i have no intent to make this sound cranky .. so don't mind that, if you infer it ... THEY NEVER NEEDED TO BE COVERED ... and in doing so .. you complicated the process.. and now you are having to work harder to solve the complication .. than it should have been to start with ... hows that for a run on sentence ... mine were never covered... so never had to be hardened off .. and were never affected by the increased intensity of light not shining through the plastic cover ... etc ... NEXT TIME .. just don't cover them ... and you avoid all this... now i have to go paste this in the other post ... warm and cool lights are a nice thought... but the cheapest shop lamp will do the same ... but.. whatever makes you happy .... and ... change your lights every year.... pshaw on that ... i am using 10 year old bulbs ... and the hosta dont seem to mind.. but i have 4 per shelf.. so maybe it would make a difference if i only had one or two ... anyway ... NEXT TIME ... simplify to start with.. after all ... they are hosta .. albiet.. very small hosta.. lol ... ken

Thanks! Steve, yes, I do a little pollen dabbing, nothing that I am obsessive about tho. My record keeping is kind of spotty so I usually know the pod parent, but between the OP seeds and ones I dabbed... well, you get the idea. I grow a bunch of seedlings and toss most of them. I have the great luck to be near a few other hosta addicts that will sometimes let me harvest their OP seeds, plus my own, so I have a large supply. I've been into hostas for about 6 or 7 years, so my collection really took off and now I am very selective about what I buy or seedlings I keep. Anyway, thanks for the nice comments :-) Alexa

Hi Gardenkat, thanks for posting a hello. I'm just wondering, are you gardening in Guatemala and have you discovered a whole new world of gardening? My husband is Nicaraguan and we plan to retire there someday, if we're blessed enough to live that long! I dream of the avocado and citrus trees that I'll have in my yard...we'd love to see what you are growing and if you have pics, all the better! Where are you located? I have a very good friend in Coban. Mary

Wow, those streakers are beauties. Hmmm, 3 years, then I have to wait another 2 1/2 years with my little 1/2 year old streaker seedlings. They are growing very slooow, that's right, but yours survived 3 years. Did you plant these the first year or left them in pots over winter? Bernd