Editing Cereus repandus (section)

== Flowering, fruiting, and harvest ==

Flowers are hermaphrodite, tubular-campanulate with white inner tepals, and open for a single night. <sup id="cite_ref-12">[[#cite_note-12|[12]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-9|[9]]]</sup> In the native range, nectar-feeding bats are the primary pollinators: on Curaçao the threatened bats ''Glossophaga longirostris elongata'' and ''Leptonycteris curasoae'' are critical pollinators of the species, with hummingbirds and moths playing a minor role in pollination, and a Venezuelan field study found the same two bat species responsible for practically all fruit set. <sup>[[#cite_note-9|[9]]]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-13">[[#cite_note-13|[13]]]</sup> In a Negev orchard trial, bees and small flies were the main flower visitors during the hours the flowers were open around sunset and sunrise, and placing beehives increased fruit set; the cactus encyclopedia likewise notes that honey bees can pollinate in the few open hours. <sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> Gardeners with mature plants describe heavy bee activity around the blooms, and one grower warns that the nectar draws a heavy, stinging insect swarm at sunrise and sunset. <sup id="cite_ref-14">[[#cite_note-14|[14]]]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-15">[[#cite_note-15|[15]]]</sup>

The species is self-incompatible in seed-grown material: in the Israeli trial, bagged self-pollination set 0% fruit across all tested seedlings while cross-pollination set about 100% with heavier, more-seeded fruit, and open-pollinated flowers set 0–37.5%; natural fruit set of individual plants at one site ranged from 0 to 95%. <sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup> Venezuelan field studies classify the species among obligate outcrossers, and the Curaçao phenology study likewise records self-incompatibility. <sup>[[#cite_note-13|[13]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-12|[12]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-9|[9]]]</sup> One edible-plant database states that the plant is self-fertile, a minority view that contradicts the field studies; reliable fruiting in a garden therefore means two genetically distinct plants (not two cuttings of one clone) or hand cross-pollination, transferring pollen between flowers of the two plants on the night they open — a Reddit grower whose moths never produced fruit planned exactly that with a paintbrush. <sup>[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-14|[14]]]</sup> Even with compatible pollen, set depends on pollination success: one Reddit grower with several old plants reports only a single fruit in years, from which seeds were harvested and grown. <sup>[[#cite_note-14|[14]]]</sup>

Fruit develops in about 40 days (Curaçao measurements) to 40–50 days (cultivation guide). <sup>[[#cite_note-9|[9]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> Plants flower from about 1–2 years old when grown from cuttings and 4–5 years from seed, though the Negev seedlings first flowered in their fifth growing season at some sites; a Michigan container grower who overwinters the plant indoors reports no bloom after 15+ years, so cold-winter container culture can stay flowerless. <sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-14|[14]]]</sup> Large plants flower more heavily and start earlier in the season than small ones, and a single large plant can carry hundreds of fruits in a year. <sup>[[#cite_note-9|[9]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup>

Harvest at full color: the flesh sweetens as the fruit opens, and fruit often splits on the plant when ripe (the splitting tendency varies by individual, and reduced irrigation during final fruit development was suggested in the Israeli trial to limit bursting). <sup>[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Ripe fruit is perishable — the encyclopedia says harvested ripe fruits should be eaten within about 24 hours or they begin to ferment, while a grower guide reports that unwashed fruit keeps about 5 days refrigerated. <sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup>