This might be an evidence for most of you... I hope my questions are clear.
Will a cacti that flowers automatically produce a fruit or does it needs to be pollinated to do so ?
Another way to ask would be... If I collected seeds from a cacti, can I assume they are fertile ? I would think not but if someone could summarize how that whole pollinated/not, fertile/not, producing seeds/not thing works, i'd be grateful.
Basic question
Ok, that was the kind of answer I was expecting. Would this generalization be correct:Loph wrote:if they are making seeds, they should be good. sometimes you get underdeveloped ones, but usually they are good when left to mature.
some species need to be crossed by another plant, others do not. depends on species mostly.
If a self-fertile specie make a fruit, it should contain viable seeds. A non self-fertile specie would not make fruit if not pollinated at all, would make non-viable seeds if pollinated with a non-compatible plant, would make viable hybrid seeds if pollinated with a compatible plant and would make viable seeds if pollinated with same specie.
I do understand we're talking about nature here... but I just wanted to get the big picture.
Cacti pollinated by an incompatible partner generally make nothing at all. The flower just dries up and drops off.
In some cases, self-fertile plants only set seed if they are physically pollinated. In other cases they can pollinate themselves just by the action of opening and closing the flower. Cacti seem pretty good at pollinating themselves but tickling them can't hurt.
In some cases, self-fertile plants only set seed if they are physically pollinated. In other cases they can pollinate themselves just by the action of opening and closing the flower. Cacti seem pretty good at pollinating themselves but tickling them can't hurt.
--ian
