Pollen storage

[Wakinyan]

This is one effective method I have found for storing pollen that might only be viable for 24 hours at room temperature. Simply storing in a bag like this in the freezer has extended my pollen for years.

I've had the good fortune of talking with many hybridizers of many different kinds of plants over the years. I have of course dabbled with hybridizing many types of plants... not just cacti over the years as well. It seems once one understands the basics no flower is safe. These methods I implore you to try with all species of plants you may have. Don't limit yourself to just cacti with these methods. I sure don't limit myself to one group. Have fun and if you get lucky enough to find something you like out of your efforts then great. If not, then you've still had fun exploring the world of hybrids.


Many other methods exist, the main principle however is to have dry pollen that is frozen asap. Try to reduce freezing and unfreezing and where necessary place pollen bags in a secondary container to help prevent accidental exposure to moisture. While I have a bit more on hybridizing and storage of pollen... I think some of these tid bits may suffice to get some people to do some experimentation and their own research on the matter.

 

[Wakinyan]

"Crossing experiments within the genus Lophophora

Gerhard Koehres has reported successfully making the following crosses within the Lophophoras (success being judged by the production of seeds that have then been grown into actual seedlings)
Koehres noted these to be self-sterile:
L. alberto-vojtechii
L. diffusa
L. fricii
L. koehresii
L. williamsii El Huizache SLP
L. williamsii Norias del Conde SLP
Koehres listed 25 additional L. williamsii populations that he had determined were self- fertile.
L. williamsii Parras, Coahuila is said to be self fertile despite most people now placing this with L. fricii.
Koehres did not get pollination for L. koehresii using pollen from L. williamsii Huizache but found L. williamsii Huizache could be successfully pollinated using pollen from L. koehresii.
Koehres also successfully pollinated L. koehresii with pollen from L. fricii and L. diffusa. (Kada used a self-fertile L. williamsii and could get no pollination using pollen from L. diffusa, L. fricii and L. koehresii.)
L. fricii was reported by Koehres to be successfully pollinated using pollen from L. koehresii and L. diffusa. (Kada reported failures after 7 attempts involving L. diffusa pollen, 13 with L. williamsii and 18 L. koehresii pollen but reported success for 1 attempt involving a L. williamsii.)
L. diffusa was successfully pollinated by Koehres using pollen from L. koehresii. (Kada has recorded a consistent failure after 11 attempts with pollen from L. fricii, 4 with L. koehresii pollen and 3 using L. williamsii pollen.)
L. koehresii was successfully pollinated by Koehres using pollen from L. diffusa and L. fricii but not with pollen from L. williamsii Huizache (Kada reported successful pollination for 19 attempts using L. fricii pollen but none in 4 tries with L. diffusa pollen and 29 with L. williamsii pollen)
Koehres found that fruit can form from the early flowers within around 8 weeks but for the later blossoms the fruit often do not emerge until the following year. Koehres also commented that the self fertile populations are very uniform in comparison to the self sterile populations which are more highly variable in the shape of the body and the flower.

Lophophoras suspected of being hybrids

There are a number of Lophophoras in horticulture that are known to be or suspected to be hybrids. Most intriguing to me are Kada’s Lophophora diffusa X Obregonia denegrii. I look forward to hearing how those seedlings grow up.
At some point an entry on this subject will be added here but the work is still ongoing so only this note is presently being included." Names associated with Lophophoras – Trout's Notes''

And for those interested in f2 Lophophora hybrid seed.... https://www.koehres-kaktus.de/shop/Cactus-seeds/Lophophora---1_364-10.html

The above is Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora fricii f2.

One more hybrid f2 of course... https://www.koehres-kaktus.de/shop/Cactus-seeds/Lophophora---1_364.html

Not sure if anyone else is growing these, but for those interested in hybrids they are worth a shot.


Lophophora from one locality to the next has such variability in pollen it makes sense that some crosses might not be possible with one locality, but possible with another. Whatever the case may be, you have to salute those hybridizers that have been successful in these endeavors as well as those that were bold enough to try and fail.

 

[Wakinyan]

Koehres pollinations
Lophophora williamsii Huizache x Lophophora koehresii
Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora fricii
Lophophora williamsii x Lophophora fricii f2

Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora fricii
Lophophora koehresii x Lophophora diffusa

Lophophora fricii El Amparo x Lophophora koehresii
Lophophora fricii x Lophophora diffusa

Lophophora diffusa x Lophophora koehresii

Kada
Lophophora diffusa x Obregonia denegrii

Other hybrids as per MagiCactus.com - Lophophora Williamsii - Peyote and other sources

Lophophora williamsii x Mammilaria bocasana
Lophophora williamsii x Mammilaria zeilmanniana
Lophophora williamsii x Mammilaria Strombocactus disciformis
Lophophora williamsii x Turbinicarpus pseudomacrochele
Lophophora williamsii x Ariocarpus fissuratus
Lophophora williamsii x Astrophytum asterias
Lophophora williamsii x Epithelantha micromeris
Lophophora jourdaniana
Lophophora jourdaniana var. mammilaris

Now, much of what I have found did not include locality information for specimens used in these crosses nor did they always include whether the specimen chosen was a self-fertile or not.

Also note, there is not much information to be found on how these pollinations occurred. Was the flower emasculated first? Was a donor pollen or mentor pollen utilized? Was a cut style approach used?

Given that often it is possible for a particular phenotype to be dominant over another was the cross carried out further to the f2 or even backcrossed to help bring out the recessive traits or was it just assumed the cross was successful without further breeding of the progeny?
Were the progeny sterile thus making an f2 impossible to make?