Inyan

Kada, If this one is giving you problems like this I think the best bet for all of us is to let you do your thing. In this manner, if one survives and grows to maturity we can rest assured that future generations/crosses will be made and propagations made. All to often a hybridizer lets go of a valuable seed and a beautiful seedling emerges, but no report is made. How do I know this? I've done the math and grown out many crosses myself. If you know a bit about the genetics of the species you are working with then you know which cross is a long shot and which cross is going to land you some winners with relatively low numbers. Long shot crosses if done are generally done in large enough numbers to ensure one or two good ones or else they are traded out in the hopes that some lucky guy or gal will share his/her results. When in doubt, make a cross yourself. If you want to get the best seed or best hybrid... it goes without saying that you need to make some crosses yourself. Otherwise your going to be waiting until the next hybrid is released instead of simply working on your own thing. I know many don't like a lot of attention and just sit back and listen to the experts. Making their crosses and thankful that the experts are sharing their knowledge. Simply having something in their own private collection that is different is enough for those guys and gals. I tend to ramble a bit, but I keep coming back to this post of yours as I can see some real work is going on here. I'm like a sponge when it comes to hybridizing. I love it and soak in it. I like to instigate others in the hopes of getting them involved in the same. Its a beautiful thing seeing your own seedlings flower for the first time. Those are your creations and whether you choose to share them with others or keep them to yourself there is a nice feeling that comes from having been there through the entire process... start to finish. Keep up the good work!

Laughing hard now, okay. I like to joke. I thought it was blatantly obvious, but such is life. No hard feelings there subbo. Trust me, I have no interest in your plants. Can we shake hands and relax now?

Holy smokes, thats the house next to mine.... Let me check my yard.... What the bleep. Yeah, and on this forum I find the culprit. Imagine the likelihood of that?!?!! Now, about reparations to my cacti farm? When may I expect some compensation?

So, am I to understand that seed from a caespitosa may not form caespitosa seedlings? Is this trait recessive, quantitative, or what? Thanks for the information KadaKuda. My guess is that its quantitative, but thats just a guess.

Kadakuda, I stay up late getting ahead of myself with crosses. Half of the fun is contemplating and writing up the plan. Of course the best laid plan that doesn't bear fruit may still provide inspiration for other fruits. What is one year, two years, three years? Just moments in time slipping by. When the moment comes though, you had best have plenty of pollen stored up and plenty of plants ready to go or the moment slips on by for another moment to replace that moment and so on and so forth till you've forgotten which moment you were waiting for. After all, If we don't get ahead of ourselves someone else will.

You've peaked my interest now. And as far as I can tell Murphy is on our side most of the time so she won't mind you spilling the beans. Seeds that have a hard time germinating or finishing developing or pods that take an abnormally long time to develop have also been known to occur with especially hard crosses. You might want to try an inverted wedge technique and hope for the best. Perhaps create an added humidity dome to the whole enterprise and call me when the graft is a sure fire thing. If in doubt, you could always send the seeds to me for safe keeping you know?

I have a few wbc's I could send you. What exactly are you looking for?

The more it stays the same the less it changes.... Not sure where your going with that comment. For what its worth, your right. Everything changes though. If I stare at the hour hand of a clock does it appear to move? If I stare at the month hand on a clock, does it appear to move? Is it moving? Change is something that happens and you will always find people who fear change. Fear of the unknown that change may bring. Good or bad.... its not always as it appears.

As for the peyote sludge comment, I'm assuming your talking about the method whereby peyote buttons are put in a jar and then buried in the ground until the peyote has decomposed into a sediment. This mixture, when opened smells like diarrhea, looks like diarrhea, and tastes much better than trichocereus that has been freshly prepared. There is also the sun tea method which is made via fresh or dried peyote buttons placed in a jar and set out in the sun for 4 days. I've tried each of these preparations as well as the ground up powder preparations, dry buttons, etc. in traditional vision quests, sundances, etc. Other comments... let us just say that hybridizing, keeping different genetics alive, etc. is a worth while goal. I've longed to see more people interested in the serious hybridizing of pejuta as well as the reintroduction of this species and all its variants back into the wild. It is noteworthy simply to cross northern and southern forms and release these back into the wild or keep them for further more elaborate hybridization attempts. No, I see nothing funny about preserving or increasing the genetic potential or phenotypical expressions of any sacred medicine. Keep up the good work.

First off, great work! I would like to add a bit here, but its not really needed. Still, parafilm can be used to bring in the sides of those wedge grafts for a more perfect graft. Is it needed? Nope! Will it help? Yep. Like I said, excellent work. Just food for thought. The nice bonus on the parafilm is that a little goes a long ways. The grafted scion will break through the parafilm as it grows so no need to remove the parafilm.

