@PetalPowerseed, Seeds usually start out like this:
When the fruit is dried out I collect and empty the pods. Go figure I’ve never bothered to take pictures of seeds or harvested fruits. The seeds are small and black like poppy seeds, and sometimes sticky depending on how much the fruit has dried.
Next I salvage a shallow dish or container and fill it with dry dirt, then meticulously smooth out the surface of the dirt. Once those seeds fall they are impossible to find again. Then I line the seeds up at the edge of a table and slide them one by one into the container I’m holding below, making it much easier to approximate a grid pattern with the seeds. A moistened toothpick also works wonderfully for putting seeds where you want them. With the seeds planted I mist them with a spray bottle until they are soaked, very gently as not to blast them into the surface of the dirt.
Finally I seal the top over with some plastic kitchen wrap, no airholes necessary, and leave them on a windowsill for a few months to a year. Putting the pot in a clear plastic bag tied at the top works well too. Really soak them with the spray bottle though, you don’t want to have to water your plants every month.
It’s a good idea to leave a bit of lip around the container because you don’t want the seedlings to press against condensation that can build up on the plastic wrap, and because you never know when you might need to stack containers on top of eachother without crushing all your babies.
I have lately been trying to get the seeds to plant themselves , as they would naturally in the wild. Lophophora williamsii will often self-pollenate without outside intervention, and the dried fruits fall to the dirt as the cacti grows. I’ve spent years watching seed pods collect on the dirt but have yet to see the magic happen.
Rockstar used to have “Rockstar Recovery” drinks containing Opuntia, though I doubt an energy drink is beneficial to a hangover. The cactus pads are delicious when fried, and also where prickly pears come from.
I’m fascinated, intrigued, captivated and mesmerized, all at the same time.
. Consumption is perfectly legal, protected by the Native American Church/religious ceremony (baffling if you ask me, as peyote isn’t exactly native to Canada). Any attempt to extract the alkaloids within you are all of a sudden in violation of the law pretty much internationally- but at that point it’s not really about the plant anymore.