Success!

First time I've tried cross-pollinating by hand and I've done well.
Crossed two Turbinicarpus swobodae and now I've got between 4-6 fruits! (just found out they are self-fertile (still crossing them won't hurt))

The plants I crossed:



and a photo of the most advanced fruit:

Good on ya Mitch! My cacti never seem to be in flower at the same time, so I don't often get the chance to pollinate them. It's pretty rewarding when you finally harvest and plant your own seeds.
Keep up the good work!

Hi Mitch Just letting you know that Turbinicarpus swobodae is actually the only self fertile turbinicarpus meaning that one single plant can produce seed. But in saying that it is better to cross pollinate them.
Now the trick is to get the seed before the ants do.

Any idea how long I have to leave the fruit before harvesting or will it be obvious?
I'll have no problem beating the ants. I'm on holidays now so I can check regularly.

I did know they were self-fertile and remembered half way through writing my first post but yeah crossing them is good for healthy offspring with strong genetics.

I'm going to start buying plants to pair up with the plants I've already got and hopefully can make lots of my own seeds which I can disperse into trays and into the cacti community.

I'll also be crossing gymnocalycium bodenbenderianum ssp intertextum (long name, huh?), parodia sellowii (are these self-fertile?) and gymnocalycium baldianum this season.

Answered my own question. Parodia sellowii is self-fertile.


List of self-fertile/self-sterile plants

http://lapsyserre.free.fr/psy_liste/SPSY2K4.doc

Yeah that document/link is very handy I use it for reference quite a bit. However I believe there are a few mistakes here and there.