Jump to content
The Corroboree
Evil Genius

Producing Seeds with Self-Sterile Cacti - How to do it

Recommended Posts

Ow my.....you have me jizzing in my pants with the endless opportunities EG! Stickying this for sure

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

shit yea Eg thanks for sharing this very interesting stuff.

do you Mind if i ask where you came about this info?

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

first volt raping now cement dusting....what's next EG??? :lol:

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

can't wait to see what we all come up with using this technique and others in the years to come. i will have a few flowers next season, i will be sure to ask santa for a nice mam elongata/loph hybrid or something.

thanks for educating us EG

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow thankyou very much!

I have two random small decorative button cacti that have been flowering at the same time together.. i'm gonna try and cross em :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Incredible! Do you know if this is effective in self-sterile non-cacti plants?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Will add more info about it in the next days. Maybe i merge it together with the voltraping post and pin it. Will see. I am really really working hard on stuff like this and am in contact with a lot of people who grow cacti for a living. Thats one of the secrets many growers dont like to talk about openly but i want this place to be a wealth of knowledge in the future so im just putting it out there for you to make us proud. If there are intergeneric hybrids to be seen on the internet, i want to see them here first. :wink: The pleasure is mine because its great to see you finding this as interesting as myself, guys. Very very welcome guys.

Marcel, it should actually work with all plants. Not only cacti. Im sure its being done throughout the big plant businesses. You know, the stuff that no one ever hears about.

Edited by Evil Genius
  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks, EG! My mind is spinning with the possibilities!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

with the voltrape & this i can really see the relevance of your username EG! so i'm assuming you could use lime or any other carbonate or highly basic powder? really cool stuff

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Exactly, this opens doors to create completely new Families. For example, i have a hybrid called Cleistopsis which is a hybrid between Cleistocactus and Echinopsis. Its huge and its flowering every year so i will put out some seed of it in the future. These plants can potentially be used to cross in other families that didnt work with with Echinopsis and Cleistocactus alone.

And dont forget guys: If it didnt work once, it doesnt mean it does not work at all. This kind of work sometimes takes something like 30-40 trials. And the success rate can be low or can be high. I had cases that had a success rate of 15%. Means in only 15% of the flowers, a pod developed. Sometimes, seed is not viable. Sometimes it is. Its a numbers game and you have to try a lot. Dont accept anything that you heard as written in stone. Just try again. Only because it didnt worked for one person, doesnt mean it cant work for you! bye Eg

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

so i'm assuming you could use lime or any other carbonate or highly basic powder

Exactly. Everything that has the ability to influence the ph should also be able to influence the pollen acceptance as well. Some may work better than others so please dont hesitate to publish your results. Success Rates may be shockingly low or high. Its all about the ph, the moisture and some luck. Crossing difficult cacti is a numbers game.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Will add more info about it in the next days. Maybe i merge it together with the voltraping post and pin it. Will see. .

 

Definitely a good idea, or perhaps just pin both so we can keep results from each technique separated.

with both easily accessible even if not knowing about the technique you will be presented with them when opening the cactus forum

i'm gonna try from now till it works to cross my lops with my coloured gymnocalyciums/crests

very interesting/exciting :drool2:

EG(just waitin on "yowie" to flower and i'll have a couple of diff trich pollen samples ready for you, watch your post next month)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

EG(just waitin on "yowie" to flower and i'll have a couple of diff trich pollen samples ready for you, watch your post next month)

Awesome Moses, every type of pollen is extremely appreciated. Thanks. Will cross a whole lot of cacti this year and i will try to fertilise every flower with a diffrent pollen.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am waiting for some pics when they are done EG! you really are a genius :)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Dont make me flattered. :wink: I´m just working really really hard on this because i dont see myself becoming like 110 yo so i need to get things done in a reasonable amount of time. Also im kinda insane when its about cacti so the mad scientist avatar fits just fine.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ya id love to see a tek with pics made up

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interesting concept.

Assuming it works via the basicity, as you have proposed, rather than a pure tissue damage effect I have an idea that would be worth trying.

In difficult cosses sometimes mentor pollens are mixed with the desired father plant pollen, these mentor pollens consist of killed (via ethanol or autoclaving, etc) compatible pollen usually to aid in interspecific and intergeneric crosses or live incompatible pollens (like Opuntia for use on Trichocereus) for attemped selfings. The idea is to trick the flower into trying to make seed from available pollen.

Your cement idea gave me the idea of base modified mentor pollens. Wet a prospective mentor pollen in concentrated ammonia or even saturated calcum hydroxide and then just dry it out and grind it either together with the prospective father pollen and apply, or apply the mentor pollen first. The surfaces of the mentor pollen granules would have a more basic character and in the case of calcium hydroxide there would be lone base particles mixed in.

Like a double whammy, mentoring and base modifying of the stigma.

I also wonder about depositing a film of a basic ion exchange resin on live father pollen granules. Or perhaps a touch of something common and cheap like lysine could be added to the ammonia for mentor pollen (the ammonium salt of lysine would have a pH around 10).

Edited by Auxin
  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

very interressting, btw, my echinocactus grusonii (golden barrel cactus) x lophophora williamsii (peyote) hybreeds are comming along nicly (only kidding).

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

EG, i am dubbing thee Tricho-Freud... for providing methods to psychodynamically and sexually confuse all cacti...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

awesome. nice to know!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great information, I can't wait to try this and see what interesting cacti cocktails result from experiments.

Also it may explain why I have a seed pod developing on a cactus that a far as I know had nothing around to pollinate it.

I had a large amount of dolomite crusher dumped nearby for garden paths etc. Some of it may have blown up as fine

dust and become the first success of this technique at my place... and inadvertantly at that!

Are seed pods typically smaller than woule be expected when using this technique? These ones are half the size I'd expected.

However since I had nothing to pollinate it and didn't know how it happened I was pleased anyway.

Of course some other means of pollination may have occurred without my knowledge but neighbours are a long way away and

very few have cacti.

Thanks EG!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great thread.

It makes me wonder if volcanic ash couds in the past have promoted self fertilization, particularly in a time when the environment was not conducive to pollinators like flying insects. Such a reaction to alkali could be handy in an evolutionary sense as a means to produce seeds before or during a volcanic winter, this would give the species a greater chance of survival, especially if the volcanic winter had the capacity to kill living plants but leave seed banks relatively untouched.

I may try this with Echinopsis chamaecereus and calcium hydroxide soon.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yesterday I attempted this technique with E. chamaecereus, a self sterile cactus.

When it goes unpollinated the flowers last several days, opening and closing each day, however the flower I tried this with closed yesterday and did not open today, instead it has all of the appearance of a flower that has been sucesfully pollinated. Time will tell if it produces fruit and seed, however the inital indication is very positive.

Thanks EG!

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow that's awesome news Albert keep us posted :) got any pics?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×