How to collect Cactus seeds?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,

I have a small cactus that flowered in Spring. The little buds dried up and remained attached to the plant still now. I grabbed one today and it broke open and this yellow stuff was inside. They kind of were round like seeds, but they all sorta fell apart they are really fragile. Are these the seeds? What is a good way to collect them?

[PunkRotten]

I believe this is the cactus I have http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/ ... ssima.html

[Kisal]

It will depend, I think, on the species of cactus. Some cacti require cross-pollination by a different plant. That was the situation I found when I tried to collect seeds from my mammillaria when it bloomed last year. I even hand pollinated the flowers, but since I only had the one cactus of that species, it didn't work. If your plant wasn't outside, you would have needed to hand pollinate it. Did you do that?

[PunkRotten]

Ahhh I see. Is there any other way to get reproduction out of this plant? Mine is still small too. The pot I have it in is a 6 inch I think. Could that have anything to do with its size? Or do they just grow really slow? I have had it in regular potting soil from the start.

[PunkRotten]

To answer your question: It has always been outside.

[Kisal]

If it was outside, and a pollinator is available in your area, then maybe what you have are seed pods, rather than seeds. Cacti usually produce very fine seeds, almost like dust. Why not break open one of the little seed-like things over a container of prepared soil and see what happens? Can't hurt to try!

[PunkRotten]

I am gonna get one of the dried flower buds/pods and take a pic and you can see the inside. The contents inside are very fragile, almost turns to dust when you touch it.

[PunkRotten]

Here is the dried flowers




And here is what the inside looks like:

[Gary350]

You can pick the buds off before they dry up stick them is soil and they will sprout roots in a week and grow cactus sprouts on top in another 2 weeks. Let the sprouts grow as large as you like. You can cut the sprouts off stick them in soil and grow more cactus.

I have better luck with cactus cuttings than seeds. During the summer I can grow 50 new cactus from only 1 piece of cactus. Soil needs to be 30% child play sand and 70% potting soil water once a week in a well drained pot of in the yard. If you want them to grow fast they need to be outside in full sun. A tablespoon of 15/15/15 fertilizer makes them grow many times faster.

[PunkRotten]

Yeah sometimes I scope out peoples yards for cactus. I know a few places where the cactus are growing crazy. Some right by a fence easy to just cut off a leaf. I been thinking about doing it.