Welcome to the group, cache! Thanks for joining in. Crypts are difficult in that there really aren't any visuals other than the fruits swelling. Yes, they will soften when they're ripe, but they won't pull free, so you just have to keep testing them by poking them gently with a sharp object. They will turn fairly mushy at some point and then you can use tweezers or some other tool to pierce the skin and dig the seeds out. There will be comparatively few per berry, anywhere from just a couple to maybe 15 or so, and they are relatively large (much bigger than Neo seeds), rounded, hard and tan colored. The other hard part with Crypts is marking the flower you've pollinated. There really isn't much there to hold the tag, so it often ends up stuck between two berries, rather than attached to one of them. This makes it confusing if you have two or three different crosses side by side, because it's easy to get them mixed up. When piercing the skin of one it can go through to the others and you don't know which one you're pulling the seeds out of. For that reason it may be a good idea to limit the pollen parents you use so that all of the fruits in one area are the same cross. Sowing is the same as for other genera. Just spread them out on the surface of your planting medium, and keep them moist, protected and well-lit.

what advice are you looking for? they're hybrids, meaning their genetics are contributed from two different plants, unless it was a selfing, which would bring out the recessive genes in the offspring.

Sue, the "sack" might be a flower bud - before you can see the actual flowers, they look like little bags with curvy horns at the top. If it is a seed pod, it will turn brown when the seeds are ripe. I'd recommend waiting a bit to see if the rolled up flower bud appears out of the sack. They are annual plants in colder zones, although they appear to be perennial in the tropics. I'm thinking of trying to overwinter the roots of one of my vines this winter, just to see if it will work. Best, Jen

Shrubby moonflower is datura. Viney moonflower is ipomoea. Think of it this way - viney moonflower is in the same family as morning glory, also ipomoea. This was my first year with ipomoea alba. I planted them right next to where my morning glories planted themselves and it made for really neat contrast between the two related plants, especially when you get a moonie open early enough in the evening that there are still some glories open. I'm guessing by the general discuss here that it's ok to allow moonflowers to self-propagate this far north. I definitely more vines than i had this year, though i was not at all unhappy with the growth. Ipomoea alba is one of the exciting plants i've ever grown. It is there to impress and does nothing in small measures. I highly recommend it.