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Cacti & Succulents

zygocactus - can I expect seeds?

18 years ago

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My three year old x-mas (zygo-) cactus is blooming a little early =) I have watched for seeds from these in the past, but it seems it never makes any. This time I tried hand pollenating it. Will it produce seeds? If so, can someone tell me how lon they take to develop, and what the seeds and pod look like?

TIA

Garden Witch

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Comments (5)

dufflebag2002
18 years ago
Yes if fertilized. Some plants self, others need a partner, and fertilized by insects or a brush. Norma
Lophophora
18 years ago
Just whait for a month or so! If the polination was seccessful, the ovarz should sweell *(it sometimes even changes it's colour)! That would be a good sign that You'll be able to collect some seeds! ;)
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User
18 years ago
I once did this between 2 diff. plants I had. I used a very small artist's paintbrush to take pollen from one plant & insert it into the flowers of the other.

It resulted in ONE fruit, sometimes called an 'apple'. Looked like a smallish round berry, which over time reddened into ripeness. Mind you, that reddened berry held on to the plant for abt 1 year, at which point I removed it. I broke it open & spread the jelly-like contents, full of seeds onto a paper towel & let it dry out a bit to separate the seeds from the mucilaginous gook around them. I did try to pot them up, but I think the seeds dried out too fast & nothing came of it.

The tricky part to doing this is to have several plants in bloom at the same time. Now I only have one mature plant, so I can't try it again.

If you do try it, you might try doing it several times a day, at diff. times, say both morning & night to improve the odds of success. Good luck w/ it!
plantitas
17 years ago
I have about 3 seed pods that have been on the plants for about 8 months (since last Christmas when they bloomed) and I am not sure how much longer they should remain on the plants? And how long to dry them out before planting?
Thank you
Plantitas
User
17 years ago
Plantitas,

Pls. re-read the post directly above yr. question where I addressed EXACTLY the 2 questions you are asking.

"... that reddened berry held on to the plant for abt 1 year, at which point I removed it. I broke it open & spread the jelly-like contents, full of seeds onto a paper towel & let it dry out a bit to separate the seeds from the mucilaginous gook around them ... "

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