Seedling harvest

I have noticed sometimes the registry will put down that a plant was tetra. I suppose it is whatever the breeder gives to them.

Very nice bulbs! I have never tried the lilies from seed. I have tried the "tiger lily" seeds that are on the stems and had a lot of luck with those....what do the seeds look like that you get on the trumpets? I am vey interested in seeing what they began as...your bulbs are just great! I have recently began fifty something from Amaryllis seed and the little bulbs are just so amazing to me...and like yours in a very short time span they really grow well!

I think the information is limited to what the breeder or the person who registers it shares.

Thanks, Andrew. I know you've been studying hard on the subject, so I thought you would know the answers - and you did.

Like I have always said: the only steadfast rule in nature is that there are no unbroken rules.

Hopefully some future seedlings!

wow, nice seed pods!

Nice wife, she understands!

Yes she does :*) She let me turn the down stairs bathroom into a lab, fill the fridge drawers with bulbs, hang seed pods from the kitchen light, and is still encouraging me to turn one of the basement rooms into a heated seedling nursery/lab!

Ahhh..... but do your friends understand? I mean, you know, these pod things hanging from the kitchen chandelier and all... I guess you could say you are just drying some herbs....

I just put them up,so we shall see...

Tremendous.

Ginny

Good show. (I love puns.)

So you are gauging seed ripeness by the soft/hollow vs. solid feel method? (I think it's already been said that fondling plants is a good thing.) Maybe it's just the photo, but they sure look extra green to me(?)

Some are probably too green. I was looking for maroon spots and a squishy feeling.

Lefty, shouldn't those pods be turning a lt. brown to dp. brown when they are ripe?
That is how I always pick any thing I wish to save seeds from.

Maxine

Ed McRae
"The pods,or capsules, are collected just before they turn brown and start to split...If frost is forecast or the weather becomes persistently wet, the entire stem can be cut while the pods are still green. The cut stem is brought indoors and hung upside down in a warm, well-ventilated room. They must be spread thinly... pods need to dry slowly;...15 to 21C (60 to 70F) is ideal." Chp.3, pg.40

Most seeds, meaning all things not Lilium, are ripe before their capsule, fruit, cone, pod splits open. Usually, a hint of drying (i.e. browning) of the pod signals mature seed. Off course, there are exceptions and variants to the "rule" as there always is in nature. And sometimes climatic factors can play in to how much browning indicates maturity, so that from year to year, the same amount of browning can mean slightly different maturity stages.

Clear as mud?

Back to the lilies, I let mine turn at least a bit brown, barring inclement weather. But have you noticed that even when a pod is naturally splitting on the plant, only the upper seeds have dried? The ones below are still very moist, and not necessarily brown. Still, I wager the important thing is that seed dry slowly if it might not be mature. Whereas maturity might take longer if stll attached to the plant, drying slowly should hasten the process, while still allowing enough time for the physical/chemical changes to take place to produce viable seed. This, all in the theory, but with at least some empirical truth.