In article ,
Gary Woods wrote:

Katra wrote:

Do I need to let these die back and dry naturally, or can I cut the
stalks or remove the pods to let them dry?

Katra-

A little belatedly, but here's what I do for brassicas and things with
similar pods:

Cut the dry flower heads when most of the pods have turned brown and put in
a PAPER shopping bag. I'm save the nice ones with handles from my
infrequent shopping excursions*.

That is what I did. The pods are still green, but they are large and
lumpy and have not changed the way they look now for a good month.


Stash indoors in a dry place until everything is crackly dry- in my
location with hot air heat, this is no problem in the fall/winter! Then
just crumble everything with your hands; the seeds will settle at the
bottom of the bag and you can lift/pour off the big chunks, then just pour
what's left from one pail to another outdoors on a breezy day.
If you're serious about seed saving, a set of screens with various mesh
sizes is a help, though not essential.

I've used the "air cleaning" method for chaffe before. lol
The seeds are heavy so if you crush dry pods in a bowl, you can pick out
most of the trash from the top after shaking the bowl. The seeds go to
the bottom, then you can air clean the remaining light weight trash.

As long as these dry properly, I think I'll get a good crop of seeds and
see if I can plant them.


Dead easy, most of the work can be done whenever you feel like it.

*I've been on my own for 3+ years; finally having to buy my own clothes.

Peace

grins
Thanks for the input!



Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
--
K.