I know this has been asked and answered before,but I guess the search engine is down. How do you know when a pod is ripe for the picking? The bees/bugs blessed me with a bunch of pods this year and I don't know when to harvest them. If someone could post a link with the info or be VERY specific with a description I'd really appreciate it. Please don't tell me to cut a hole and take a peek and then glue it back cause that's not gonna happen. LOL
Ginger...totally in the dark here
Seed pod question
LOL Ginger! I have even cut a hole and left it open. I am a lazy gardener. Do you know how long they have been on? Many ripened around 4 months I notice but can take longer or even less time.
Do not worry, you can let them get real ripe to where it is real obvious they are ripe and it won't hurt anything. Once they start to ripen they go fast too. So just keep watching them and you will know for sure soon enough even if you miss the first signs.
Sometimes the peduncle (the little stem connects them to the branch) gets yellow as a first sign. Or the pod starts to feel squishy and the seeds move when you squeeze them. Often a side will split open and the pod can even still be green. Or a spot on it gets yellow and that yellow spreads. The outside can start to rot and then it will turn brown and dry and if you leave it on it starts to mummify and shrink up. I have even picked some then and the seeds still germinate.
Pictures help.
More
A few more.
Here is a dramatic one!
And my last 2. A mummified one that was left on too long and twins which are both ripe but one is really letting me know.
Hope these help!
Kell cut them off and dont forget to send to south texas this year.lol
elva
Kell,
You sure is very organized!!! You take your Brugs seriously too!!! How big is your land in California?. How many brugs do you have?? i see some bigonias like mine underneath one tree. What do you call this variety? Thank you, Bellie
Hey Elva, I think we have achieved special PINK podheaven. I will let you know for sure in a few days. Soon you will have many more brugs than I do if you do not already. LOL. You are so in love, it is fun.
Bellie, I live on a postage stamp but have rented some extra land for a few years now to grow out brug seedlings. I am a glutton for punishment. And the answer is I have way, way too many. I am many things but never organized in life. I am a flitter. I also have tons and tons of begonias. I have them all over too. That begonia is a hardy one, Begonia grandis, and it reseeds all over. I am in love with so many kinds of plants, my days are filled with such joy. I have 2 fears in life, one being that I will die before I get to grow all the other kinds of plants I know I will fall in love with as time goes on. And my other one is my husband will have a dumpster delivered the day I die to rid himself of all of them once and for all. LOL So true.
Kell, that IS funny, I have thought the same thing. My DH would bring in the dump truck & unload the GH & make a beer garden out of it!!! Probably complete w/ BBQ & pool table!
Great pics, I was wondering this myself! Thank-x for asking Ginger. Bj
I bet they will miss us though. Well maybe after they have enjoyed their freedom from our obsessions for awhile they will remember our good points. LOL. I have a parrot that is featherless. Only a Mom could love him. He is a screamer too. Both my husband and son hate him with a passion. I am constantly trying to make them swear they will love him and take care of him when I go. I feed him all he can eat of his favorite heart attack foods of sunflower seeds, barbecued ribs, cheese and steak fat hoping he will die around the time I do! We may die early but happy. LOL. Otherwise, I can see his cage on top of the dumpster with poor Baby in it. LOL
Thank you SOOOO much Kell. :-))) The pictures are a big help. I have no idea how old my pods are...maybe 6 weeks on some. All of a sudden I started to notice pods. The plants that would fit in my wannabe greenhouse are there. Others I took cuttings from and potted some and others are in water.(branches with pods that is) The rest will just have to try and survive winter outside. If I loose the pods on the cuttings at least I'll still have plants come spring. I even cut a few pods off and stuck them in water to see what happens. Bill is always whinning (SP?) about my plants so it only stands to reason that they ALL will survive and present me with lots of "bouncing baby seeds"! LOL
Bj...I'm glad you're glad I asked this question. Hopefully lots of others will benefit from the pics etc. as well. Did you get my D-mail that you and I are expecting? Yuppers...the cutting you sent me has a pod. So many pods..so little room. On Oct.20 I counted 35 and am finding still more. Can I come live with you?...Bill will surely boot me and the plants out. LOL
I forgot to mention that in my yard the pods slow way down in winter and usually do not ripen till the next spring. Even the ones in the hoophouse.