Pollination is a sure thing then Aaron.
Ants were all over my little yuccas, too, but since I saw an aphid (of all things) on the plant, thought the ants might be farming them, which they're known to do on fruit trees.
But yuccas? 😀
Barb

Barb you are right, this type of ant is an aphid farmer. I don't think there is an aphid that will use yuccas as a host, but than again I never thought an ant could pollenate a yucca either. 😆

I recall last year we discussed ants on yuccas.
Did you collect the seed, Aaron?

4 million baby yuccas soon growing in your back yard 😆 😆

Barb

I recall last year we discussed ants on yuccas.
Did you collect the seed, Aaron?

4 million baby yuccas soon growing in your back yard 😆 😆

Barb

Yea we talked about it last year, but I could not find the post. This was the first good shot I had of the ants on the fruit.

Barb... I have not grown any from my seed pods for awhile (mostly to see if they were fertile), but I have a few that have came up from the seed that was left on the plants. Yes every year I get a few more volunteer yuccas. 😆

Those were great pictures Aaron.

Volunteer yuccas...paradise!

Barb

That's super cool! You've got competition yucca moth!

What kind of yucca is that pictured? Any chance these ants could have created some kind of hybrid seed? I believe yuccas are self-sterile, so the ants must have visited more than one plant, me thinks. How about a nice brevifolia/elata cross 😀 ?!

Duncan

That's super cool! You've got competition yucca moth!

What kind of yucca is that pictured? Any chance these ants could have created some kind of hybrid seed? I believe yuccas are self-sterile, so the ants must have visited more than one plant, me thinks. How about a nice brevifolia/elata cross 😀 ?!

Duncan

No cross yet, it was on a y. gluaca. 😀

one can tell if the ants or the moths pollenated those seeds. If the moth pollenated the flowers most likely there will be holes is some of the seeds since the moth will likely also leave behind larvae which will eat some of the seeds. Please check your seeds and let us know!

one can tell if the ants or the moths pollenated those seeds. If the moth pollenated the flowers most likely there will be holes is some of the seeds since the moth will likely also leave behind larvae which will eat some of the seeds. Please check your seeds and let us know!

No larva, no moths. I only get seed on yuccas the ants attack, as you can see on the pic.

Plantasia cactus garden also had one yucca with seeds. Out of many, many yuccas It was the only yucca with ants on the few seed pods. The ants will dig holes in the fruit but they don't touch the seed like the moth larva do.

Its hard to see but the yucca produces dew that the ants like. I can tell what flowers are going to produce seed by how the ants are attracted to the flower. way before its a pod. The bottom pic shows the dew the best. I also only have seed on yuccas that are close to the ant hills. For example, this year I had seed on one filamentosa and one glauca the only close yuccas to the ant hills. But in the past I had seed on neomexicana, glauca, baccata, and filamentosa. I also had ant hills close to those yuccas that year.

According to the papers I have read, each yucca sp. has its own moth for pollination. It would be very strange to find four different yucca moth sp. in an area with no native yuccas? Also I have only ever seen seed pods at my place and one other place in Idaho, but of cource they are the only two places I have seen this type of ant and yuccas to gether.

Also yuccas are not very popular in Idaho.

Pic of seed and plants from seed. 😀

Neomexicana from seed off my yucca.

Gluaca from seed off my yucca

Nice Yuccas!! Your neomexicana looks happier than mine! We have Yucca moths up here even though 'they' say Yuccas aren't native to Massachusetts. By the 'book' Yuccas were only native to Virginia. Here's some of the Yucca moths in my area. I've seen 12 months in one flower!

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Magnificent photo Tim.

Amazing Tim.

But if you were here and seen the relationship of the ants and yuccas you would know. The only yuccas to seed are ones that the ants attack from the time of flower to the time of seed. Out of twenty flower stocks only 3 flowers produced seed and they were the only ones with ants on them. I have seen this for several years now. When the ants moved and built their nest in other places the yuccas that were near the old nest no longer had any seed, and the yuccas close to the new ant hill had some seed, but only a few that ants were on. A yucca moth could never get near the flowers that the ants are attracted to because they would kill anything that touches the flower and they stay on the plant 24hr a day, trust me you don't wont to touch a plant in the dark they are on.

I don't doubt yucca moths are in Idaho, but it is strange that after more than 20 years of looking at yuccas in Idaho I have only seen yuccas at my place produce seed and only one yucca in Plantasia Cactus Garden out of probably more than 50 yuccas there. Also there is a few yucca in town here of wich I have never seen a one produce seed, and I'm always on the look out for them and I drive almost every street every day here (because of my work). But anything is possible. 😀

Hi Aaron,

I'm sure you corrent Aaron with the ants. There's less development connecting the Yucca moth populations out west than on the east coast so I can imagine the Yucca moth can't travel as far north as quickly as it did on the east coast. Even though we have loads of Yucca moths, seeds are rare here since a small beetle kills off the flowers and they abort not forming seed. You can see the small beetle near the moths....it's head area is brown then there is a black center area and the tail area is brown again. These beetles lay larvae in the juvenile flower and the flowers abort. Do you have these beetles? I hope not.