look what happens when you leave

I left for 2 weeks and look what I found when I returned. The ones on the left are CG and the others are JP, Whiskers and Ollie seeds.

WOW! It seems, work is waiting, Cala!

Hey Cala!! Have any extra seeds hanging around? Just kidding. What a bunch of pods. Have fun.....

OMG...looks like you just returned from the garden with Okra. LOL

What ARE you going to do with all of those??? Lottsa' luck!

Can you believe when Carol(who has been traveling with me to Maine) didn't know what Okra was???
Yes Glory, the do look like okra, just a bit yellow for it to be any good though.

Holy cow! I got to leave for two weeks too, so I could come back for something like this. :-) I hope you all had a great trip. Lucky you to come home to such a bunch of Brugpods - and the lots of work waiting with drying, cracking them up, rinsing and packing plus all the other stuff you can do with them. *lol* Lucky, lucky you, Cala. :-)

Looks like after ya left, the hummer moths decided to have a party!!

"eyes"

Looks like you're in the brug seed business whether you're ready or not!

They look so green to be picked but then I have never seen one in person.......LOL

Kell
Some of them are completely dried up. The penduncle thingies on all them were either yellow or dry. The seeds inside are brown.

Oh my goodness.

bet you're having a hard time deciding what to plant!!

Don't you need a few dozen pods, lol.

gave away all of my first 2 pods. critters are finally setting pods so i am going to start trying myself again.... have several on pink beauty, one on BF, 4-5 on ora belle, couple on a dr suess in a pot, and one on frosty pink. some more maybes.... do you know how long it takes an aurea pod to mature? is it the same as for hybrids,etc? wondering.... ready to plant those pink beauty seeds. i might only plant aurea and candida seeds this year.

Is Whiskers an aurea? It's taken it only about 3 or 4 months. Seems to take longer when you pollinate in the fall/winter.

Wow Cala, All those pods will keep you busy for awhile. LOL

Arlene, if the bugs are pollinating the brugs, how do you know if was your match that took? Do you have to pollinate as soon as it opens before anything else gets near it? Theoretically the bugs could even contaminate the donor bloom by dropping some other pollen on the anthers you use on another brug......... if you can follow that!

Kell, you are right. they say pollinate as soon as the bloom opens. Brugman will do it sometimes right before opening. it is possible the pollen won't take, and maybe a critter will get to it. i don't know that this is true but it seems if you take the pollen anthers off it would discourage critters from getting on it.

i think i am not alone, hard time setting pollen this summer, JT and i think Glory said they were having trouble getting pollen to stick in the heat. and the critters have only successfully pollinated maybe 1 in 100 or 200 blooms so far. they seem to be getting better at it, so i will try again.

i also believe it is true that once the first pollen sticks, other pollen won't. you can use covering methods to keep critters out once pollinated.

and yes, i have wondered about the cross contamination of the anthers you mentioned. i get one type of hummer moth with a yellow thorax that likes to browse during the day, haven't seen them lately, and another kind that is very very active at dark. bees are attracted to certain brugs and i am sure they can probable pollinate too, but they seem to hit one brug at a time, from what i noticed earlier this spring, can't remember what kind of brugs, haven't seen them lately. i do brug watch about 6-10X a day!!!!!

Thanks so much Arlene for your great response. You all must have better sight than I do, I can't tell if the stigma gets pollen stuck to it or not. I also do not think I could take oout the anthers from a bloom without also taking the stigma out. I guess I could use forceps. The CG blooms are long and somewhat narrow, so it does not give you a lot of room to maneuver. I have been taking all the anthers out and then whipping the stigma I want pollinated with all of the anthers, back and forth until the stigma cries UNCLE!!! Then with the double white, I leave the anthers up into the bloom and because of the anatomy of the double bloom,they usually stay.

Is it best to use pollen that is from a bloom that has just opened?
thanks

Kell, if only we could see if the pollen sticks!!!! that is just my term for the pollen fertilizing the mama and conception taking place. i don't know if it is best to use pollen from a just opened bloom, but that's the one that probably has the most pollen on the anthers.

Wow lots! Sure it look just like Okra. LOL