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Koenraad
Hermit of the woods


Registered: 07/20/22
Posts: 56
Last seen: 8 months, 10 days
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Congratulations! I'm sure you've bitten all of your fingernails off awaiting this moment. It's awesome that your best looking gal made it happen too.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Re: Loph Growers Unite! [Re: Koenraad] 3
#28027532 - 11/01/22 08:14 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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For the first time, all three of my flowering lophs have opened on the same day, allowing for a total free-for-all pollen swap. Also second ever double bloom opened, you can see my first fruit maturing under the petals too.
 P1F12
 P2F4
 P3F8 & F9 first double bloom for this plant
All flowers manually received pollen from each of the other two plants. I’m hoping this increases likelihood of fertilization.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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P1F13, manually selfed

———
Hey also, a question for those more experienced than I: can anyone tell if this drying fruit is ready for harvest? It was my understanding they should be left to mature in the plant. It was full and plump, is now beginning to wrinkle, but does not yet come off with the bareliest most gentle tug.

Time to pull a little harder? Cut it open and hope for seeds?
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Acaterpillar
A little mad...



Registered: 06/09/07
Posts: 18,693
Loc: Down the rabbit hole
Last seen: 3 months, 26 days
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I can usually spot a few seeds in the dried fruit as they're squished up against the wall. I can't see any in the picture though. Once it begins desiccating I've found that it's safe to remove.
I mostly do this because around here ants and rodents will steal the fruit if given the chance.
*Edit: actually that might be a seed in the middle section towards the right, so you may be in luck. Hope you score.
-------------------- Aaa...E I O Uuu...A E I O Uuu..A E I O uh Uuu.. *Cough* *Cough* Ooo...U E I O Aaa...U E I Aaa..A E I O Uuuuu... At first sight, The Perfection of Wisdom is bewildering, full of paradox and apparent irrationality.
Edited by Acaterpillar (11/08/22 12:45 PM)
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Quote:
Acaterpillar said: I can usually spot a few seeds in the dried fruit as they're squished up against the wall. I can't see any in the picture though. Once it begins desiccating I've found that it's safe to remove.
I mostly do this because around here ants and rodents will steal the fruit if given the chance.
*Edit: actually that might be a seed in the middle section towards the right, so you may be in luck. Hope you score.

I think you’re right! I’m goin for it
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hazyhorse
scoobin



Registered: 03/19/19
Posts: 3,820
Last seen: 11 hours, 22 minutes
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beautiful loph egon, i hope you get some seeds.
-------------------- you're not the first to set foot here, just another =================================== i love glass petris & you can too!! posts i constantly refer back to new to mushroom cultivation?? read this!! ===================================
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Acaterpillar
A little mad...



Registered: 06/09/07
Posts: 18,693
Loc: Down the rabbit hole
Last seen: 3 months, 26 days
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Re: Loph Growers Unite! [Re: hazyhorse]
#28040641 - 11/08/22 05:01 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Some of those bumpy red bits toward the top of the fruit could be seeds further embedded too. Fully desiccated cactus fruit will usually show seed wether by color, or texture along the walls of the fruit.
If those bumpy bits at the top are also seeds then I'd guess you can expect 5-10 seeds in that fruit. I've usually gotten like 5-8 seeds per fruit iirc. Been a while since I had any set fruit.
-------------------- Aaa...E I O Uuu...A E I O Uuu..A E I O uh Uuu.. *Cough* *Cough* Ooo...U E I O Aaa...U E I Aaa..A E I O Uuuuu... At first sight, The Perfection of Wisdom is bewildering, full of paradox and apparent irrationality.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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(excited Cartman voice) you guys!

I busted out the macro lense and cm/mm scale to show you guys my bountiful harvest

ONE SEED lol


A year of care and months of hand pollination, and I have gone from seed to seed! A mighty haul to be sure, lol. After I let it dry for a couple days, I’ll remove the last of the clinging pulp and then put it to the real test… Germination. Will it be viable? Who knows?
But if it sprouts, it will certainly be loved. My new prized plant.
Crown jewel in my collection.
——
Thanks for all the feedback and help and stuff these past few months yall. I appreciate your tolerance of my constant flower posting. This baby will get his own journal thread so I don’t spam y’all so much.
Love you!
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Koenraad
Hermit of the woods


Registered: 07/20/22
Posts: 56
Last seen: 8 months, 10 days
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Congratulations on the on your success!
 Do you know if that fruit was a product of a self or cross pollination? In any event, I hope your others follow suit.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Re: Loph Growers Unite! [Re: Koenraad]
#28041606 - 11/09/22 06:54 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Thanks! Unfortunately, no I don’t know which of the dried flowers are which. I kept notes at the time, of when one was selfed and when one was crossed. But After theyve dried I can’t tell them apart any more.
I had originally thought about trying to tag the flowers individually some way in order to distinguish them from one another and then be able to reference all my notes about P1F2 versus P1F4, etc.
But the dried buds are so small and delicate, I never figured out a safe way to tag them that wouldn’t make me afraid of knocking the bud off the plant before a fruit could set. Admittedly I didn’t work that hard in coming up with a solution, but I honestly didn’t expect so many flowers. I thought I’d be able to look back at photos and say “okay this one is at roughly 3o’clock, so it must be flower x, and this one at 7oclock must be flower y. But it didn’t work out, there’s too many, and a couple have been knocked off while manually pollinating open blooms. So I don’t even know which are left in the plant and which have been lost.
Next season I’ll try to keep better records. At this point the only reason I even continue posting with the numbering system is just so I can have an idea of how many flowers each individual plant has produced.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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P3F10 manually selfed
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hummingbird

