By Vitaliy Derevyanko, Krasnoyarsk

Most cactophiles who own cultivars have the same questions: if my one-color (variegated) plant blooms what shell I do? How to pollinate them correctly: one-color with one-color, one-color with variegated, one-color with normal or are there any other combinations? How to keep pollen if they do not bloom simultaneously? When should I gather the seeds and when sow them? At what combination of pollination there is higher percentage of colored plants or germinating?

We suggest that you share your experience of dealing with cultivars.

Photo 1.

There are more than 100 variegated and one-color plants in my collection. Most of them belong to two genera: Gymnocalycium and Аstrophytym. All the variegated plants grow on own roots and one-color plants are grafted. I use both my own seeds and the ones that Nicolay Fedyukin, Moscow, sends me free. Thanks to him.

I get most of the seeds from two plants of Gymnocalycium mihanovichii nigrum (they have dark brown stem with reddish shade). Both of the plants grow on stocks. They started blooming at the age of two after grafting. They cross-pollinate between themselves or with a variegated Gymnocalycium growing on own roots. I have 3 big Gymnocalycium variegata with a 20-40% colored part.

Photo 2.

I should say that the flowers of Gymnocalycium mihanovichii nigrum do not open fully. So I have to break their integrity to pollinate them. I pull out inner petals to free stamens and pistil. If you do not pollinate flowers they can linger a month and even more, then they die out. The flowers of Gymnocalycium variegata (on own roots) open normally. I keep the blooming plants on the southwestern windowsill.

If we compare sowing the seeds of G. variegata х G. normal, G. mihanovichii nigrum x G. normal, G. mihanovichii nigrum x G. mihanovichii nigrum and G. mihanovichii nigrum x G. Variegata we will find that the highest percentage of variegated plants comes out of the seeds got at the pollination of Gymnocalycium mihanovichii nigrum with any Gymnocalycium variegata.

Photo 3.

I tried to pollinate Gymnocalycium cultivar with a normal Gymnocalycium. In this case most colored seedlings can be got from the seeds of a colored plant (cultivar), not visa versa.

As for Аstrophytym I can quote an example. In 1999 I had a case of reciprocal pollination of A. senile v. aureum x А. capricorne.v. niveum. When I sowed the fresh seeds (it is my passion) of A. senile v. Aureum they gave 100% of pale yellow seedlings. With time part of them died, as I was lazy to graft them. I was concentrated on Gymnocalycium, there were pink and reddish seedlings among them and here all were yellow. The survivors still grow on own roots and get more variegated and nice. The seeds of the second plant - А. capricorne.v. niveum gave not a single colored seedling. Their tops were reddish first but later they grew green. I was interested in the fact and in 2000 I repeated this kind of pollination. The result was the same. Though the yellow seedlings of A. senile aureum this time were more beautiful. I believe this is because I added dolomite powder to the soil that makes it less sour. I believe that soil for Аstrophytym should be neutral.

Photo 4.

As I have already mentioned I try to grow all the variegated plants on own roots. They grow slowly during their first year. They form their color. At the 3rd or 4th month of their life the color gets stable. Before it they are white-green. Then they grow further but depending on the size of the colored part. The larger it is the slower they grow. The plants are kept in the room greenhouse (2 daylight lamps of 40 watt). The key to the good growth is warmth and high humidity. They also like reasonable fertilizing. The plants growing in room conditions are 1,5-2 times behind.

SOWING. I sow slightly unripe seeds but most often just gathered and washed out seeds. Saying unripe I mean the following: when the fruit of Gymnocalycium ripens it dehisces and is kept on the plant for some more time. But I pick it up as soon as the first crack appears. I sow the seeds during a week. Before it I open the fruit, put its contents into a close-meshed sieve and wash it under the tap with the water of room temperature. Than I dry them till looseness and sow.

Photo 5.

I have never counted the seedlings but noticed that this method gives the biggest number of colored ones. I sow seeds on filter paper to Petri cups. This way it is more convenient to watch them. By the way, very often I use charcoal as substratum. I put charcoal of buckwheat fraction into filter paper. It serves as antiseptic. I examine and sort out seedlings daily. Colored not grafted seedlings do not live more than 7-10 days. They happened to grow till a year but later died anyway. I often graft white and pink seedlings on one-year-old seedlings of Myrtilocactus. As for yellowish plants or those with spots, I prickle them out and plant into a pot with soil to grow them on own roots.

I would like to mention the nature of seedlings. The seedlings of hybrid plants seeds are the first to germinate. It looks like they all are colored. But in a couple of days 40-50 % of them grow green. The first "wave" of seedlings appears in 10-15 days. Then there is a pause and 10 days later the rest of the seeds (of normal plants) germinate. The percentage of germinating and colored seedlings is not permanent and depends mainly on the parents.

SOIL. Use stewed forest soil. The approximate contents are: forest soil - 60-70 %, river sand (of buckwheat fraction) - 10-15 % and charcoal (of buckwheat fraction) - 10-15 %.

STEWING. I put the soil into gauze, place it into colander and on the pot with boiling water (water bath). I tie a wet towel around the pot and colander to keep the steam. I leave it for 30 minutes with water slightly boiling. There are lots of methods. For instance, you can put the soil into a 3-liter glass jar, add half liter of water and place it into the oven. Keep the temperature at 100-120 (С. An hour later, turn the oven off and let the soil get cold. To prevent the jar from breaking place a tray (grating) under it and do not cover it tightly. As for frying soil, I don't like it.

PRICKLING OUT. I prickle out seedlings in 15-20 days. The contents of the soil are similar. It should be fresh and stewed. I use the soil of the same contents for grown-up plants.

Plant the seedlings close to each other. They grow better this way. If they die charcoal prevents rot from spreading. I also use teuran (TNDT), the stuff used at manufacturing general mechanical rubber goods. I powder the soil with it using a small brush.

WATERING. I water the plants with boiled water with added manganese (pale pink solution).

Walery Kalishev, Chelyabinsk, Russia, mailto: e-mail