Hi LLCOUTY,
My experiances with finding seeds is to wait till the bloom drys and falls off and behind the dead bloom is where the seeds are. The seed pod should be dry before saving them.Try squeezing gently on what you have found, if it pops open then the seeds are inside, if not then what you have found should be the seeds I have never seen a firecracker vine, which is an annual in my zone which is 5. I do grow morning glorys and have great luck saving their seeds, since they are in the same family,I would say the seeds will be dark and dry and the seeds inside. Hope this helps you.
Good Luck!!

Which Firecracker Vine? I've seen references to both Mina lobata/Ipomoea lobata (which I have) and Manettia luteorubra.

Hi Tracy, it is the one you have, the mina lobata. I looked up the picture on google. How do you save the seeds? When do you know when they are ripe ? help me please... Will it come back next year , or do i need to replant. I just love this vine....

I've been wondering the same thing about when the seeds are ripe. I grew mine this year from purchased seeds. The seeds are very similar to morning glory seeds and are black and some in my pkg are light brown. I THINK the purple/black things on the vines are the seed pods. But it seems to be taking forever for the seeds to ripen. I opened one this morning and found what I think are 2 seeds in it that are brown but are still soft to the touch. But I'm still not convinced that the purple/black is the pod (and not the seed itself).

Maybe someone out there will have an answer for us.

I've been experimenting with seed harvesting on this one. I picked some pods that were large and brown, but the seed clearly wasn't ready. It does seem the smaller brown pods are ripe. And yes, the seeds look just like morning glory seeds. In my zone, Mina lobata is an annual (reseeding? I don't know), and I've seen complaints about being able to harvest viable seed in the colder zones, since this plant apparently needs a longer warmer period to produce viable seed. My plant is on the way out, but I'm still harvesting a few pods each day. It's a shame; it's loaded with pods, but I doubt they'll be ready or even close to ready by the time we get our first hard frost. I might be covering it up at night with sheets for as long as I can, just to get the seed! I don't have good luck growing this one from seed though; I purchased this one locally this year...

I'm not sure about the seeds yet at the hort lab at school we just recieved this plant, but if your worried about keeping it you might try propagating it. That should by you some time until your able to get the seeds. If your not sure how to propagte it, let me know and Ican help. I and my teacher are still experimenting with this plant and i'm waiting to see if the 12 cuttings I took from it will root. I have the Manettia luteorubra brazilian variety.

They go very late to seed here in Columbus, Ohio. However, it did re-seed for me and I was able to harvest viable seeds - but not that many. It's the same principle as ipomoeas. Of the seeds harvested, less than 50% germinated, so I'm guessing some weren't ready.

Oh yes, I'm talking about Mina lobata.

I left my vine up and harvested whatever pods I could, in January! The vine was completely dead, but had plenty of pods left on it. Alot of the harvested seed was lighter than the seed I harvested earlier; brown later, as compared to black earlier. I'm not sure if they'll be viable or not, but I'll probably try to test them, even though I don't have good luck wintersowing Mina lobata.

I thought these two plants are different. I grew mina lobata ( also called Spanish Flag) which grew pods after the flowers died and fell off. But the firecracker plant I saw was not a vine but more like a shrub and i couldn't find the seeds at all.
Hope this helps you,:)
deb

I know almost nothing about the vine but i bought some for the first time this year. I would like to get seeds from it also but I don't know about the season length. It doesn't usually frost here until about mid october. I also have read that the vine won't even flower from seed within the year.(hope that isn't true!)
If it is true though I understand that a stem can be rooted in water and keep it growing inside over the winter(much like basil.) Is that true?

How did the seed collecting go? since the last post was two years ago!!

In the fall, you will see little brown round pods. Cut off the entire stem holding the pods, put in a paper bag and wait a few weeks. Then shake the bag and the seeds should pop out and be black. If not, they weren't ripe enough when you harvested them. If some pods don't expel the seeds, just break them open and they'll pop out. I do it every year.