Welcome to the group, cache! Thanks for joining in.

Crypts are difficult in that there really aren't any visuals other than the fruits swelling. Yes, they will soften when they're ripe, but they won't pull free, so you just have to keep testing them by poking them gently with a sharp object. They will turn fairly mushy at some point and then you can use tweezers or some other tool to pierce the skin and dig the seeds out. There will be comparatively few per berry, anywhere from just a couple to maybe 15 or so, and they are relatively large (much bigger than Neo seeds), rounded, hard and tan colored.

The other hard part with Crypts is marking the flower you've pollinated. There really isn't much there to hold the tag, so it often ends up stuck between two berries, rather than attached to one of them. This makes it confusing if you have two or three different crosses side by side, because it's easy to get them mixed up. When piercing the skin of one it can go through to the others and you don't know which one you're pulling the seeds out of. For that reason it may be a good idea to limit the pollen parents you use so that all of the fruits in one area are the same cross.

Sowing is the same as for other genera. Just spread them out on the surface of your planting medium, and keep them moist, protected and well-lit.

Many thanks, Lisa. I have taken so much time pollinating and marking my plants that I want to get it right when it's time to harvest and sow. With your excellent advice, I feel much more confident about the timing and what to look for even without pictures. I will make an effort to photograph the pods and the harvest so that I can post to the forum.

I am new at this forum stuff.I am a serious terresterial grower.I have done a few dyckia crosses and have tons of dyckias and hechtias.I have a hechtia marnier-lapostole that has bloomed.I was under the impression that all hechtias were either male or female. If this is the case I must have a female plant and the only thing blooming at the same time was dyckias. So does that mean that I may have a bigeneric. Every flower has a seed pod.Or did I misunderstand about the male and female and it is just an f2
Bryan

Are there seeds in the pods? It's not unusual to get pods with no seeds. I think this is called parthenocarpy.

Welcome Cache!

I look forward to your crypt photo's, do keep us posted on your progress.

Sander

Thanks for the warm welcome.

winterlager--The pods are pretty large but I won't know if there are seeds until I harvest when the pods get soft.

Sander-will keep everyone posted.