Astrophytum asterias

Astrophytum asterias

Thursday 22 March 2012

Cactus / khoyo

This cactus is a grafted Astrophytum myriostigma v nudum cv red bean khoyo kikkow.
I lost several good mature plants in summer and so I grafted 9 seedlings after that to maintain the numbers.
This cultivar is green in summer but the body color is turned to red bean during autumn to spring as similar to autum foliage. Since it is just the beginning of autumn, the color is orange.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Cactus / denegrii

I bought 50 seeds of Obregonia denegrii and sowed on 28/09/2005.
Although some of seedlings were grafted, I kept own root seedlings also.
Some of these seedlings have started flowering in this season.
Own root denegrii grows very slowly.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Cactus / Astrophytum hybrid

Flowers of both Astrophytum asterias and coahuilense are yellow petals and orange throat.
You can make a hybrid from these specises easily.
The photo is the hybrid, coahuilense x asterias super kabuto made by myself.

Monday 19 March 2012

Cactus / buiningii

I bought seeds of Ubelmannia buiningii HU141 and sowed on 31/08/2006.
Several young seedlings were grafted.
Seedlings of buiningii are very small.
This grafted plant is in flower from spring to autumn repeatedly.

Sunday 18 March 2012

Cactus / kotschoubeyanus

I removed 50% shade-cloth covered over my greenhouses this morning.
I put the shade-cloth on mid of November and remove in mid of March every year.

A grafted Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus was in flower this morning.
The scion is grafted on a pereskiopsis stock.

Saturday 17 March 2012

Cactus / ritteri

This grafted Aztekium ritteri was in flower yesterday.
I think it was late flowering because of in autumn.
The seeds of ritteri are very small and is not easy to propagate from seeds.
I have increased number of plants from pup grafting.

Friday 16 March 2012

Cactus / intermedius

I bought seeds of Ariocarpus fissuratus v intermedius and sowed on 11/08/2005.
I grafted several young seedlings.
One of grafted plants was in flower this morning.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Cactus / fussuratus seedling

One of Ariocarpus fussuratus seedlings got the 1st flowering yesterday.
I collects seeds from my plants and sowed on 30/09/2006.
It took 5 and a half years from seed to flower.
The growing speed of Ariocarpus is quite slow.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Cactus / super kabuto

There are various formes of super kaguto.
This one which I propagate from a seed has coarse flecks.
It was in autumn but the temperature reached to 34 C' yesterday.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Cactus / Miracle kabuto

Astrophytum asterias cv miracle kabuto has been in flower continuously.
The flower is a bit small because of autumn.
I collected plenty of seeds and sowed in this season.
The success ratio of germaination for asterias seeds becomes the highest if you could sow immidiately after the collection of seeds.
Since it is in autumn, seeds collected from now will be for next season.

Monday 12 March 2012

Cactus / grafting practice

There are various way of graftings.
I did a practice of the grafting using super-glue.
Scions are Ariocarpus tubercles. Since it was hard to give continuous pressure onto scions, I used the super-glue method.
Stocks are Myrtillocactus geometrizans, thick pups grown outdoor.
I think I can see the result next spring.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Cactus / alonsoi

I bought seeds of Turbinicarpus alonsoi and sowed on 31/08/2006.
Several young seedlings just after germination were grafted.
The original alonsoi is a small plant but they have grown into a quite large size because of grafted.
I degrafted them last year.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Cactus / Reddish flowering super kabuto

The flower color of standard super kabuto is yellow petal and orange throat.
This one has reddish petals and sigma.
I have not had any intension to make but several similar ones have come out from my own seeds.

Friday 9 March 2012

Cactus / ruri kabuto

Ruri kabuto is not a asterias v nudum.
It is a hybrid of senil x asterias and its gene is fixed.
The body color of the mature plant will be ruri (azure) color.
Since the body color is attractive, I crossed some other asterias and collected seeds this year.
   Ruri kabuto x Super kabuto
   Ruri kabuto x Miracle kabuto
   Rurikabuto x Variegated kabuto
2 ruri kabuto were in flower yesterday.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Cactus / Hanazono kabuto

Astrophytum asterias have been in flower continuously.
The photo is a cultivar Hanazono kabuto.
This is a degrafted plant.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Cactus / horstii

Several grafted Discocactus horstiis were in flower yesterday.
I like this species and sow seeds every year.
The growing speed of own-rooted plant is very slow and I do not have any flowering size plants yet.
When you grafted young seelings, scions will be in flower aroung 3 years old.
The photo is 3 years old one. The scent of flower is very nice.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Cactus / variegated asterias

It was a clear warm day yesterday.
Many Astrophytum asterias were in flower.
I did cross pollination but it takes time to mature fruits from now.
The photo is one of asterias.

Monday 5 March 2012

Cactus / red flowering asterias

I put a photo of red flowering asterias on this website before. This is one of pups of the plant.
It is a good flower color but the size of body is too small.
Frequent crossing in history made the size of body small.
Although it is the begining of autumn, astrias are in flower.

Sunday 4 March 2012

Cactus / grafted denegrii seedling

I sowed Obregonia denegrii seeds on 08/10/2011.
Seeds were collected from my own plants.
The fruit of denegrii is very small and you can not collect so many seeds from one fruit.
I grafted several young seedlings and 5 scions were taken.
The photo is one of them, 2 very small pups are coming out.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Cactus / grafted Ariocarpus

I grafted Ariocarpus seedlings on Pereskiopsis stocks in this season.
Grafted seedlings are:
retusus v furfuraceus cv Seiji
retusus v major cv mitsuibo
retusus v furfuraceus cv Sugri cauliflower
kotschoubeyanus v elephantideus
84 seedlings in total.

I used 15 cm length of Pereskiopsis cuttings as stocks and grafted scions in a simple wet-box.