Question
hello - today I noticed large green pods on my yucca plant that I had never seen before. I pulled one off and dissected it finding a lot of flat black seeds. I found it fascinating and started looking for answers about using the seeds. I found some info but not as much as I would like. Are the seeds I got out of the green pod any good? I noticed in the articles read it says to wait until the pods turn brown before harvesting the seeds. When I am ready to plant the seeds how many seeds do you put in each hole? Does one seed equal one plant or does it take several seeds to produce a plant? If I harvest the seeds in the fall how do I store them so they will be fresh for spring planting? I live in Kansas so it will be late March or April before we are free from frosts. I appreciate any answers or any other info you can provide.  Thanks so much for your time.  Pam

Answer
Hi Pam,
Thanx for your question.  I am a Kansas resident too.  Yucca glauca is native to Kansas.  I saw it all over the place in SW Kansas and in the El Cuartelejo ruins in Scott County near the Colorado border.  Yucca filimentosa and Yucca flaccida are naturalized to our state but are not native.  You can see a lot of the Spanish dagger yuccas in Eastern Kansas even growing wild on the roadsides.  These have the long sword like leaves and tall shafts of white bell flowers.  Our native yucca is a much smaller, more compact plant but still has some pretty impressive blooms.  The green pods are not ripe and if you picked them, they will not ripen and be viable seed.  Yucca seeds are easy to grow.  They are black and somewhat flat.  Plant one or two to a cell and barely cover with soil.  Keep the soil evenly moist but not soggy and keep them warm.  They will emerge in 3 or 4 weeks and look like grass.  I would wait until January to start them.  They will need to be kept under lights and then after the last frost, take the seedlings outdoors and place them in a place where they will be shaded from direct sunlight and protected from rain, wind, hail, etc. for about 10 days.  After that, plant them in direct sunlight.  They will start growing fast once it is consistently warm day and night.  One seed does equal one plant.  Often, when you see a large yucca, you will see what are called pups or new yuccas growing from the main plant.  Allow the pods to dry and become brown or black on the plant.  Remove the seeds and place them in a glass jar and seal it keeping them dry and then put them in a cool, dry, dark place for the winter.  There is a moth that specifically pollinates yucca.  She will often leave one egg in each flower and the egg develops into a worm once the flower has been pollinated and formed a seed pod.  So, if you notice half the seeds are gone, this is because the moth's larvae have a symbiotic relationship with the yucca.  The larvae eat half of the seeds so they can mature, fall to the ground and bury themselves in the soil to pupate for the fall and winter and emerge in the spring as an adult moth.  The larvae don't eat all the seeds because this will allow the yucca to propagate itself.  I hope this helps.
Tom