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.
