Viewing post #1634713 by AntMan01

Leftwood said:Thanks for those pearls of wisdom, Mark. I've been complaining to myself that I haven't figured out the way to tell when these iris seeds are ripe. I remember now that back on the NARGS forum you said you picked the pods green, but at that time, both species were too small in my garden to produce. And now (years later) when I get seed, I had forgotten your advice, and I usually end up losing most of the seed! Last year, on my own impetus, I did open a koreana pod that I though might be ripe enough, but not so. I have to say though, that trying to "crack the code" or learn the method is all part of the fun.

With Iris gracilipes in particular, it's maddening how there's zero indication of seed ripeness. In 2017 I thought I had the bases covered, because I'm retired and therefore available to check the hard round green pods twice a day, each morning and late afternoon. I through I was going to have a bumper crop. Then suddenly one morning I checked, and found that most pods split open and shed the seed...OVERNIGHT! I managed to harvest a small amount of seed, but lost all seed on the dwarf white I. gracilipes "Buko Form". Maybe I need to tie little tea bags over the pods to catch the booty.

Iris gracilipes seed pods: hard, green, round


Following day, seed pods split wide open, turn tan color.