mattookay Posted December 30, 2011 What is this pink thing that shoots out just before my lophophora williamsii flowers? 3rd pic is loph a day later. when taking 3rd pic i noticed a heap of ants in the pink thing so i ripped it off and they scattered everywhere, there where a few black things in it. are these seeds? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Genius Posted December 30, 2011 lol mattookay. yes thats the seeds. Its a Lophophora seed pod. bye Eg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bit Posted December 30, 2011 Yep, that's the seed pod, and it comes out after the flower has dried up, not before. You're probably seeing the seed pod from the previous flower. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattookay Posted December 31, 2011 can you plant these seeds as new lophs? and how do i stop ants getting to them 1st? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poisonshroom Posted December 31, 2011 Cut them open and it should be filled with little black seeds and edible pulp. You should be able to pull it off fairly easily when its ready. As for keeping the ants away, you just need to get to it before they do, but I dont think they will eat the seeds anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted December 31, 2011 Hey there! Yes you can totally plant the seed you find on your loph. Theres great how to teks on this site to tell you how to get a good germination rate and growth from your seeds. I recommend having a read before trying. As for the ants, I think you should maybe try to keep them away from your loph! Sometimes ants like to build nests in your pots or farm aphids on your plants. For a nice friendly non toxic way of deterring the ants you could try making a moat of water around the pot, cutting off their access. We have little pots of water on the feet of our worm farm to keep the ants climbing on up in there. No free worm meal for our ants. No sir! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Moses Posted December 31, 2011 Cut them open and it should be filled with little black seeds and edible pulp. You should be able to pull it off fairly easily when its ready. As for keeping the ants away, you just need to get to it before they do, but I dont think they will eat the seeds anyway. no the seeds will be taken into their nest and put in a larder where they grow a fungus on them to feed the young, i prefer to use a pair of tweezers and reach down to the bottom of the fruit to remove it cos i've torn a few in half, also check around in the fibres for stray seeds that have already fallen out you'd be amazed how many can be lodged in the fibre cos your comment seems to suggest you have had this"pink thing" before so you may have seeds already scattered through your fibre tuffs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zelly Posted December 31, 2011 i prefer to use a pair of tweezers and reach down to the bottom of the fruit to remove it cos i've torn a few in half, With 50-60 fruits a week to harvest, i quickly gave up on the tweezer method & found the best thing to do is harvest after the pods have completely dried out. A completely dried out fruit consists of three parts, the dried flower, the seed pod itself, and the fibrous woolly threads that connect the fruit to the aerole. If a person allows those woolly fibers to fully dry, the pod can be removed with no harm to the plant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattookay Posted January 1, 2012 when i removed the seed pod, there were ants coming from deep down inside the loph.. i was away all weekend and am back, the ants are gone but the lophs a little soft around the bottom. it had been getting a little rained on for the last half of last week which could make it a little softer couldnt it? now im freaking out because SWIM acquired and 8 year old seed grown loph and he had it for 2 weeks.. a cup of coke was left near it and ants got to it and overnight. it turned black and shriveled up and died. can ants do this to a plant? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
woof woof woof Posted January 1, 2012 I protect my lophs from too much rain to prevent rot from fungal attack. I let them dry out almost or even completely after watering. I have no watering schedule. In the past I would only allow them to get soaking wet for 1 or 2 days if it rains hours on end. My lops are now protected by old perspex. When it rains I just remove it for a short moment to allow a good soaking. After that,... allow them to dry out completely. Fertilizer helps to induce flowering. I do that once every 2 or 3 months. After long dry periods (month or more), a (few) good soaking(s) can also help induce flowering. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) when i removed the seed pod, there were ants coming from deep down inside the loph.. i was away all weekend and am back, the ants are gone but the lophs a little soft around the bottom. it had been getting a little rained on for the last half of last week which could make it a little softer couldnt it? now im freaking out because SWIM acquired and 8 year old seed grown loph and he had it for 2 weeks.. a cup of coke was left near it and ants got to it and overnight. it turned black and shriveled up and died. can ants do this to a plant? Ive had ants take up residence inside a cactus before, but it already had damage that let them in. It didnt fare so well. Are your ants actually coming from inside the cactus? Can you see a wound in the skin? I really think you should try and deter the ants from going anywhere near it. If there is an open wound on your loph that ants are coming in and out of... I would personally kill each individual ant, put some sulfur on the wound, and make a moat around my cactus, find the culprits nest and suggest they move on by flooding it . I find me and the ants sometimes have difficulties, but if i pour water down there in the places I dont want them to be, they soon establish somewhere else in the garden not near my favorites, or the worm farm, but vigilance is required! == P.S. If you would like some sulfur id be happy to give you some! Edited January 2, 2012 by niggles Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Genius Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) Ants usually dont destroy plants all by themselves. Though they are not a pest per se, they carry pathogens from one plant to another and therefore infect all other cacti nearby very fast and can make a bad situation worse. If one bug drills a hole in your Loph, they would use the hole to get into the root system where they could lay eggs and shit. Personally, i dont use chemical warfare against Ants because they are everywhere. But inside a cactus pot or inside my soil, i avoid them like the plague. So my first impulse in your case would be to change the soil and check for ants. If there are any, wash the roots and put in a diffrent soil. One with few hum(o)us and lots of stones and minerals. Standard mineralistic loph soil if you like. Receipes are around here. Before you do that, take a very close look at the loph. If you have some kind of insect pocket within the loph, your in shit. Like kneedeep. Insect tunnels cant heal because there is no air coming down there. They usually are moist and responsible for infections that travel through the complete core of the cactus. You can surely cut out the whole infection but its unlikely you get it it healed up. In bad cases, only grafting can save such a plant. So, pot out the loph and check for holes. If there arent some, just repot. Dont perform some hardcore surgery action if its not absolutely necessary. Most minor infections heal up by themselves if you dont have a closed up insect tunnel/nest within the plant. Also, please define what you mean when you say that "ants coming from deep inside the loph". Where is the entry hole? Or do you mean they come from holes in the soil? Im sure i dont have to say that its not a good sign when ants walk through a loph so please explain whats going on there because i still havent figured out if if your loph has ants within the plant or simply inside the root system. The latter would be no problem. The first one on the other hand... bye Eg Edited January 2, 2012 by Evil Genius Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattookay Posted January 2, 2012 i think she was just soft from over watering. its looking a feeling a lot better now ive let it dry out in the sun. there's a nice big flower in the way at the moment so i cant see if theres a tunnel going down into the loph. there doesnt seem to be any ants in or around it atm though. hopfallly she pulls through! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattookay Posted March 8, 2012 so i still have a problem with ants stealing my seed pods! i bought some ant sand today and sprinkled it around the pots but i was wondering if it would hurt my cacti/plants if i put some on top of the soil in the pots? please help i need to get rid of these damn thieving ants before they take over! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
