Update ( added more pics to the link above ), I just found the stigma ... it is on the inside of the first flower, outside of the second , finaly got the strange little balled flower in middle open , more anthers in that . I was looking on the net and it dosent seem that this datura has many disease problems , It does appear to have something going on , but I have no clue . Is this worrysome enough to move it away from my other datura's and brugs ? ( the daturas are in pots spaced about 2 foot apart, and my collection of brugs are about 3 foot away from thoes , also .. one of the other daturas I got from this greenhouse has pushed its flower out of the caylx about 2" , it is straight , narrow , uniform , like my datura were lastyear, and like most of the pictures I have seen of unopened Datura inoxia , so I am puzzled ... maybe I worry too much I dont know, my life is rather dull and uneventful , and my plants mean a great deal to me. - Adam

That is quite strange and may just be that particular flower. Your other plants are perfectly safe, disease does not present itself this way in flowers. When a virus is present in the flower it is most commonly noticed as colour break.

Datura species are self-fertile so you do not need to cross-pollinate them. I read somewhere that many Datura species actually start seed production before the flower has even opened. Keep one seedpod and allow it to mature, one pod contains many seeds. If you remove the others you will get more flowers but remember that these plants are toxic and don't come in contact with the plant juices.

Thank you mike , yeah it is strange hehe , and yep , the juice in the seedpod is exceptionaly toxic :) I did not have a problem last year with it ' It was all over my hands , felt a little bit different , but hardly noticable compared to some other sensations I have experienced. I did not however rub my eyes ! that would almost certinaly cause some problems :P . Bit of offtopic , has anyone ever considered making use of some of the seedpods that you prune off to induce flowers ? Datura Metel I had last year, produced a green pod with purple worts ( very odd looking, however pretty ) , and the ones native to southwest usa ( this one as well ) produce thorny seedpods , maybe alow the pods to mature to a moderate size , but well before they start spliting open ? thread some wire or string through the base of the pod ( the flat disk ) and dry it ? use for christmas ortaments , or if you are a lady , I am sure they would make very ... impressive earings ... the Datura metel might be good for earings, but Datura Inoxia / Metelodies / Stromonium ect , might poke your ears a bit ! , the purple bumps on metel pods were pretty much harmless ( not sharp ) I think this would be quite interesting personaly , and have never heard of anyone doing this ( then , even if immature they may split open, I have never tried it , has anyone else ? ) - Adam

I guess it depends on the Datura species. Many of the pods become crumbly when mature and they might not stand up to being dried. The species that naturally split open may work well or as you mentioned green pods may be a better bet.
I did read somewhere that the seedpods can be dried and used in flower arrangements, so why not other applications?

NO NO NO NO NO! Lol, mature datura seed pods if left to dry out will EXPLODE shooting out seeds EVERYWHERE. Very dangerous for children & pets. Don't try to dry them and use them in flower arrangements.

If you check on them every day you will start to notice a slight splitting of the pod when they are ready to be harvested. At this point you can cut the pod off, break open the fruit and get the seeds .. let them dry out for a few days, or you may want to put a ziplock bag over it and let nature take its course.

X

But the question remains if an immature seedpod will do the same. The pods are meant to disperse the seed when they are fully ripe. If an immature pod is dried it may not split open like a mature one does. I saw the bit about drying the seedpods for flower arrangements on the J.L. Hudson seeds site. I have never tried it myself.

Here is a link that might be useful: J L Hudson Seeds

Would you want to take the chance? The pods are designed by mother nature to explode and disburse seed away from the mother plant. It might even keep maturing after you have removed it. Consider dandelions! You can pick a dandelion just starting to open, throw it on the sidewalk and in a few days it will have gone to seed!

Datura is a weed .. weeds tend to propagate themselves even under the most adverse conditions.

You have my curiosity up though, I have bunches of double daturas on the verge of blooming. I'll start taking seed pods at different intervals and dry them just to see what happens.

X

Hehehe , if any word describes datura acuratly X , it is ' Weed ' I dont know of many ' weeds 'as beautiful as these though , I have seen all manner of datura and brugmansia , but the western desert ones ( Datura Inoxia , Metelodies ect ) will always be my favorites , I would like to find some ' Datura Discolor ' the sonoran desert thornapple, I saw pictures of thoes on google, very similar to Inoxia , but with a BLUE throat !!! , though it said they are picky germinaters -_- - Adam

I also have some "warty" Datura seed pods. I try to remove all pods when they are small, but you just can't find all of them. I have some that get the size of a golf ball with other seed pods attached to them, producing the "warty" appearacne. My understanding is that the pods have to be ripe, mature, for the seeds to produce plants. I routinely remove the small pods, less than the size of my little finger nail. Larger ones are put in the plant recycle bin. I have about 10 plants, and each plant produces numerous pods. Each pod must have hundreds of seeds...before long, the whole yard would be filled with Datura!

Adam try the J.L. Hudson link I posted above for Datura discolor. They have Datura species seeds that are treated with giberillic acid to increase germination speed and percentage.

I am thinking of ordering a few packets of seed because I have been looking for several of the species they have available.

