Too many pods?

[Dalachin]

Successful pollination! This is Cl. Grace Dunn x Ctsm. Ivanae (‘Purple Fantasy’ x ‘No. 2’). I used saved pollen from this fall.

There are three seed pods, is that too many pods for a single bulb?

[Louis_W]

Considering each pod has a kabillion seeds, id probably just keep one, maybe two. The plant looks pretty young.

[Jmoney]

it takes a lot out of a plant to set a pod. I'm only starting to make crosses and only use fully healthy mature plants as the pod parent. definitely no more than 1, imo.

[Dalachin]

Thanks for the advice, we’ll try just one!

[Roberta]

The advantage of leaving 2 at least is that if one sneaks up on you and starts to open, you can grab the other one to sow while it's still intact .

[My Green Pets]

The plant will not do more than it is capable of doing, in my opinion. If it can't support them, it will either drop them, or die trying.

[Jmoney]

I think most of us would like to avoid the "die trying" part...

[SG in CR]

Originally Posted by My Green Pets

The plant will not do more than it is capable of doing, in my opinion. If it can't support them, it will either drop them, or die trying.

Yup, that "or die trying" bit can happen. I've had small Mormodes do it where the bulb was smaller than the seed pod it produced. The pod matured and the plant died. Though once a plant is a bit bigger they can support multiple seed pods without issue. I have several Mormodes that have seedpods almost mature at the moment and are growing a second or third spike at the same time. Obviously the plant still has plenty in reserve.