Free Melocactus matanzanus seeds...

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pokey1
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 7:05 pm
Location: Orlando, FL. Zone 9-A (and B)

Free Melocactus matanzanus seeds...

Post by pokey1 »

Hi all.. I have 2 packages of M. matanzanus (dwarf Turk's cap) seeds (15-16 each) to anyone interested. Wish I had more to give out, but not too much fruit this time around. I will pay postage. PM me if interested. Thanks! Joseph
Proud papa to 25 Genus and 78 species of these prickly devils.
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Tao
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2013 12:03 pm

Re: Free Melocactus matanzanus seeds...

Post by Tao »

This may help you get better seed strikes...you probably know this already.....I came across this method on another forum (dedicated to cactus breeding my thanks to "Evil Genius")

Many garden plants have duplicated their chromosome count (2n, 3n, 4n ).......it may be a natural thing and it is also due to gardeners over 1000'S of years hybridising, breeding plants.......bigger fruit and flowers etc .........this often makes the plant self sterile (needs another plant that isn't its clone to breed successfully, set seed)...... feel free to correct me if I'm in error.................

"just want to share tech that can be used to fertilize the flower of a plant that usually needs pollen from another one to develop seed:

1. Get yourself some Cement from the DIY Store. Very fine pulver. The finer the better. But the typical Commercial grade works fine as well.

2. Get yourself a small brush and apply some of the cement dust on the Stigma of the flower on the plant that you want to produce seeds with. (Also try to blow a little bit of the dust inside the flower....don't breath in)

3. Cement works as some kind of irritator what makes the flower create some Anti-Bodies that enable her to accept her own pollen.

4. Then wait for half an hour and brush some of the own pollen on the flower and repeat this numerous times.


Now heres some additional info: Usually, there is only very few seed to be harvested but it works and the seeds are usually viable. The reason why this works is that cement consists of highly basic calciumsillicates that tremendeously raise the ph of the flower. Because there also are aminoclusters on a pollencorn that are also responsible for raising the ph, the cement has the very same effect. Because of his highly basic potential, cement is even way more effective. Basic niveau reduces the ability of the flower to abort the pollen so it accepts it.

IT ALSO ENABLES YOU TO CROSS plants THAT ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER! ie very distantly related. Its not guaranteed that it works all the time and you have to experiment a lot but i know that it worked in some cases.
Another Advantage is that genetecially, defects will be passed down to the offspring.

But in some cases, plants can be weak or not healthy and may need additional generations of breeding in other plants. The produced Offspring thats created with this tech is not to be seen as clones as there is a recombination of DNA going on, what enables them to cross them in with the motherplant as well."

an opportunity to make some very interesting hybrids......or self fertilise a self sterile plant...enjoy....
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sundanz
Posts: 809
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:05 pm
Location: Tyler, Texas, prev. Germany

Re: Free Melocactus matanzanus seeds...

Post by sundanz »

Wow! Fabulous information!! Thank you for posting this!!

Karin
Life's a Cactus in the Great State of Texas!!!
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