HYB: advice needed

Irisarians,
             I have a problem.  I learnt recently that it may not be
considered advisable to set seed pods on first-year plants (TBs).  But,
since many of my plants are first-year ones, that's where most of my seed
pods are.

So, these are my questions:

How many (if any) seed-pods can I leave on each plant without damaging the
plant?

With the pods I remove, at what time should they be removed so as to have
the best chance of saving the seed?  (Two pods which were accidentally
knocked off the stem, are already attached to a potato as per Lloyd
Zurbrigg's advice to Donald Mosser.)  The crosses have all been done in the
last 5 weeks or so.

How much extra water and fertilizer should I give the plants, and when?


These are the varieties in question:

All That Jazz  2 pods (one of these is 3 1/2" long, diameter 1 1/2")

Bahloo 2 pods

Blues Brothers 2 pods

French Gown 3 pods

Grecian Goddess 1 pod

Just Magic 6 pods

Leda's Lover 3 pods

Magician's Apprentice 1 pod

Mittagong 3 pods

Mulled Wine 2 pods

Pagan Dance 2 pods

Perfect Couple 2 pods

Pledge Allegiance 4 pods

Rembrandt Magic 3 pods

Schortman's Garnet Ruffles 3 pods

Silk Sari 2 pods (one of these is 2 1/2" long, diameter 1 3/4")

Speculator 5 pods

Spring Tidings 4 pods

Stratagem 5 pods

Wedding Vow 1 pod

Also: if a rather small pod isn't increasing quickly in size, is that a sign
the plant is already under stress, and that I should just remove the pod?

For future reference, if a two-year old plant didn't bloom in its first
year, should I then treat it as a first-year plant and not set seed pods on it?

Thanks in advance,

Ann Pearce 
Adelaide, South Australia (where spring has officially ended)
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