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Will opuntia grow fruit on its own or do I need to cross pollinate?

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:08 pm
by skrinkle
I’ve only got the one so I’m wondering if I should get a second

Re: Will opuntia grow fruit on its own or do I need to cross pollinate?

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 3:02 am
by 7george
Cross-pollination I think. And the second one has to be from a different seed, not a cloning with the same origin as your first.

Re: Will opuntia grow fruit on its own or do I need to cross pollinate?

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:50 am
by greenknight
I did some searching and found an interesting paper on the subject - it seems that some Opuntias will self-pollinate, some won't but can be hand-pollinated with their own pollen, while others require cross-pollination. Some can produce seed without pollination, a phenomenon called apomixis.

It's not an easy read: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0e43/2 ... 7a62da.pdf