Collecting Brugmansia seed pods

Finally my yellow Brugmansia put out some seed pods after about 5yrs. How do i know when these are right for harvesting?

Chris

Chris, the stem holding the pod begins to wither and go yellow. The pod itself may change colour to a lighter green, but not always.
When you feel the pod it is much softer.
Ripening time from 4 to 9 months, being a spring pod it should be quick.
Good luck.

Thank you, the pod is really hard at the moment so when it's soft is it ready?

This is what the two pods looked like today

Is it ready yet or is it still green?

I let mine turn brown - took about 4 months . I put one of the plastic things they wrap lettuce in around it [ them - 2 ] so they don't fall and go away .

Thanks Tony, I put some of the 6" X 6" mesh bags used for jewelry that I put around my Moon Flower seed pods around them. Do they fall off eventually or just pop open?

They don't do either Chris, if you don't take them off, then they dry out on the tree like a peach does. Eventually they dehydrate until they look like a mesh pod with brown seeds inside.
You really have to check daily if the peduncle starts to wither or the pod starts to soften.
If you are in doubt, you can always cut out a piece of the pod and check the colour of the seeds..put some tape over the cut.
These didn't change colour but the peduncle had begun to wither.

Mine have fallen or maybe the birds , squirrels , raccoons , wind , etc knock then off .

Thanks, yes, they're all brown and look dried up. I'll cut a little piece out later today and take a look.

After you cut tip off , seal / close so bugs don't get in . I store my seeds in door of ice box .

They were ready Tony, came out looking just like the photos I've found on Google.

That's good . If you are planting them , do it in 3 batches a week or so apart . I have not had very good luck with my seeds , but I take them to Mexico .
I cannot find yellow ones there . I did find pink , frosted pink and single white . I tried a few cuttings - maybe in the cargo hold , something happens .
Will try in carry on this year .
I have a house [ in town ] and a 5 acre place with house outside town .
Rent is 350 pesos for a bedroom , kitchen , bathroom - you leave one room - go outside to get to another . right now that is about $25 . [ 2 non rented rooms are for when I go . ]
Outside of town , I get 500 pesos and he plants 2 1/2 acre plots with what I want . The property is lined with fruit , nut trees and various cactus . This year 6 kinds of big squash , 18 foot corn and 12 different tomatoes .

Sounds like you've got things going good down in Mexico. My seeds came from yellow trumpets as far as I can remember. They were flowering really well early this spring after I took them out of the greenhouse they've slowed down considerably now though. The heat is setting in so that may have something to do with it even though I water them about every other day.

I get wind and heat damage . The seeds I get are mostly given away . For plants , it is easier / faster to just save cuttings in good dirt . to just take cutting , use brown - not green - pieces about 8-10 inches after the " Y " . Water once a week and you could get flowers the same year .

I've got one that came from a cutting, actually the branch had broken off and I dipped the end in some root powder, the 'Y' is way down at the bottom on this one. One thing bad about these is that they're so big that the wind keeps blowing them over even though I've got them up against the side of my greenhouse.

Mine is burnt / torn leaves on the ones in ground . The 5 , 7.5 10 and 15 gallon ones just blow over .

I'm not sure how big the pots are that I have mine in but they're big.