Ponytail Palm seed maturity time

[Mr. Clark]

Ok, so not technically a palm, but thought someone here might have an answer...  My folks have a wonderful Ponytail that has gone to seed, which I would like to harvest when ripe.   Anyone have input on how long these need to mature before picking?    Photos below, there are some slight color changes happening now but the seeds in the pods are still soft, green and wet.  I live about 90 min away, so don't want to make too many trips to find out they are still not ready.

Seperately, a few leaves are showing odd growth, also shown in the photos - any thoughts on if this is fungus or maybe nutrient related?

[TropicsEnjoyer]

From the pics it looks to be freshly in bloom. Not even any seed pods developed yet. I have no real answer but definitely not for a month or two at least. Why don’t you just ask your family members to keep you updated with the progress as time passes, so you don’t have to check for yourself every time?

Also

I don’t think the leaves are a big concern unless they all start coming out like that. 

[zero]

1 hour ago, Mr. Clark said:

Ok, so not technically a palm, but thought someone here might have an answer...  My folks have a wonderful Ponytail that has gone to seed, which I would like to harvest when ripe.   Anyone have input on how long these need to mature before picking?    Photos below, there are some slight color changes happening now but the seeds in the pods are still soft, green and wet.  I live about 90 min away, so don't want to make too many trips to find out they are still not ready.

Seperately, a few leaves are showing odd growth, also shown in the photos - any thoughts on if this is fungus or maybe nutrient related?

Beaucarnea recurvata are dioecious so male plants and separate female plants.  Your plant appears to be a male so no seeds will be produced from that plant.  Females have pink flowers while males have cream colored flowers.  Geoff posted a photo of a female in the following thread.

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/53369-beaucarnea-recurvata-flowers/

[TropicsEnjoyer]

33 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Beaucarnea recurvata are dioecious so male plants and separate female plants

that’s a good point , I completely forgot that important fact lol. They’re closer to nolina than yucca 🫣

[Silas_Sancona]

Would like to see closer ups of  ...what definitely look like developing seed to my eye.. 

Can see some nekked flower inflos in the background ..which is what this one would look like if it too were not developing seed.

Regardless,  Seed will turn a pinkish color as they mature, and become papery  " Chinese lantern " looking when ready to harvest.  Seed will be small and round,  if i remember right..


As far as the plant being one sex or another,  ..possible,  ...if raised from one of those small starter plants that sometimes contains multiple plants, you could have both sexes, and are seeing successful pollination.

Like some other plants ...The genus Bursera is a good example of this,  while most specimens may exhibit single sex flowers, sometimes,  you'll come across individual plants that are self fertile / produce individual flowers of both sexes on the same inflo that can functionally cross..

Have a Bursera fageroides and microphylla specimen that produce fertile seed w/ out cross pollination.



Whatever the case, keep an eye on it and ..if seed ( Sure looks like it )  you'll have to update w/ shots of the mature fruits / seeds..

...and of course pictures of planting some to see if they're good to go/ shots of them sprouting.

[Mr. Clark]

Yes, there are M/F here - this group was planted as a triple.  There are 2 males (in the back up high, pollen sack already blown out), one female which is cluster in the foreground and which definitely has seeds forming… male came a few weeks early, but the flowers had some overlapping period of viability.  They have a pretty unique seed pod, with the three sided round skin and a seed in the middle.  These are well formed, just not mature with the seed in the middle still soft.  

Family will be gone for a few months, but I will give it 4 weeks, and see how they look.

[Mr. Clark]

Took a trip down, seeds are well developed but not quite there yet.  To help establish a timeline, the male flowers started dropping pollen in mid-to-late march, and the female look to have started blooming a little later, maybe April 1st, give or take - so we are now about 75-80 days or since pollination as my best guess.   Here are some current pics:

[Silas_Sancona]

3 hours ago, Mr. Clark said:

Took a trip down, seeds are well developed but not quite there yet.  To help establish a timeline, the male flowers started dropping pollen in mid-to-late march, and the female look to have started blooming a little later, maybe April 1st, give or take - so we are now about 75-80 days or since pollination as my best guess.   Here are some current pics:

Nice...

Using a similar time frame i use for Dasylirion seed ( Could mistake seed off them for Beucarnea ) id say they should be fully ripe within another 3-5 weeks, maybe sooner..  

Wonder if any of the fully developed ..but not quite crispy ripe.. seeds you collected are developed enough to germinate.. 

[Mr. Clark]

I was thinking the same Silas, so I collected a handful to test.  I have germinated countless seeds harvested fruit was not yet ripe,  mostly with good results.  I will update as I go on these guys.

[Mr. Clark]

Update July 9: still need more time, no meaningful color change yet.  The testers I have in my germination system have not shown any activity.  Will check again in a few weeks.

IMG_20250709_111236.heic

[Mr. Clark]

July 21: checked the mother's again.  Very slight color changes, but the seeds in the husks have noticeably firmed up and increased in size.  I have terminated my previous test seeds, which showed no signs of viability.   Starting a new test batch tomorrow.  It is now about 110-120 days since pollination.

[Mr. Clark]

Final update, the test batch from 7/21 is germinating!  I have harvested a bunch more to start!

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Mr. Clark said:

Final update, the test batch from 7/21 is germinating!  I have harvested a bunch more to start!

  Congrats....

Next question is what will you do w/ them all.. 

[Mr. Clark]

I own a landscape nursery, so planning to grow a bunch out.  I was going to package the bulk of them up to share and sell some while there were fresh,  but life has a way of interfering with plans.  My mom ended up getting injured right after my last post, so I missed the harvest after all that watching....   Mom will make a full recovery, but only have the 250ish I took on my last trip down which are starting to come up now.  many thousands were left to go where the wind takes them 🤣

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, Mr. Clark said:

I own a landscape nursery, so planning to grow a bunch out.  I was going to package the bulk of them up to share and sell some while there were fresh,  but life has a way of interfering with plans.  My mom ended up getting injured right after my last post, so I missed the harvest after all that watching....   Mom will make a full recovery, but only have the 250ish I took on my last trip down which are starting to come up now.  many thousands were left to go where the wind takes them 🤣

Gotta love life's little buzz kills sometimes...  Glad your mom is ok. 

Looking on the bright side:  250 babies to start off with = not bad at all though...

You now also have the experience and gained insight of observing the entire seed development cycle so that next time it flowers and sets seed,  you'll know exactly when to harvest. 

Hopefully life will keep any curveballs it might want to toss around at the same time to itself  too