A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum The Seed and Cuttings Exchange Location of Iris seed pods?

I originally started a thread regarding Louisiana Irises in our Plants forum but no response on my question. Thought I would put it here in seeds forum, as appropriate. I kept the spent stalks until I can ascertain location of seed pods.




My La. Iris is called Freddie Boy


Can anyone help?

sure... mine don't seed out every year, or even the first year after transplant in most cases... it's like the rhizome has to be several years old to tolerate being moved and seed out the same year... I had seeds from my dark purple bearded iris the second year after transplant... and you can't miss them because they come up in a tulip shaped closed seedpod that looks like it came from another planet, sorta... wild iris seems to seed out just about every year but moreso in wetter years... make sure you wait for them to dry in the seedpod so they remain viable and gather them before the wind and rain in the fall spread them for you ;)

Hope this helps...

Lorena

incedently, no seedpods there in the photo

Lorena,
Thanks so much for your response. When would the seed pods show? And when they do, should I cut the stalk that the pod would be on when I see it, or leave it alone til whenever?

if they are going to show, about the time the flower heads start drying up, the seedpod will grow up among them looking a little like another bud, but like I said, they don't seed out every year in my experience. I have iris along the house that haven't seeded out in 3 plus years, but others that I replanted seeded out the following spring, but they were in full sun... I don't know what if anything that has to do with it, but that's been how it's worked for me...

happy planting,

Lorena

I wouldn't count on cut iris to seed out...

Okay Lorena,
What I will do then is leave the remaining stalks in bloom and hope they seed out. Once I see (hoping to) the seed pod, then should I cut and dry?

Thanks again.

Could this be the seed pod, Lorena, anyone?



If so, what are my instructions?

The green thing looks like the seed pod. If you leave it on the stalk, it will eventually start drying out and turn brown. Keep a watch, because when it gets ready, the seed pod will pop open and disperse seeds. I have removed them before when brown, and allowed them to dry out before I opened the pod. You will have many seeds in the pod. I have planted these before and grown irises. I usually soak the seed first before planting.

From my own experience I know that it is easy to harvest to early and end up with immature seeds that don't sprout. So let it take it's time. It will appear dead before it is ripe for most plants. Good luck with your harvesting. And when you have seed harvesting questions a good place to go is to the plant propogation section.

Thanks Sherri and Tammy. I am thrilled with this info! I'll let ya'll know when and what happens!