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Collecting immature seeds
On 4/25/2021 11:37 AM, bob prohaska wrote:
I'd like to collect some common vetch seeds from roadside patches to see if they're useful as groundcover. In this (very dry) year the bloom is good, which augurs well for drought tolerance. Collecting fully-ripe seeds is difficult. The county mows road shoulders at irregular intervals, making the plants hard to find at all and scattering what seeds might be present. I've tried grabbing a few whole plants at random times, hoping to find a few mature pods, but it seems that if visible flowers are present essentially no pods are filled out. Once bloom ceases the plants are surprisingly hard to find among the other weeds. Is there any technique to help unripe pods mature enough to yield viable seeds, either left attached to the plant stem or taken off? Might putting the cut stems, with pods, in water like cut flowers allow any useful development? Thanks for reading, bob prohaska If you pick them before they are ready, seeds will not mature. You might try digging up a plant and potting it to keep it alive until its seeds mature naturally. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
#2
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Collecting immature seeds
David E. Ross wrote:
On 4/25/2021 11:37 AM, bob prohaska wrote: I'd like to collect some common vetch seeds from roadside patches to see if they're useful as groundcover. In this (very dry) year the bloom is good, which augurs well for drought tolerance. Collecting fully-ripe seeds is difficult. The county mows road shoulders at irregular intervals, making the plants hard to find at all and scattering what seeds might be present. I've tried grabbing a few whole plants at random times, hoping to find a few mature pods, but it seems that if visible flowers are present essentially no pods are filled out. Once bloom ceases the plants are surprisingly hard to find among the other weeds. Is there any technique to help unripe pods mature enough to yield viable seeds, either left attached to the plant stem or taken off? Might putting the cut stems, with pods, in water like cut flowers allow any useful development? Thanks for reading, bob prohaska If you pick them before they are ready, seeds will not mature. You might try digging up a plant and potting it to keep it alive until its seeds mature naturally. Granted, if I pick just the pod too early there's no hope. I was wondering if taking a substantial cutting and keeping it hydrated to some extent might promote at least partial maturation. Plantnapping isn't exactly a crime, but it's more work and getting late in the season... 8-) Thanks for writing! bob prohaska |
#3
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Collecting immature seeds
On 4/25/2021 7:25 PM, bob prohaska wrote [in part]:
[snipped] Granted, if I pick just the pod too early there's no hope. I was wondering if taking a substantial cutting and keeping it hydrated to some extent might promote at least partial maturation. [snipped] That might work with a perennial or woody plant. It almost never works with annuals. The only annual I ever saw as an exception was a marigold. One summer, I grew some tall merigolds and made a bouquet of them for my wife. After a week, I went to change the water in the vase and discovered the stems had put out roots into the water. The bouquet lasted several weeks. -- David E. Ross http://www.rossde.com/ News item: "Conservative U.S. House Republicans to form 'America First' caucus" During the 1930s, America First was a pro-Nazi political movement. |
#4
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Collecting immature seeds
David E. Ross wrote:
On 4/25/2021 7:25 PM, bob prohaska wrote [in part]: [snipped] Granted, if I pick just the pod too early there's no hope. I was wondering if taking a substantial cutting and keeping it hydrated to some extent might promote at least partial maturation. [snipped] That might work with a perennial or woody plant. It almost never works with annuals. The only annual I ever saw as an exception was a marigold. One summer, I grew some tall merigolds and made a bouquet of them for my wife. After a week, I went to change the water in the vase and discovered the stems had put out roots into the water. The bouquet lasted several weeks. Well, that proves it's possible. I'll grab a bunch and try to keep it moist on the way home, then stick the stems in water. I don't really expect roots, a little more development of the pods would be helpful. If not, it was cheap entertainment... Thanks for writing! bob prohaska |
#5
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Collecting immature seeds
I've collected a few bunches of vetch with both pods and flowers.
Some pods have been detached, to dry separately. Some whole bunches are drying intact, so see if it makes a difference. Another bunch or two have been placed with stems in water, to see if keeping them a little hydrated helps any. One thing I haven't seen are any obviously ripe pods, even from the bottom of apparently-old plants. All pods are bright green, much like snow peas. Pods at the bottom of the plants have obvious seeds, but none are filled to the extent seen with snow peas, which fill the pod to near-bursting when close to ripe. What does a ripe common vetch pod look like? Links to photos would be ideal, photos found so far are mostly of flowers and leaves. Thanks for reading, bob prohaska |
#6
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Collecting immature seeds
On Sat, 1 May 2021 00:47:35 -0000 (UTC)
bob prohaska wrote: snip What does a ripe common vetch pod look like? Links to photos would be ideal, photos found so far are mostly of flowers and leaves. You may be able to find something he https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gall...on_key=2975014 -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI |
#7
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Collecting immature seeds
Leon Fisk wrote:
On Sat, 1 May 2021 00:47:35 -0000 (UTC) bob prohaska wrote: snip What does a ripe common vetch pod look like? Links to photos would be ideal, photos found so far are mostly of flowers and leaves. You may be able to find something he https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/gall...on_key=2975014 That is a most impressive site. The only ripe pod image I could find was https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/3044680742 which is from New Zealand. If that's what mine need to look like I'm nowhere close to having ripe pods. Everything I have looks like a miniature snow pea with visible seeds. This picture is close: https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/3058848655 Thanks very much for writing! bob prohaska |
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