Magnimamma Fruits/Seeds

How will I know when the seeds in the friut are ready for germination? Do I need to pollinate the flower myself. I have only one magnimamma plant, is that a problem?

Hi Johan,
I believe that M. magnimamma is self fertile, so you should be OK, but it is always good to get the brush out as soon as the flowers are open. It prevents accidental hybridisation anyway - well, reduces the risk.
The seed pods on magnimamma should be red, and I'd wait until they have deepened in colour and start to dry up. If you can then easily detach them then do so, else wait a bit longer. Then the seeds should be dark in colour and OK to sow.

Thank you Chris . Do I wait for the seed pods to dry out or can I open them to get the seeds as soon as detached?

I think the seed pods should be left to dry a bit, and shrivel up. Although I have no scientific proof, I have always felt that this is part of their maturing process.
However, I remember collecting just 2 magnimamma seed pods in 2005, and cleaned out the seed 2 months later, when the pods still showed red, and got about 50 seeds, of which probably 40 have germinated. First sowing was one month after I cleaned the seed; next was this year. There was no obvious difference in germination.

Speaking only from personal experience here...at least this works for me.

At the earliest, I harvest my Mam seeds when the pods become very easily detached from the plant if the birds are starting to eat them. When the fruit is still pulpy, I will spit the side open and scrape the seed filled jelly into a very fine sieve. I then gently rub the gelatinous mass in the sieve under running water until only seed remain. The seed can either be left in the sieve to dry, or put into a small cup to dry. Once dry, the seeds are gently rubbed to make sure they are all separated, and then stored in brown paper mini envelopes with labels. They may be planted anywhere from a month to several years later.

If birds are not a problem, I harvest the pods and either process them as above, or store the pods intact in the envelopes.

Harvesting ripe but pulpy fruits does work, but germination rates may not be as high as harvesting recently dried fruits.

It is my belief that the washing that occurs actually improves germination by mimicking the passage of seeds through the digestive tract under natural conditions in the wild. However, I have not run any sort of tests or experiments to confirm my beliefs.

M. magnimamma is one of my favorites as I very much enjoy the range of spination and flower colors!

I collect seed when the fruits/pods can be easily removed from the plant, while still puply. I scrape the insideS onto boltting paper and leave to dry for a day and then bag the seed. I do not wash the seed and have never had any problems with germination afterwards.
While mimiking the passage of seed throught the digestive tract can be very important in the germination process of some cactus speices I do not believe it is in the case of Mamm's.
But has with a lot of things, if it works for you don't change it.

That's all very interesting, as although not Mamms, I collected a fair bit of seed on my last trip to the SW states, and they were quite pulpy, so the seeds needed a good wash. They were mostly Echinomastus, but did find a few M.grahamii and M. tetrancistra along the way.
I guess I'll find out this spring.

I found an article on this subject in an old UK Mamm Society Journal. It was recommended that a wait of 10 months between harvesting and sowing the seed.
It also mentioned that a lot of Cactus seed is collected by Ants. They use the seed to grow a fungus on the seed coat ( testa ) of the seed, which they eat. The fungus breaks down the testa. Once this process is finnished the ants remove the seed from the nest there by distributing the seed which then germinates.