This is my first year with Daturas, so I know nothing about what I am doing! I have a lovely white and a double purple. After enjoying weeks of constant blooms, I am now looking at seed pods. Lots of seed pods...and no more flowers. Should I remove the pods and hope for more blooms, or is the show over for the summer? By the way, if anyone needs seeds, it looks like I'll have a bumper crop!

I live in Oklahoma & I grow the double yellow & purple, my yellow is just now starting to bloom & hope the purple will hurry & bloom. It has been so hot here this summer. I don't pick my seed pods off. I let them stay on & mature, one reason is that they bloom & make seed so late here that sometimes their not quite mature when we get our 1st freeze. But most seed pods still open & the seeds are Ok. I would like to have a double white one. The yellow double I have is hardier than the purple. As it gets a little cooler you will probably have more flowers & they like plent of water. The seed pods will dry & crack open when they are ready. Glad you are having a bumper crop of seeds!! I will trade you some seeds from the yellow one, for some white if mine make seeds this fall surely they will???

I'll be happy to trade seeds! I would love to have some of the yellow if you get seeds this year. The plants (particularly the white) appear to be getting read for another round of blooms, so hoping to get a little more fun from them before our relatively short season ends here. We are all ready dropping to the mid-low 50's at night here.By the way Dollie, I'm originally from NE Oklahoma myself! I tried to respond by email to your message but it was returned as undeliverable.

Bumper crop, eh? I, too, would be more than glad to get my hands on some doubles, but I'm afraid that I have nothing to trade but plain, single white inoxia/wrightii. (Still struggling with the identification  my mind says "inoxia", but my body says "wrightii". Encyclopedias don't really say anything at all.)

I should have had a friend watch that double yellow I saw in North Hollywood. Man, I wish I had bought it, or had the time to wait for it to seed or something. I don't know how the nursery staff would react to somebody cutting seed pods off their plants, but thirty bucks for a weed is kind of ridiculous. That doesn't stop the GardenWeb hordes, though.

I will be having triple yellow datura seeds in a few weeks time. Would like some white and or purple (single,double or triple) seeds for trade or ?

Sounds great. I can be contacted at mtbismuth@yahoo.com.

I have an old metal bucket and a plastic pot,near my double yellow and double purple Daturas. When I let the seed pods get too big (say a week with no removal) I throw the yellow in the bucket and the purple in the pot-no soil- and they stay right there until the next spring. Then they start germinating in the containers, and I pot them up then. When I TRY to plant and germanate, it never seems to work for me. It you want to try some, that you think are not mature, you might want to try this method. Maybe it will surprise you. I dead head a lot, because I want more blooms, but generally end up with a half comtainer of seeds in each color. I use all those plants for garden club sales.

I have lots of seeds for white's that I'd be happy to trade/share. The seeds from the double purple are a bit trickier. Although the pods are bursting, the seeds seem to want to stay attached, and moist. I gathered up some and picked them loose from the pods and a few days later found myself with a nice assortment of fuzzy, moldy seeds. ICK! Any suggestions? If anyone would like to trade a different variety for the whites, I can be reached at: enecia@sbcglobal.net

I've got a simple solution for you: dry them in the sun. I don't know if you'll be able to reclaim the mouldy seeds, though. I am interested in a trade, but I don't know if I have anything to offer. Not Datura-wise, anyway. Do you know what species your single whites are?

When you go to collect your seeds, are the seed pods just starting to split open, or are they really open? My seeds will stay moist until the seed pod is absolutely open and completely dry.

I have been collecting the seeds when the pods are open, but not bone dry. I have some laying out in the sun now in hopes they will dry out completely, but it seems to be a slow process. A couple of pods have burst today, and I am going to leave them alone until they are completely dried out and see if I get some viable seeds. I'm not sure what the variety is on my whites, they were labeled as Brug's at the nursery when I bought them, so I have no idea what I've gotten! I'm going to try to attach a link to photos of them blooming; they were taken a few hours apart,and maybe someone will recognize them. They do start out as a dark almost lemon yellow as they are opening, and fade to a beautiful pure white when completely opened.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/Udidudi/Garden/DSCN6752.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/Udidudi/Garden/DSCN6785.jpg

Here's a link to a classification key: http://www.erowid.org/plants/datura/datura_key/datura_key2.shtml

I took a look at it, and the key appears to be consistent.

Hi,
I just saw my first Datura (in purple and white) and immediately fell in love with it! I happened to see what I thought was a pod and grabbed it. From what I gather it may be immature as it is green with bumps. I will be placing it in a bag tonight when I get home after reading your previous postings. Will I still get seeds from it that I can use next spring?
I would be willing to buy some seeds off anyone who is sitting with a lot (to start my first plant off!), I would really appreciate it. Please contact me if you would! (Canada). Thanks!!

Tammy May

I have a very nice white Datura, similar to the one shown here that I have seed pods coming along

Where are you in Canada. I would send a pod to you. Send an email I don't think they are dry enough yet, but soon

The one that I have came from a Japanese fellow in Scarborough. It is rather unique from the typical white one you see so often.

I am looking to trade some Datura white moonflower for another color if possible?

Bjort there's no way to contact you.
Karyn