Fruit, and the seed inside it
How to tell the fruit is ripe, why you cut it instead of pulling, and the washing and storage that keep your seed alive for years.
30-second version first, the whole guide below4 min read
The short version
- The fruit is the swollen base of the flower, growers say, the green lump behind the petals.
- The real signal: the fruit splits open on its own. The inside outgrows the skin and opens along a seam, growers say.
- Cut, never pull. A flowered areole can flower again from the same spot, growers say.
- Spread the seed thin on paper towel, press more towel on top, repeat once or twice on dry towel, growers advise.
- Every seed is a new individual.
Your setup
Pick yours to see what changes in this guide.
Where it grows
In the ground
Nothing in this guide changes in the ground.
In a pot
Open the fruit on the plant and scoop pulp and seed into a pot, growers advise.
Where it lives
Outdoors
Insects and black mold move in within a day; birds can strip every seed in that time; ants work a ripe fruit, split or not, growers report.
Indoors
Seed that arrives feeling at all tacky still has pulp on it, growers warn, and pulp feeds exactly the molds a warm, sealed, humid box invites.
The season
Winter
Nothing in this guide changes in winter.
Not winter
Nothing in this guide changes outside winter.
Lines are from this guide, or from the cultivar library where one says so. For where they come from, see the end of the guide.
Introduction
The fruit is the swollen base of the flower, growers say, the green lump behind the petals. Inside it is the ovary, packed with ovules, and every seed is, growers say, an ovule that a grain of reached. Once pollination takes, it reportedly keeps growing while the flower above dies off.
It comes out hairy, like the whole flowering end of these plants. Hairy bud, hairy fruit. That is the easiest field check for a true .
When is it ready?
- Firmness first. Rock hard means no. A little give means close, growers say.
- Color is a trap. Some ripen yellow, some red or burgundy. Plenty stay green right through and are perfectly ripe.
- The real signal: the fruit splits open on its own. The inside outgrows the and opens along a seam, growers say.
Rock hard
not yet
A little give
close
Split along its own seam
ripe · no judgment required
Getting it off the plant
Cut, never pull. A flowered can flower again from the same spot, growers say. Tear the fruit off with the growing point and, growers say, that spot never flowers again.
Spoon it out, leave the shell
Open the fruit on the plant and scoop pulp and seed into a pot, growers advise.
Take the whole fruit
Cut it at the base with a razor blade, growers advise. Faster, and the only real option at the top of a pole pruner, growers say: cut behind the base and catch it. Leaves more of a mark.
Spoon it out, leave the shell
Open the fruit on the plant and scoop pulp and seed into a pot, growers advise.
Take the whole fruit
Cut it at the base with a razor blade, growers advise. Faster, and the only real option at the top of a pole pruner, growers say: cut behind the base and catch it. Leaves more of a mark.
What is inside
A small fruit holds a few hundred seeds, a good one up to around two thousand, growers report.
If every seed in the fruit is tiny, that is normal for some strains and viable, growers say. The duds, growers say: a few tiny seeds among normal-sized ones.
Cleaning: the part that matters
Step 1: Break the pulp up in water
A bowl of water and your fingers. Work the lumps apart until the seed is loose, growers say.
Step 2: Rub it against a plastic sieve
Under a slow tap. Use plastic and not metal, growers advise, because metal mesh can damage the seed coat.
Step 3: Dry it flat, twice
Spread the seed thin on paper towel, press more towel on top, repeat once or twice on dry towel, growers advise. Otherwise drying pulp glues the seed into lumps you cannot separate, growers warn.
Step 4: Shed the dust
Tip the dry seed between two clean plates a few times, growers say.
Step 5: Disinfect, if you want to
Thirty seconds to a minute in neat 3% hydrogen peroxide, growers say, then rinse thoroughly.
Step 6: Bin anything that touched mold
Or at least keep it in its own labeled envelope and sow it away from the rest, growers advise.
One — break the pulp up in water
a bowl, and your fingers
Two — rub it against a plastic sieve
plastic, not metal · a slow tap
Three — dry it flat, twice
thin layer · press · repeat
Cleaned and dried
loose · glossy · pours
Never washed
tacky · clumped
Storage, and the word fresh
For about six months seed reportedly needs nothing special. After that it fades unless stored right, growers say: a glassine envelope in an airtight jar with a very small silica gel sachet, dark and cool. A bigger sachet does no harm, growers say, but a very small one is enough.
Stored that way, seed reportedly still germinates four years on, though the rate falls the whole time. One grower reports that hand-pollinated seed, cleaned and stored well, showed no measurable drop at eighteen months.
Old seed is, growers say, the commonest reason a sowing fails, and the word fresh on a packet proves nothing. Buy from whoever produced it and ask what year it came off the plant.
What the seed will be
Every seed is a new individual. Growers call the plant that carried the fruit the mother and the one that gave the pollen the father.
Siblings from one fruit differ in shape, vigor, and later in the size and shape of their own flowers. If you want plants that match the one you have, take . If you want something new, this is how you get it.
Nobody grows these for the fruit itself, growers say.
Common mistakes, try it, quick check and sources
Quick check
Question 1: What is the definitive sign that a fruit is ripe?
Question 2: Why cut a fruit off rather than pull it?
Question 3: How should cleaned seed be stored past six months?
