pardalinum said:Looks like the seeds in this Carte Blanche pod got too big for their britches..
I harvested the pod sooner rather than later because it is raining here. Usually I wait for the natural seams to split.
Carte Blanche or not, this scenario usually spells trouble. I've found it's most likely to happen late in the Fall season when the pod shell is hardening up and all of a sudden the weather changes from dry to 'wet and rainy'. The core inside the pod starts to 're-grow' and as it expands, it bursts the seams and exposes the immature seeds. Here's the catch 22: If you leave the pod on the stem thinking it will dry naturally with all those open cracks, it won't. It will mold completely. You can cut the stem and put the scape in a nice place to dry. That it will, but crux of the matter is the seeds dry up stuck together, stacked together like poker chips--as many as 5 or 10 at a time. Separation is not an option. On the plus side, these columns of stacked seeds can be planted and the seeds usually germinate normally but crowded.
