Friday, October 03, 2008

How soon after your Lophophora flowers can you expect a fruit?

I was asked this question in a comment a while ago. I could not give an answer that was more precise than flowers pollinated early in the growing season would set fruit later the same year so I decided to investigate the question further.

Freshly pollinated flowers marked with yellow cotton
Freshly pollinated flowers marked with yellow cotton

Friday July 18 I marked 5 freshly pollinated flowers on my grafted Lophophora williamsii (SB 854; Starr Co, Texas) with yellow pieces of cotton - the cotton was attached to the spent flowers using nail polish. The flowers were all pollinated 1 and 2 days prior to being marked.

All I had to do now was lean back, relax, and wait for the fruits to pop out.

*

Wednesday September 10 – less than 8 weeks after pollinating the flowers – all 5 fruits had appeared.

Lophophora williamsii fruits
Lophophora williamsii fruits

Lophophora williamsii fruit up close
Lophophora williamsii fruit up close

The first fruit (in the right hand side of the photo below) appeared more than a week earlier than the others and consequently looks a bit withered.

Offset with fruits
Offset with fruits

Another offset with fruit
Another offset with fruit

So a more precise answer to the question above is that you can expect your Lophophora williamsii plant to set fruits within 7-8 weeks after pollination. At least that is the case for a grafted plant in good growth.

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