Cold Climate Cactus

The Pediocactus var minor seed pods became ripe about four days ago. They have to be gathered as soon as they are ripe or the pods will start letting the seeds out, which makes them very hard to collect. The seeds tend to fall down the sides of the plants and hide in the network of spines at the base of the plants. Once the seeds are trapped at the base of the plant they are impossible to remove without harming the cactus.

Another difficulty is that the pods need to stay on the plants and removing the whole pod can cause serious damage to the stem of the Pedio. The pods need to be gently split open and the seeds picked out of the pod a few at a time with tweezers. A few weeks later the empty seed pods will dry and fall of the plants without damaging their skin. If the plant is damaged by removing a seed pod the resulting injury can become infected and the whole plant will die.

It took me over three hours to remove seeds from less than twenty plants. Picking the seeds out of the seed pods is tricky because they tend to slip away while I'm trying to grasp them. I am storing the seeds in the frig. and hope to plant them later this summer.

The Echinocereus triglochidiatus cactus plants are opening their buds today and I think they are some of the most interesting and beautiful flowers. They're beautiful in a strange way and are surely some of the most unusual flower for any plant. If I can get some similar plants to open at the same time I should get some good seeds. Otherwise I'll be happy with any seeds from these plants. There are some triglochidiatus, triglochidiatus var. mojavensis and triglochidiatus var. gonacanthus, so I'm not sure if I'll end up with any pure species.

The Escobaria vivipara cacti are starting to bloom. Their buds are much harder to see because they blend in with the appearance of the spins. Then they seem to suddenly open. Taking every chance I can to pollinate them and often they are closing up again by the time I come home from work. These flowers come out with the sun light and they start to close when the sun goes behind the trees.

The Echinocereus viridiflorus cacti are flowering very well and I'm hoping they will form plenty of seed pods too. They open with the sun and close again later in the afternoon. On cloudy days or if the day turns cloudy they will close up very quickly.

There have been gray skies and cool rain for the week and the Echinocereus cacti all still have their buds closed. Hopefully the sun will open them on days when I can get out to pollinate them. It is impressive how these plants can save their flowering for sunny weather when the insects they need will be out too.

The Echinocereus triglochidiatus and viridiflorus cacti are producing lots of buds. A few plants have started to open their flowers, but cooler weather has kept all of the flower buds closed for a few days. When the sun comes out again there should be plenty of flowers to pollenate.

The Pediocactus plants are on their last flowers and they will finish blooming before any other species begin to bloom. There are signs of developing seed pods and the plants are putting out plenty of new growth.