Quote:
Originally Posted by Des
The Bonetea in my garden has a seed pod on it ,it is about a month old now when should I harvest it?
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Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact time frame as to when you should harvest the seeds.
What you can do is use a magnifying glass or a jeweler's loupe, and look for a split in the pod. Since I don't own a Bonatea speciosa plant, I can't tell you whether the split will be at the base of the pod or at the tip of the pod. You're just going to have to periodically look.
My guess however, is that it may be ready in about another month-and-a-half. So I'm assuming it would be a total of a 3 month wait time. Again, I'm not sure.
My suggestion with terrestrials such as Bonatea speciosa and Disa cornuta is to prepare the seed/seed pods for shipment as soon as they're ready to be harvested. The reason is that viability of the embryos will be greatly decreased if the process is delayed, (this is especially true if you don't have a cool and dry place to store them). Another issue is that the seeds could end up going into a prolonged state of dormancy where it could be difficult for the seed sower to break them out of.
As far as disinfecting the pod is concerned, DO NOT USE BLEACH (AKA SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE). Disas and Bonatea are sensitive to the chlorine in bleach. In fact, DO NOT USE ANY KIND OF CHLORINE RELATED PRODUCT TO DISINFECT DISAS OR BONATEA. I know for a fact that Disa seeds are very sensitive to bleach and other chlorine related products used for disinfection.
I've found it safer to use a 20 min soak in hydrogen peroxide, then a 1 hr soak in ethyl alcohol (ethylene).
While waiting for the seed pod to be disinfected, get a small 4" x 4" (5 cm x 5 cm) piece of white paper or wax paper. Fold the paper up into a square like the link I posted shows you to. Then after disinfecting the seed pod, seed is ready to be removed from the pod.
Keep in mind that when the seeds are ready to be removed, that it would be advisable to keep the pod over the piece of paper you prepared for packaging the seeds.
Some tools you'll need are either an Exacto-blade or scalpel (preferably one with a sharp tip) to cut the pod open, and a small flat scooping tool of any kind to gently scrape the seeds off the pod lining. Make sure all the tools are sterile and are made out of stainless steel. You can "cold sterilize" by soaking them in isopropyl alcohol for at least 20 minutes. If you decide to use a blade as the scraping tool, take care to use the blunt backing of the blade to scrape the seeds off, and be mindful not to use the tip if at all possible. A replating fork would be ideal. Working with a pair of latex gloves is also ideal as it limits contamination, doesn't allow too many seeds to somehow end up on your fingers, makes cleanup easy, and helps prevent your skin from being exposed to harsh chemicals.
The cuts on the pod goes as follows and in this exact order:
1. First make a cut at the tip of the seed pod. Make a small cut to make sure not too much of the pod is removed so as to also cut into too many of the seeds. You'll see openings on the cut end of the pod, and inside is the seed attached to the central meaty core of the pod. Think cutting off the ends of a bell pepper and looking into the cut ends.
2. Then make cuts along the axis of the pod. This is normally the axis along which the pod would split.
Most of the seeds should automatically spill out. But for those stubborn ones, you will need to gently scrape them off the pod lining.
Be aware that the seeds are very small and can easily take flight if there is enough of a breeze, so be careful where you're working, and be careful breathing (regular breathing is fine, just not heavy breaths of frustration or sneezing).
Take care to remove as much of the larger debris from the seed pod as best as you can.
Refer to the link I sent you about seed preparation to see how the package them.
Remember to tape the piece of paper so that the seeds do not spill out.
Label the seed packet, then you can place the seed packet into a small envelope and place the small envelope into the mailing envelope to send them off.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Thank you.
Philip
Will have to try again next year
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