Don't over estimate that learning curve of yours Auxin. I thought the same thing once. Take the knowledge you have and expound on it if that is your desire. I do like your idea of growing out your F1 lines and then crossing your F1's to each other, back to each parent, etc. as well. Heck, you could even outcross a few of them if variability is something you seek. I'd personally like to see more variability in flowering as well which could be obtained utilizing some of the nice Trichopsis or Echinopsis hybrids out there. Something to think about at any rate and it certainly couldn't hurt to add some color into your flowers. Sure, it might set some other goals back a bit, but who said you can't have more than one goal at a time?

Nice grafting stock you have there. I see some merits as yet untapped in these specimens of yours. Keep trucking and get to grafting those little guys.

Just bringing this back up as I hope those who have some variegated specimens will pay attention. You only need one variegate to be a mom. Make those crosses with another non-variegate parent and lets get some more seed grown variegated specimens out there. Yeah, I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but sometimes you have to stir the pot a bit.

Just bringing back up this obvious but often overlooked bit of information. Dry and freeze your pollen guys! Store it for later use if you have serious goals or even just misguided ones. Who knows, you might get lucky and if you don't keep records you can't repeat the cross.

For what its worth, I used to live in Florida several years back and grew many Trichocereus in the ground as well as in pots and rain as it did, they were fine. Variegated Trichocereus however should be grafted onto a non-variegated stock if you plant them in the ground as they will be more prone to rot. Practice and learn. Never put all of your eggs in one basket though if you have some novelty you can't stand to lose. Make a few cuttings and try some each way. Cacti grafting is the easiest kind of grafting their is so you can't go wrong if you do decide to plant a few in the ground. Just save some grafts or cuttings for other growing approaches as each and every environment is different.

H202 or hydrogen peroxide is also good against bacteria and fungi both. You can watch it sizzle as it does its work.

Garbage, If I think I see where you are coming from, I may be wrong or right, but what you state is a goal that can be achieved in theory at least via chimera, protoplast fusion, or even through years of selection if you are just damn lucky. Any goal is worth something if in pursuit of the goal you have fun at it.

You do not emulate the NAC or any other aspect of traditional Lakota culture and call it Lakota or NAC. This would be a farce and a supreme insult. I have went up on traditional Lakota vision quests, sundanced, sung yuwipi, etc. For me, there is the traditional way or there is your way or another's way. The problem occurs when we claim that we are practicing another's traditions when in fact we have never done anything more than read a book and incorporate a piece of something into our own beliefs. Its not that it shouldn't be done, its in how it is done. You don't claim to be a Lakota medicine man, Dineh medicine man, etc. if you are not. There is much that is wrong with our egocentric views in my mind, but this is how my mind works. Perhaps another's mind is different and thinks it is okay. To each his or her own. Own what is yours. Don't steal what is someone else's. Acknowledge where and how. Change....

Bit, How else would you get the pollen out of these containers? Paint brush, or Q-tip are the most common ways. Of course, some will simply insert the stigma or cut style into this type of container. Still, if you don't care about size, film canisters, etc. can be utilized for storing pollen as well. Those that hybridize on a large scale need multiple containers that they can label and store pollen in. If you don't have a particular flower blooming, you simply go to your freezer and pull out the pollen you need. These are your personal pollen banks and some hybridizers amateur or not will share pollen from their banks with others or trade pollen. Others prefer to keep their private stash of pollen to themselves fearing degradation of the pollen as it is transported via mail. Still, if you have the anther from a fresh flower you don't need a q-tip. You can simply take that anther and brush it on the stigma of the mom to be. For a single fruit or a small scale operation you don't need much, but for those more serious about their hybridizing they will often store hundreds of different pollens in such small containers as this. You label the containers meticulously keeping track of the date the pollen was collected, which cacti it came from... not just the species. Permanent markers, sharpies, etc. work well for this. I'm glad you have fruit forming and any fruit is better than no fruit. Something else serious hybridizers do is to label the individual flowers that have been pollinated with the cross made. Some will keep a tag in the pot itself and only make one particular cross at a time. Its all up to the hybridizer as to how serious and meticulous they wish to get about their hybridizing and what goals they are after. If your only goal is to get a seed pod, heck, let the insects do it. If you don't protect the blooms then you can't really be sure that the flower is or was created by your attempts. Sure, you might have brushed some pollen on your flower. Did another insect, wind, etc. help before hand? If enough pollen was transfered prior to your attempts you didn't really do anything at all. Another reason why emasculating the flower is a good idea. Bagging the flower or the entire plant is another practice to ensure that your attempts are the ones that count. Still, others will pollinate the pistil while it is still immature and developing to get a jump on things. If your after a red flower and you cross your two darkest pinks together in hopes of getting a darker pink or red and an insect pollinated with a simple light pink or white... you've just wasted your efforts. I can't count the number of seed pods insects have beaten me to in the past. Pollinate early, take good notes, use what you have blooming or stored, but go after your goals and don't limit yourself to what you have blooming at the moment or you may never achieve your goals.

