Yeah -- but you're still out there doing your thing, Lucy!!!

I have a total of 12 seed pods this year! Better than last year...
I will be watching them so they don't crack before I pick them.
Can I start my Iris seeds the same way as daylily seeds?
Put them in the fridge for a couple of weeks then soak them until they sprout, then pot them up? What's the easiest way?

I've never done it but I've read that you can do it that way. There are people here who know more than I do. I have pods starting too.

I'm trying to resist deadheading. I've lost a few developing seed pods
that came off with the spent blossom.

I snap off those pods as soon as I see them -- don't want to be tempted to even THINK about messing around with sprouts!!!!

I left 2 germanica pods, 2 Variegata x NOID yellow, and am waiting on another to see if it took. Swept Off My Feet x Ambroisie.

Starting Iris seeds
http://garden.org/thread/go/30...

I have about 12 seed pods that have been on the stalk since mid to late April, they are still hard as a brick... Are they ripe? Or do I have to wait until I can crack them with my fingers?

If they are green they are not ready.

Mine are starting to turn brown. I think I have 7.

They will start to dry up and turn brown. Then they will begin to crack open. You have to harvest them before they open up enough to loose the seeds.

I have mesh bags over them to catch the seeds.

I have a couple question. I have four bee pods on Art School, when I harvest them should I keep each of the bee pod seeds together or would it matter if I combined all the seeds from the four pods together?
When you say sibs does that mean from the same pod?

I don't know that it matters, since you don't know the pollen parent. It's possible they all have different pollen parents, or they may be self pollinated. If I were going to germinate the 4 pods that I have on Art School, I think I'd keep them separate just so I could see if there were differences among them.

Sibs=Siberians.

Sibs can also be short for Siblings. All from the same cross.

Oops, I meant to put a ? there.

kidfishing said:I have about 12 seed pods that have been on the stalk since mid to late April, they are still hard as a brick... Are they ripe? Or do I have to wait until I can crack them with my fingers?

You don't have to wait for the pods to turn brown, although they are easier to get open once they do. The seeds in this pod are almost certainly mature enough to harvest:



The cross was made about 7 weeks ago and you can see the original bright green color of the pod is starting to fade, especially on the western side. It's ready, the only reason I haven't picked it is because I only have so many containers to dry seeds in and they're full at the moment.

In another week or two, the pod will wrinkle a bit and begin to turn brown. You have to be diligent at that point because they can, over just a couple of days, go from showing a little bit of brown to splitting open and dumping the seeds on the ground. Iris pods can sort of lull you to sleep, they don't seem to change much for weeks at a time and then, bam!, they are ripe and trying to disperse their seeds.

Thanks for the photo, Kent. I have several that I now think are ready!
I've got them covered with a knee hi, but I keep peeking!

Kent, when you harvest them at this stage, do you break them open and dry the seeds, or do you let the pod mature more?