This is Rose, barefoot and pregnant. That's Lillian next to her. Lillian might be expecting, as well


And this is a cute pic of Shelby, taken a while back.


I have a bunch more, and I was nervous about loading them up, but what if I lost them over the winter, right? I can't go to bed at night before spraying every seed pod, every baby, and every newly planted plant with hot pepper sauce spray. Who knows what's lurking out there? Right?

So, every day I'm examining these pods. Looking for them to turn brown. I just read on another thread that they don't always turn brown before the seeds spill out. Good thing I never go on vacation!


Some of my daylilies are just now flowering, cause they're new here, but I guess I should stop.

Boy, you got it bad, but you've come to the right place. We're all just like you! They are sneaky little pods too, I check 2 or 3 times a day for babies.

Josieskid I load up my new plants despite what everyone says. I followed the advice one year and am still kicking myself for not setting pods on Choral Fantasy. I died its first winter here. I've lost too many daylilies over the years to hesitate. If you are worried just give them extra fertilizer in the Fall once the temps start going down. Most of mine don't start going dormant these days until Thanksgiving so fertilizing them in Sept/Oct isn't too late.

I should spray my pods as well. Squirrels love to eat the seeds! There are so many stray cats around you'd think they wouldn't dare but every year a handful of pods are chewed up or disappear.

Okay, so I almost have it as bad as Josieskid.... I picked pods early (do we have an emoji for bashful/guilty?)...

Edge Ahead x Jessica Lynn Bell

ShakespearesGarden said:Okay, so I almost have it as bad as Josieskid.... I picked pods early (do we have an emoji for bashful/guilty?)...

Edge Ahead x Jessica Lynn Bell

How did you know the seeds would be mature enough, Diana?

I'm still new to the seed pod thing. Don't you need to wait until they split/open by themselves?

OMG, Diana, that is a green pod all right! Did you go by the number of days or weeks that the pod was growing? OMG, I forgot to write down the day everybody got pregnant

Alilyfan, you're even worse than me! I share your excitement!

Elena, thank you for the encouragement. And thank you for the info about fertilizing. It's some comfort that, if they do die, I'll still have their babies, and some frozen pollen!

I am having to pull my pods very early, as soon as I see the slightest crack in them. It is raining every day and if I wait till they are brown and mature and have spread open all the seeds or the majority have been knocked out of the pods by the rain, or the pods have turned to mush and molded. Sometimes I still have a few seeds left in the slimy seed pods, but only if I catch them before they disintegrate. So as with most things with daylilies it is a catch twenty two, risk not getting mature seeds or risk not getting any seeds. I have started slightly squeezing the pods, I go ahead and pull the pod if it cracks the least bit when I gently squeeze it, no matter what the color.

My first year collecting pods, I believe I picked them too early. The seeds looked good, but none germinated.

Now, if I am worried about losing the seeds, I cover the pod with an organza bag. Last year I cut organza and secured it over the pods with a twist tie. The garden looked like it was inhabited by tiny ghosts

I do like Larry said. I squeeze the pod gently. If it crack open it is time.

Scatterbrain, I picked the pod when I saw the base of it thinning and changed from green to pale green. Pretty sure the seeds are ready as I could hear them rattling in the pod when I gently shook it- like they had already detached from the inside. I knew also that these (I had four) were pollinated in early-mid June so they've been maturing for 7-8 weeks or so...

I confess, I've picked a few others. Did the crack test on a couple and just went by pollination dates for the others. I'm waiting (im)patiently for the rest that are set. And yeah, like alilyfan mentioned, I'm checking them a few times a day!

I might be crying the blues if I've jumped the gun.

Wow, thanks you guys, for all the info. I have a 25 yard roll of 6 inch wide tulle. I'm gonna make me some ghosts!

I'm scared to squeeze them! Afraid I might hurt them!

Thanks for all the info.on ripening seeds. Organza bags seem to be a "must have" item for daylilies-- I was advised to cover the scapes with them in early spring to try and keep the gall midges off and now they can keep my seeds safe too.

I need to order some mini ones

Edited--just ordered some off ebay--chose gold--I want mine to be 'angels'! 😀

touchofsky said:My first year collecting pods, I believe I picked them too early. The seeds looked good, but none germinated.

Now, if I am worried about losing the seeds, I cover the pod with an organza bag. Last year I cut organza and secured it over the pods with a twist tie. The garden looked like it was inhabited by tiny ghosts

Great idea on the organza bags. I just went on Ebay and ordered some also. I have a lot of pods out there and this time of year we go camping a lot so I'm not always here. Thanks for the idea. Karen

Be careful squeezing pods. I tried that one year and got stung by a bee! I didn't see it on the pod and it didn't appreciate being squeezed! For some reason bees start hanging out on my scapes around the time the pods are getting ripe.

Scatterbrain said:Thanks for all the info.on ripening seeds. Organza bags seem to be a "must have" item for daylilies-- I was advised to cover the scapes with them in early spring to try and keep the gall midges off and now they can keep my seeds safe too.

I need to order some mini ones

I wrote an article on this once... I might try to dig up the link....but you might find that pantyhose work a lot better. I actually order footies (like you put on at shoe stores).... Allows for a more secure wrapping, doesn't take up as much space (my scapes tend to be too loaded with pods for an organza bag to fit) and is CHEAP.

So, I was out there squeezing Roses pods. They were rock hard! I went around squeezing. They are all rock hard!

I just can't wait to have those seeds safely in hand!

How many weeks after pollinating does it take for seeds to mature (approx)?

Some of my pods are already changing to light green and thinning out at the base as Diana describes but were only pollinated early July, I was expecting them to take another few weeks or so.

These are all dips. (Star Child and Little Fat Cat), some tets. done around the same time aren't as far along. Are dips. generally quicker or do I just have very precocious plants?

Star Child gets the prize for being the garden "hussy", you just have to SHOW her some pollen and she's pregnant!

Scatterbrain, that is hilarious! I have one that I threw every bodies pollen at. Nothing worked, except now that plant has a big ole' bee pod

But, let me tell you, everyone else got knocked up by, and has at least one pod from the pollen of this flower!

I should have quit while I was ahead. Prolly shouldn't promote one-sided fertility

@josieskid,
I think you make a good point there. You realized that you were possibly promoting a trait you did not really want. I think all of us just starting out are probably just thinking about one or two traits we want when we go dabbing pollen
all around the garden. But when our seedlings start to mature and we see all the bad traits we instilled into them we will all be saying "what was I not thinking".