For me, Leonard Crowdog embodies what a Shaman or medicine man is. He was the spiritual leader of wounded knee. He did time for his beliefs. He fought and struggled and he is not rich off of tourism or such although he is one of the most respected if not the most respected Lakota medicine man there is. Is he perfect? No, he is just human. He struggles just as many of his people struggle. He was not acculturated at an early age by attending white schools or learning english and such. He went on his first vision quest at 13. The red road is a hard road and one that many glorify and few walk in the traditional way anymore. Many want things fast and easy. We live in the Mcdonalds culture of fast, easy and quick. The red road is not easy and many times it is painstakingly slow and hard. The sundance, visionquest, sweatlodge, etc. are not easy ceremonies the way they were done traditionally. Read up on a few of these things and do some research. The Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota in particular have been turing away from those who seek to exploit their culture and beliefs in exchange for a few dollars and with good reason. Many expect they can walk in off the street and pay large sums of money and be handed medicine. This is not how it works. Medicine is something that is free to earn. The sacred pejuta is something that is free to give. Yes, their will always be an intermingling of beliefs and ways as long as their are people who see truth in one path or another. The purists or the traditionalists and those with varying degrees of acceptance or incorporation of others beliefs and ways. Such is life and such is religion.... ever changing and ever growing like the wind and the water that carve out the rock that we think stands still and unchanged. Some changes are slower than others and so appear not to change at all, but everything changes.

I guess I can live with normal if I can hope for the rare abnormal form. You just had to go and burst my bubble Kadakuda!

Nice graft mutant. Its always nice to see seedlings being given a boost. Quicker growth, faster flowers, more crosses, more diversity. I'm a super big fan of grafting. Hopefully we can get some more interesting chimera to form if enough of us participate in grafting. Its all just a matter of numbers, luck, and a little skill. Keep it up!

You can see two glands on the back side of each leaf. This is what the ants are after. I haven't grown this vine in a long time, but you can rest assured that even a brown stick with a bit of green under the bark and no leaves will root given enough time. Your plant should be fine if you don't mind the ants.

Pollen can be shipped in the containers you see below. However, always dry your pollen out for at least 1 hour before freezing or shipping. You can remove the anthers just before they dehisce and allow the pollen to fall out or scrape it out of the anthers as well. With smaller anthers, you can place them directly into the microcentrifuge tubes and tap them about to dust the tubes. Pour the anthers into another tube and dust again. Then discard the anthers or pollinate with them. http://www.usascientific.com/index.asp?Cat...Action=VIEWCATS You don't have to be particularly fancy guys and gals. You can simply cut the offending stigma with its barriers to reception off and pollinate the stigma directly, but do so in a fast motion as the cut style may dry out and become unreceptive if your unduly slow with this procedure. Also, remember that other barriers may exist. Just a few more tools for those of you who may wish to try such an endeavor. Remember, in some ways, pollen is just like a seed. It needs to reabsorb sufficient fluid once it is dried out so creating a humid environment for the first hour of pollination sometimes helps to get things started. With that said, some particularly difficult crosses will still abort their seed pods and you will be lucky to find a few immature seeds which may or may not be able to be nurtured. Immature seeds have a tendency to dry out much faster than their mature counterparts, so again... keep the humidity up. To answer a few of the questions posed: You should still emasculate the flower before the pollen has matured. How much time you have to play with depends on the speed of growth of the pollen which varies depending on whether you are using old dry and frozen pollen or freshly collected pollen. Temperatures also play a role in how fast the pollen tube grows. Etc. etc. The idea behind the grafted style is to allow the receptors of the "proper" stigma to allow or trigger the appropriate pollen to fertilize and then jump the graft to the inappropriate or less compatible style. With the cut style method, you are still working with an emasculated flower, but you are bypassing the need for a stigma altogether which can also be done with many crosses. Another method is to make a solution of the pollen and simply inject this solution directly into the ovary. It works sometimes, but you will need to poke the needle straight through the ovary and then pull back to insert the liquid pollen mixture into the ovary. When you see the liquid oozing out the sides you know you have some pollen grains inside your ovary. Sometimes a barrier is associated with the simple distance the pollen has to travel. As a general rule of thumb, you shorten the style to the same length or shorter as the style length of the pollen donor otherwise you risk the pollen simply not being able to make it to the ovary.

This would be one approach to the grafted style method or cut style method. The difference between the two is whether you actually join a different style or merely make a cut to apply your pollen closer to the ovary. More pictures to follow. The cut is made in this particular variation well below the stigma which is where you would apply your pollen. Sorry for not using a cactus flower, but you use what you have available for teaching purposes.