Opuntia hybrids

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:21 am

As we all know Opuntia are sort of the sluts of the cacti world and are quite willing to reproduce with each other. I think this spring I am going to try and make some of my own hybrids with flowers and see if I can get anything to come from them. Since a few of them bloom at different times, IE C. fulgida/C. acanthocarpa and also C. leptocaulis is there anyway to store the pollen? For instance could I freeze it possibly?

I might try and do some Opuntia as well. Maybe O. engelmannii/O. phaeacantha and maybe a few more.

I feel that this experiment might be sorta fun.
Any suggestions might be kinda fun too.

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 4:04 pm

Watch it Peter! You will have the Prickly Pear PC Police down on you if you keep name calling!

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:05 pm

Harriet, lol. What can I say? It's true. Look at all the NATURAL hybrids for Opuntia around here. My county has several Cylindopuntia hybrids, and several Opuntia ones too.

billdee · Post by **billdee** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:12 pm

Peterthecactusguy wrote:Harriet, lol. What can I say? It's true. Look at all the NATURAL hybrids for Opuntia around here. My county has several Cylindopuntia hybrids, and several Opuntia ones too.

..yeah, but remember children browse this forum.
Kid: Dad whats a s***? Dad:well..umm..umm
Not a good choice of words.

A. Dean Stock · Post by **A. Dean Stock** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:44 am

If you have O. aurea it makes a good hybrid with O. englemanii or O.phaeacantha (all of these are 6x). O.pinkavae x O. phaeacantha gives you some nice red flowers as does O.polyacantha x O. aurea. Some of these come out with odd ploidy numbers but will grow fine and produce well. If you try hybrids be sure to cover the bud before the flower opens or the natural pollinators will beat you to it. You can store orchid pollen is a dessicator in paper squares. Some breeders store them in the refrigerator (do not freeze). I've never tried storing cactus pollen but it is much tougher than orchid pollen so I don't see why you couldn't store it.
Dean

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:12 pm

Dean thanks a lot of the advice. I will try and see what I can get out of some of the local O. engelmannii and O. phaeacantha and I think I have an O. aurea too. It just sounds kind of fun to make some hybrids and see what I get.

Also thanks for the advice about the pollen. I might have done something dumb like put it in the freezer.

I will try and keep everyone informed on what happens.

mjazz · Post by **mjazz** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:05 am

I have some Phaecantha and Humifusa that grow outside that I would like to try to cross fertilize this spring.
Can anyone point me to some line drawings that clearly delineate the anthers etc.?
I'm going to attempt it also with some Y. Gloriosa and some striped yucca- I'll have to do the work of that yucca moth... they bloom at different times also.

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:03 am

BTW this year my O. aurea has only one bud and it grew very quickly and already bloomed so I missed it

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 7:49 am

this year if I am not out of town, hiking at the grand canyon at the end of this month, I will try and cross breed O. engelmanii X O. aurea, and maybe O. phaeantha x O. engelmannii and O. aurea and O. polycantha var erincea. Dean any glaring problems with doing those? I know you know way more than I do.
btw the O. aurea is the hybrid one with the pink flowers. I have one O. aurea flower from the batch that you sent me Dean, all the rest are slowly fattening up. Maybe next year.
Is there anything I can cross O. aciculata with?
what about O. ficus indica?
sorry for the noobish questions, but I have tons of buds this year!

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:18 am

I think my pollination attempt worked. The flower looked like this on the first day after I added some pollen to the pistils. I will watch it and I marked the flower I used. O. engelmannii x O. aurea hybrid

A. Dean Stock · Post by **A. Dean Stock** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 2:57 am

The only one with a problem will be the O. aurea hybrid x O. polyacantha which is matching a probable hexaploid with a tetraploid but since you are just making hybrids for the fun of it there is no problem at all connected with any hybrid. You should get a good seed yield from the O.engelmannii x O. aurea hybrid. If you didn't bag the bud before and after pollination you may have other pollen there in addition to what you supplied.
Dean

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 6:56 am

Dean, I bagged it early on the first day of the flower, and bagged it afterwards. I am hoping that it will be mostly hybrid seeds, but it was windy and when I got home the bag was blown off. Oh well it was very windy. Thanks tho, I will mess around with a few more. I have some O. phaeacantha that is blooming during the O. engelmannii's bloom time, so I might get a hybrid between those two just for the heck of it

Opuntia hybrids

Opuntia hybrids

Re: Opuntia hybrids

Re: Opuntia hybrids

Re: Opuntia hybrids

Re: Opuntia hybrids

Re: Opuntia hybrids

Re: Opuntia hybrids