The honey bees were busy among my brugs for the first time this past two weeks. I have always removed the spent blossoms before this but don't want to take the chance and remove a possible seed pod starting. Is there a sure fire way to tell so I can tidy up the old blossoms or do I just wait for nature to drop them??
Mary P
how can I tell when a seed pod has been formed.
Just wait,you may pull the pod off by mistake,its not gunna take long,just a week or two
Some, especially the versicolors, will lose their pods if you pull the old blooms off. Dr. Seuss doesn't and you can tug on the old bloom and it will slip right off, FP and Isabella too. Leave the blooms on suaveolens types. Butterfly should fall off by itself, as will Becca Lynn and Jessie Noel. When the blooms start turning brown on the doubles, I tug them off. They should come off with a light tug. I've found if I leave the doubles on the pod, it makes it rot.
Hope this helps.
Here is a pod forming and the old bloom has already fallen off. This is on Sunray.
Here is a teeny Versicolor Orange pod, notice the calyx has turned all brown, but I didn't try to pull it off. I also left the old bloom to fall on it's own.
Thanks CC and Calalily for your great help. Now I will just wait and see.