What Are the Green Balls on Red Yucca?

Flowering and Fruiting

• Red yucca plants produce flowering stalks that usually grow 3 to 5 feet tall but may grow higher. Each stalk holds numerous flowers that bloom in spring to summer and attract hummingbirds. The tuberous flowers are usually salmon pink but some varieties offer yellow blooms. Following bloom, the green, ball-like fruit develops.

Seed Pod Anatomy and Seeds

• The red yucca fruit is about the size of a walnut or ping-pong ball, measuring about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and is a capsule that starts out green and ripens to brown. The fruit consists of multiple compartments that each contain several seeds, so each seed pod has dozens of seeds. The seeds are flat and black in a shape resembling a half-circle.

Collecting Seed Pods

• If the seed pods are considered unattractive, it is possible to cut the flowering stalk back to the base of the plant as soon as flowering has finished. Otherwise, you can leave the pods on the yucca plant for birds, which like to eat the seeds, or collect the yucca seeds for propagation. To gather seeds, wait until the seed pods turn brown and begin to split open to reveal the black seeds inside. Pick off entire seed pods once they have split open but before seeds begin to fall out.

Propagation Using Seed

• The red yucca seeds do not require any treatment for germination to occur. Flats or 4- or 6-inch containers with ample drain holes filled with well-drained soil or germination medium are appropriate for sprouting red yucca seeds. Moisten the medium thoroughly, then press the red yucca seeds into it. Keep the container in a cold frame or other protected spot with bright but indirect light. Six months after sprouting occurs, gradually increase the amount of sunlight the red yucca receives until it gets strong sunlight. Some seeds will sprout shortly after sowing while others may take months.