Registered: 06/29/14
Posts: 2,134
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Man you get a lot of flowers! Are you hitting it with a brush multiple times? I like to keep doing periodically it until the flower starts to die, I think you get more seeds that way.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Yeah, something like 27 flowers or so since June this year on only three plants. I have been astounded by the number. But have come to suspect that the near constant blooming is a reflection of them not being fertilized, and so the horny little plants just keep pushing buds out.
Typically I brush them twice: the first day the bud opens, and then again the second day. Most times by day three the flowers don’t see to open enough to get the brush inside without doing damage.
I’ve read that pollination has a higher chance of success later in the flower’s life, as though the pollen itself matures in fertility after a couple days, but I worry about wrecking the flowers chances of setting fruit if I damage it by coming back so late.
Maybe that’s why I’ve only gotten one fruit, with exactly one seed. In nature a bee or whatever wouldn’t give two shits about being gentle, or how many days the flower has opened.
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hummingbird

Registered: 06/29/14
Posts: 2,134
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Yeah, I just pretend to be a bee. I'll hit it multiple times a day from when it opens until it dies. Sometimes I'll even make some bee noises. As log as you don't break the flower off doing it, you probably don't need to worry.
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Makes sense, those little creatures are always super rough on things. I’m probably just being too timid about it.
Buzzing sounds, lol, that’s probably the key
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hazyhorse
scoobin



Registered: 03/19/19
Posts: 3,820
Last seen: 11 hours, 22 minutes
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don’t forget to dance like a bee too! you gotta let your fellow pollinators know where that flower is at
egon, your photos are so beautiful. thank you for sharing.

i’ve had these lil dudes for about 1.6 years now, what are my next steps? should they be bigger? they are smaller than a dime for sure, idk if the pic conveys scale but im sure y’all here are familiar with young lophs. i do plan of grafting a few, i have some spare pereskiopsis i could take cuttings of for grafting stock, but i would like to grow the majority of them the old fashioned way. right now they are chillin about 2’ away from some full spectrum LED grow lights. i water pretty infrequently. just wanted to know if i should be taking any next steps rn or just let them ride
-------------------- you're not the first to set foot here, just another =================================== i love glass petris & you can too!! posts i constantly refer back to new to mushroom cultivation?? read this!! ===================================
  🅃 🄴 🄰 🄼 🄲 🄻 🄸 🄽 🄶 🅆 🅁 🄰 🄿
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Re: Loph Growers Unite! [Re: hazyhorse] 1
#28051464 - 11/14/22 07:05 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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They look happy and healthy to me, Hazy. I say let them ride. I’m no expert though, I’ve never left any to grow on their own roots. All mine have been grafted on pere. I’m growing out a bunch of pachanoi root stock right now, and hope to transfer some of my scions over in the spring. If I ever get more seeds from my current plants, I’ll slow-grow them out on their own roots like yours.
Good job
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hazyhorse
scoobin



Registered: 03/19/19
Posts: 3,820
Last seen: 11 hours, 22 minutes
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thank you egon! glad they are looking OK. i know they are slow growing, but just wanted to make sure they looked like where they should be. i appreciate the reply
-------------------- you're not the first to set foot here, just another =================================== i love glass petris & you can too!! posts i constantly refer back to new to mushroom cultivation?? read this!! ===================================
  🅃 🄴 🄰 🄼 🄲 🄻 🄸 🄽 🄶 🅆 🅁 🄰 🄿
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Egon_Spengler
Ever lurkin never workin



Registered: 04/02/22
Posts: 2,294
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Re: Loph Growers Unite! [Re: hazyhorse] 2
#28055870 - 11/17/22 09:16 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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P2F5, manually selfed, plus i buzzed and hummed and did a little booty shaking dance while I brushed the anthers up into the stigma, lol. Will hit it again later today, really get up in there.
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hazyhorse
scoobin



Registered: 03/19/19
Posts: 3,820
Last seen: 11 hours, 22 minutes
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sounds like you’re getting the hang of pollination i hope this give you a nice bounty of seeds. whenever i’ve seen people pollinate dragon fruit flowers it seems like they really get in there with their brushes
-------------------- you're not the first to set foot here, just another =================================== i love glass petris & you can too!! posts i constantly refer back to new to mushroom cultivation?? read this!! ===================================
  🅃 🄴 🄰 🄼 🄲 🄻 🄸 🄽 🄶 🅆 🅁 🄰 🄿
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