Germinating Opuntia sp.

[poisonshroom]

Hey everyone

I ordered some Opuntia macrocentra (purple prickly pear) seeds yesterday, and I was just wondering if anyone has any experience growing this species from seed or in general?

Iv heard that Opuntia sp. can be a bit difficult to germinate and Iv read a few methods that supposedly have fairly mixed results, so does anyone have a good technique that they have used on this or other opuntia sp?

[Gunter]

i once had some seed of opuntia that i collected from a friends yard, it was a hardy type and i crossed it with another hardy type and got fruit

so i planted the seed...

and nothing

and then about half a year later, in the same containers i had planted the seed in, lo and behold opuntia seedlings...

that is to say i don't really know what did it, time, cold, wet and dry, maybe all of that, but whatever the case it does not pop right away but can take time, be patient with it.

[mac]

I had one come up in the front garden, i have never had Opuntia seed so i can only guess (pd pointed this out) they may have came from bird shit

My thoughts are that going through a birds digestive track may help them germinate much like gibberellic acid aids other seed

I know of a huge fruiting stand of opuntia & may grab some fruit if i can reach any

[poisonshroom]

Hmm thanks for the replies

If only i had a machine i could put the seeds into to simulate a bird eating them then shitting them out again lol

Iv heard of seeds taking as much as 9 years to germinate :S

[mac]

You could give gibberellic acid a go on some & see if it gets better results than non treated seed, depending on how many you have

[poisonshroom]

I think im only going to have 10, so im going to save half in the fridge or freezer (cold stratification), and use a few techniques on the other half.

Iv been meaning to get some GA-3 to use for some duboisia hopwoodii seeds, but thatll have to wait (gotta wait a few weeks for the seeds to get here from the US), so in the mean time i hope i can get a variety of opinions so i can figure out the best few different methods to try

[Gunter]

sometimes people soak seeds meant to pass through a birds digestive track in a weak solution of potassium nitrate, the GA-3 is worth a try too.

good luck!!

[poisonshroom]

Potassium nitrate hey? where would one acquire some of that?

[Gunter]

um, it is used to kill stumps, so you can find it as that... stump killer, or you could make it with some K and urea... though that is not likely not a good idea... but if you look into it i am sure you can figure it out

[poisonshroom]

Oh ok... sounds interesting, might try it some time. Making it myself sounds a little dangerous (I know a decent amount about chemistry, but not enough to attempt something like that ). I think id stick to buying it.