I start checking at 6 weeks especially on small or fast growing plants. They seem to have seeds faster....some take 3 months..larger or slower maturing plants

I dunno, WL, maybe you should ask the blue-haired knitting ladies....

Seriously, it's pretty hard to pluck a berry before its time, but it can be done if you pull really hard. The general guideline is if it doesn't come off fairly easily, it's not ready. The exception may be certain Neos where the berries are so tightly packed together or surrounded by bracts that they're hard to pull out anyway. Aechmeas and Porteas will often turn color so that's a tip-off. For Neos 3 to 4 months is the usual time period where I live. A few take a bit longer, and from what I've heard it seems to take longer in more temporate climates too. It won't hurt them to stay on the plant for a while longer if you miss harvesting them when they're ripe, so if you put a 4 month reminder for Neos I think you'd be doing okay. Don't leave them so long they turn to mush, though. With Aechmeas, Porteas, Bills, etc. the birds will often get them if you don't, so it's best to keep a close eye on them for any color change.

Now, back to my knitting.....

If a neo puts out flowers over a 2 month period do they all pretty much ripen at the same time or will they ripen over 2 months also?

They will ripen over the same time period as they bloomed, so you have to keep checking them. When I've got a lot of Neos setting up I generally put them all in the same area and then go through and just give everything a gentle tug every couple of weeks, to test them.

WL, my experience is that my Neo correia-araujoi was the fastest to give me ripe seeds (2,5 months) and this far car Tricolor Perfecta the slowest (5 months) And various other neo's all numbers in between. I tried to pollinate for not longer than a month on one particular inflorescence and then I wait untill the last pollinated berrie is ripe, then I harvest the whole lot. Save you to go back to all yor flowers on a regular basis. And the berries that were left on the plant for a month since they ripen, all the seeds were still viable and I got about 100% germination.

I have no experience to share on other genera.

Japie