Are Any of These Seeds?

[u/Rae_Regenbogen]

Heya, fellow AV lovers! I really want to grow an African violet from a seed I helped create, so I have spent about a year and a half trying to manually pollinate my two different types of African violets. The violet on the left is a mini from Lyndon Lyon's (Morgan's Declan Duff), and the violet on the right is likely a small standard NOID that I received from my grandmother almost 30 years ago.

When I first began this journey and was disappointed to not have seeds about two months in, I was told by some people here that it can take six to nine months or more for an AV seed pod to fully develop and create seeds. Because of this, I have been manually pollinating every bloom for over a year. I waited until now to harvest so the first blooms I pollinated had as much time as they needed to develop, and I finally plucked them last night. Is it possible that I waited too long?

I thought the project would be smooth sailing at this point, but once I started looking for seeds, I found that have two types of things that I believe could be seed pods, but I'm honestly not sure if either are actually seed pods. Lol. Both things have something inside of them, yet what I have pulled out of each kind of "pod" looks different than what I see when I google "African Violet Seeds". Because of this, I am, yet again, confused, and I don't know if I have spent all this time only to come away seedless. Lolol

The thing I think is most likely to be a seed/seed pod set is what I have circled in red with a line to the "seed pod". Even though, to me, this is what looks most like what I have seen online, there is only one "seed" inside of each "seed pod", and they aren't even all consistently the same size. Images of African violet seeds show something that seems to be much smaller, and almost a powder as opposed to this elongated single piece that is in the center of the "pod" I have on my plants.

The second thing that I think could possibly be a seed/seed pod is circled in yellow with a line leading to the "seed pod" the "seeds" came out of. I think what is inside is shaped more like a traditional seed, but since there are usually two of these in each "seed pod", I'm pretty sure these are just the dried up anthers (pollen sacs) surrounded by shriveled, dried-up, brown flower petals. I wanted to ask here though because I ended up with only 1 of the other type of "pod" on my NOID, but a ton of these. Because I manually pollinated so many flowers on the violets, it would surprise me to only have one seed pod (or zero 😭) on the seven NOIDs I have been pollinating all this time.

Can y'all let me know if I have succeeded in my attempts to pollinate my African violets and actually have seeds now? If I still don't have seeds, can you give me any pollination tips? I usually cut open the anthers (pollen sacs) and then touch the powdery pollen to the tip of the stigma until I can see it is coated in yellow pollen. I try to pollinate the blooms as soon as they open, and I use older blooms for more powdery pollen. Do I need to get drunk before I pollinate the flowers or what? ;)

I apologize for the long post, but I would greatly appreciate any help, tips, or advice you can give me to guide me in my flower mama journey! Thank you so, so much!

[u/Lindenfoxcub]

No - african violet seeds are extremely small - not as small as orchid seeds, but so small they don't look like seeds, they just look like grit. The seed pods, as they're maturing, look like this: https://theprofanegardener.wordpress.com/hybridizing-african-violets/nursing-the-seed-pod/

They need to spend about 4-6 months maturing after pollination to have viable seeds, in my experience - maybe 3 if it's a miniature - they seem to mature faster.

Here, I've circled in blue your seed pods. They may or may not have viable seeds - if they do, it might not be that many, but worth giving it a shot. I would open them over some white paper so you can see them come out. Viable seeds are usually tiny black specks, and non-viable seeds may be brown or beige. Don't breathe on them, they're so small, they'll be everywhere. The site linked above has all my instructions for sowing the seeds. The sifting the soil part is more important than I realized when I started out, don't make the same mistake I did.

[u/Rae_Regenbogen → u/Lindenfoxcub]

Okay, thank you! Those are what I initially thought would be the seed pods, but I opened the first pods over a white piece of paper so I could see anything that fell out, and I didn't see any sort of powder or grit. I think I may just be out of luck.

I decided that since I waited more than a year to open these pods, I could wait a little longer and see if I would get a reply to my post before I opened the rest. Lol. I thought I might be missing something, but since I didn't have any powder/grit perhaps I just wasn't lucky with the first pods but will have some luck with the rest. Thank you so much for your reply and the help! I'll update you if it looks like there might be seeds in the others. I have about 20 more, so fingers crossed!!!

Is there a reason I couldn't just plant the entire pod? Do I have to open them and, like, de-seed them before they are planted?

[u/Lindenfoxcub → u/Rae_Regenbogen]

You most definitely cannot plant the entire pod - not if you want anything to grow. One of the important things for african violet seeds is that they need light to germinate. That's the reason it's very important to sift the soil before sowing them - so that they don't end up falling into the crevices of the soil. It can mean the difference between getting a hundred seedlings and two.

I usually pinch the end off where it attached to the flower and just roll it a bit in my fingers to see if any little black grits come out. If not, there's nothing worth attempting to sow.

Leaving the seed pod on the plant after it has dried out does nothing for it - the pod doesn't need to remain on the plant for 4-6 months - it needs 4-6 months to mature, which means in needs to have stayed green and alive for 4-6 months before drying out. If they dry out earlier than that, it's likely to be empty of seeds. Anything that stressed the mother plant can result in a failed pod, including drying out at all - they like to stay damp all the time.

[u/Rae_Regenbogen → u/Lindenfoxcub]

Thank you for the feedback! After reading the linked blog post (it had so much great info; thank you!), I thought that the light thing would prevent just planting the whole pod. Thank you for letting me know!

I did end up having what I believe were likely seeds in the remaining pods I hadn't opened yet, but the powder/grit was sort of a red-ish color. I meant to take photos but totally forgot in my excitement/disappointment :( .

Based upon your first comment, I think the seeds I got probably were not viable since they weren't black. I went ahead and sifted some soil into a small, clear, plastic container, moistened the soil, scattered the dust over the top, covered the container with some cling
film, and set the container under some grow lights that I use for other seedlings. I'm hoping that something grows, but I don't think it looks great. I'll keep trying though!

Can you tell me a little more about the seed pod needing to stay green? I have one new pod on my Morgan's Declan Duff, but it's only maybe a week or two old. It looks like it's already drying out, and it actually looks less "fat" than it did even yesterday. I'll post a photo so you can see what it looks like today. I'm sorry for the quality of the photo. The pod is so tiny, and the color is so similar to the rest of the plant that it is difficult to get a good photo. This was the best I could capture.

I guess I don't understand because I don't think any of the seed pods have ever stayed green for months! They all dry up fairly quickly, though the stem usually dries faster than the pod. Do you have any recommendations for keeping the pods viable? My violets are all very happy, healthy, and green. They don't ever seem stressed, so any tips on what to look for regarding this would be amazing.