
Tom