Usually, they just fall off. However, I usually trim mine off when they are finished. Usually, you can just lightly tug on the flower part and it will pull off, but they could be trimmed off if you don't want any seeds. Personally, I don't have room to be growing seeds, let alone time, as my propogation method of preference is with cuttings.

Jroot gave you great advice!
Oh jroot, come on you have to at least try to get them have seedpods, just onece! We just havest seeds from early this fall's playing, the biggest seed I have ever seen! How exciting and we will have to make room just to grow them out.

Hi jroot:

I am new to this forum. My brug is in the ground, not potted. Can you explain what you said here? Are you saying that if I leave the flowers alone and let the nature take its course, the flowers will eventually fall off from the tree? And I will get seeds in the soil, and I will get more plants the following year from the seeds?

chanbr: Well, no. The blooms will fall out of the calyx. IF (and it's a big if) the flower was pollenated, a seed pod will form. If not, then the calyx will fall off soon after.

The reason I say big if on pollenation is this. First off, most brugs are self infertile. Only the primary species will self pollenate. So that means you have to have at least two genetically different plants for pollenation to occur. Or one of the basic species plants.

Secondly, you need a pollenator. Since the blooms open and give off scent at night, that rules out a lot of the usual pollenators. Also, since the blooms are so long, most couldn't do the job anyway. The sphinx moth is one of the principal pollenators in the US. The other are humans performing cross pollenations by hand.

That being said, I have had a few seeds pods form. In fact I have one still hanging on a Versicolor orange that's been in my basement all winter. I plan on harvesting it soon and growing out a handful just to see what I get. I imagine my sister will try some too, although she had a lot of pods this past year, herself.

I think the moths are getting the idea...

What tngreenthumb says is very valid. A lot of "if"s . Too many for my liking. I guess I am not quite as addicted as others. LOL

If pollinated, the plant will produce seeds. IF that is. I have never had one form seeds. This is a tropical plant, and it will not survive in our climate here in Canada. I note that you are from California, so you may be in a different situation, depending upon whether you are in the south or the north. Check your grow zones and compare with other postings here. I truly am not sure where it will survive over the winter.

IF it is pollinated, it can take up to 4 years of growth before it blooms. Some have had better aka sooner results than the year, but here it has taken 4 years for the seedling to flower. This is a major reason why I prefer cuttings taken from above the "Y".

tngreenthumb, hurray for the moths. They are a spectacular sight when they come in a mass to pollinate. I thought I had a HERD of hummingbirds attacking the plants the first time I saw them. Truly a neat sight.

As a hybridizer, the sphinx moths are not my main nemesis of doing the deed before me.

The honey bees mainly, and bumble bees to a lesser extent try to beat me to the pollen. I have to keep both, pollen donor and pollen receiver blooms tied shut, before and after pollinating, to keep them from contaminating the cross.

Thank you for all the information. I learned a lot.

davidwv, I would agree with you all the way. I even have hummingbirds beating me there also, anyone else on these?

I am very new to growing brugmansias and just did my own thing with them last summer. I planted two in the ground. They got immense in one season with no special care on my part - and we were very dry. They had ample quantities of bloom and I did see the hummingbird moths. What is NOT being said here is that before we have the hummingbird moths, we have their larva - which is the big plump, ferocious-looking Tomato Hornworm! I hand-picked HUNDREDS of those hungry guys off my tomato plants last summer, but even then, they did considerable defoliation of my tomatoes! So, growers beware! In order to have the moths, you have to have the worms first - keep an eye on your tomatoes!

Karma, I have never seen the hummingbirds take a real interest in feeding from my brugs. That may be due to the fact that I have a few feeders and LOTS of plants that provide for them. Such as hardy fushia, bee balm, cardinal plant (our native lobelia), lilies, glads, wild impatiens, foxgloves, etc.

The tomato hornworms will eat your brugs as well as your tomatoes!!! I always kill every one I find, yet there are always PLENTY of moths to pollenate my brugs.

I'm dead new at growing Brug's and know virtually nothing, so please bear with me...My double Purple is forming what I assume are huge round seed pods after dropping blooms. Should I allow these to form, or is this going to sap away energy that could go into producing more blooms? If I don't want these, is it ok to pinch the growth back down to the stem it is growing from?
Thanks for the help!

udidudi, excuse me but there isn't a Brugmansia that is purple yet! I'm betting that you have a Datura and you can keep the seedpod and they will continue to bloom. I would put a nylon around the seedpod and allow it to continue to ripen. Yes you can pinch or cut these off if you feel you don't want the seedpods. Hint save them as these are annuals and the seeds will be nice to plant for next year.

I agree 100% with KarmaHT on this. You have a datura. We can tell by your description of the seed. I also have this one. In zone 5, datura ( particularly the purple ones) are not hardy at all. The white ones will self seed sometimes - at least for me. The purple ones won't. I collect the seed and start them indoors in early April, and they are ready for transplanting into the garden when all danger of frost is past. You can even trade them for some neat plants.

I have not found that they drain the plant that much. I usually keep one or two seed pods, and clip the rest off though, for the very reason you asked the question.

Good luck. Any pictures? We LOVE pictures here. LOL