Hi,
I'm not sure what you collected, possibly immature or unfertilized seed, but it is not good kale seed. Kale seed is little gray/brown ball shaped seed. They are not large, but definitely big enough to see without a magnifying glass.
I've not seen Kale seed pods and could not find a pic. I did find one of Broccoli and since they are closely related in the Brassica family, I would think the pods are somewhat similar.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: Page w/Broccoli Seed Pod Pic

Thanks! This is really helpful. I collected more of the "pods" I collected and found out they were flowers that never bloomed, and the "seeds" inside were dried out stamens. Thank you for the picture; I now have an idea of what to look for.

My Blue Curled Scotch and Blue Curled Vates kale plants blomed profusely, so I left them to set seeds. They now have an abundant number of seed pods, all green, swollen with seeds, some pods thicker (older) than others. Neither pods nor seed-pod stems have started drying up or browning yet.

I don't want to pick the seeds prior to them being viable. However, I don't want to loose them to slugs (who eat the immature pods & seeds), or to chipmunks (who'll raid everything as soon as they discover this treasure).

My question is this, will the seeds in the largest pods be viable? I think so. Would you know of any pics I could look at to compare?

I'll try to post a few pics of my plants later.

Your comments would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Curled Scotch and Blue Curled Vates

Hi PPod,
I'm sure all your swollen pods have viable seed so that is good news. The sort of bad news is your Kale probably cross pollinated with each other since I'm assuming their bloom times coincided. Brassica family members are very promiscuous with each other, lol. At least you have 2 kales, and I can't imagine a crosses between them being a bad thing.
I can't help you much with the scavengers. I would keep them propped up good to keep the slugs at bay, but I don't know about chipmunks(and I hope it stays that way!)
Remy

Hi Remy, Yes, I hope so also for your sake (about the chipmunks, the little devils).

About the two varieties of kale I'm growing, who knows if they're not one and the same? But if not, perhaps I'll get hybrid vigor! Anyway, I'd like to grow a more heavily savoyed kale (b/c they're beautiful). If you know of such a variety, let me know.

The slugs, I hand-picked (with pieces of wood). The first day a huge number, then fewer, then fewer, and on the fourth day, I could count 'em (but can't remember). Anyway, the point is, that their numbers can be reduced. Big buckets w/soapy water (like for washing floors) are excellent, just right in size. Leave one under the kale, aim, and the creeps drop right into the pool. Bingo!

Sorry, forgot to say that I'll harvest the seeds tomorrow..... Thanks, Remy, for your reply.