Cactus / seedlings of agavoides

Agavoides is one of my favorite Ariocarpus.
I collect seeds from my plants and sowing every year.
I sowed around 100 seeds on 3rd September in this year.
Seedlings have grown well and shown some main tubercles.

Cactus / heterochromus

This is a Thelocactus heterochromus f longispinus.
I bought seeds and sowed on 31/08/2006. I grafted several young seedlings.
I expected longer spines but none could estimate exact spine length from lists of names.

I degrafted with a short root stock last autumn and rooted.

Cactus / castanea

This is a Frailea castanea cv ogata-shidow.
When the temperaure was not hot enough, Frailea makes seeds without opening flowers.
Last few days were very hot and this plant opened flowers.

This one is a cultivar, has larger body size than that of standard castanea.

Cactus / flowering of asterias

I do not know why but there was no extream hot days so far in this summer.
I think this weather situation is affected on cactus flowering.

The temperatuer reached to 33 C' yesterday afternoon. This is not an extream temperature in here but some asterias were in flower.

Cactus / Obregonia

This is a seedling of Obregonia denegrii. It took years from seeds to flowering. I bought seeds and sowed on 28/09/2005.  I could see 1st flower yesterday afternoon.

When you grafted this species, the speed of growing is not too bad. I grafted several seedlings germinated from same seeds group. They are mature plants and collected seeds many times.

Cactus / another holizontalonius

This is another holizontalonius, v nicholii.
I bought seeds and sowed on 28th September 2005. The germination of these seeds were also very bad.
Just 1 was germinated and I grafted the seedling.

This plant started fowering last year. I crossed with the normal holizotalonius and expected some seeds.

Cactus / holizontalonius

I bought seeds in 2003 and sowed. The germination was very bad. Only 1 was germinated and I grafted the seedling. I cut grafting stock  short and rooted this spring.

This is the 1st flower of this plant. It took years from seed to flowering.

Cactus / heptacanthus

This is a Discocactus heptacanthus v griseus.
I bought seeds and sowed on 31/08/2006. I grafted several young seedlings.
I degrafted with a short stock last autumn and rooted this spring.

Discocactus is night flowering andthe flower has very nice scent.

Cactus / varigated asterias

I have just 2 flowering size of varigated asterias. One is own-root and the other is grafted.
The photo is grafted one.

I tried to make ruri kabuto nishiki (varigated ruri kabuto) and used this one as the father plant two days ago.
It seems the crossing works well. I expect to get some seeds.

Cactus / super kabuto

This is a super kabuto with typical arrows pattern.
The body shape is not flat becase this plant was once grafted and de-grafted.
Asterias should be flat body shape but I remaine this one for seeds collectong.

Cactus / hanazono kabuto

This is a hanazono(flower garden) kabuto. I sowed seeds in 2003.
Since this is an own-root plant, the character of hanazono appearance has been shown late.
The current diameter is around 15 cm. Numbers of ribs have also been incleased.

Cactus / Miracle kabuto

My selected miracle kabutos are flowering size.
I sowed seeds in 2006 and selected 36 good seedlings last year.
I will collect more than 1000 seeds this year and will sow.
The photo is one of my selected seedlings.

Cactus / super kabuto

Recent weather went up and down and many kabutos confused the flowering timing.
We have good sunshine yesterday and some kabutos were in flower.

The photo is one of super kabuto with smaller flecks over the body. Super kabuto has various appearances because of many times of crossing in history. I like this pattern.

Cactus / Obregonia

I collected seeds of Obregonia denegrii from my plants and sowed on 08/10/2011.
The successful germination ratio was not too bad.
I grafted 4 seedings on 17/11/2011.
It seems they have been taken well.

Cactus / another red flower asterias

One of grafted red flowering asterias was in flower this afternoon.

This one is nudum form. I assume the origin of this asterias in Europe. I believe the flower is very nice but the size of body is too small.

Cactus / small seedlings

Some cactus seeds and seedlings are very small.
It is hard to see details visually.

I sowed seeds of Uebelmannia buiningii on 08/10/2011.
The successful germination ratio was not too bad. They are still very young and small but I took a photo.

Cactus / a flower of grafting stock

This is a hybrid grafting stock whic I use normally. The stock plant is night flowering with a good scent.
I took this photo in this morning.
Although I have never tried, I believe the fruit is eatable.

The grafted scion is Astrophytum caput-medusae.

Cactus / seedling grafting

I lost several good mature plants, Astrophytum myriostigma cultivars lately. I have to rebuild numbers again.
Several 1 year old seedlings were remained and I grafted 4 days ago.
When you graft very young seedling 10~30 day old after germination, you do not need any pressure onto the scion but you need some pressure to compensate body shrinkage when the seedling was older.

I used a small piece of pantyhose to give pressure onto the scion before but I tried  a plastic lapping sheet this time. You can see the condition of the scion easily when you used a plastic sheet.
The scion is Astrophytum myriostigma v nudum cv khoyo, kikkou.

Cactus / Ariocarpus hybrid

This is an Ariocarpus hybrid, kotschoubeyanus x bravoanus v hintonii.

I sowed seeds on 7th Septmeber 2009 and grafted young seedlings, 10 or so.
I could see some flowers in 2010.
The flowering season of Ariocarpus is in autumn but this one has a flowering bud already.
I believe it makes a mistake of the season and can  not open the flower.

I can see various faces in this hybrids but this one shows well balance of parents.

Cactus / Aztekium

This is a grafted Aztekium ritteri flowering in this morning.
I do somethings every day for cactus but there is no significant happenings in here.
Current main job is the collection of cactus seeds from Astrophytum and Ariocarpus.

Cactus / myroistigma cv kohyo

I lost several good mature plants of Astrophytum myriostigma v nudum cv kohyo, kikkou lately.
I like this cultivar and have to rebuild numbers again.
The photo is one of young grafted plants, myriostigma v nudum cv red bean kohyo, kikkou.
I sowed seeds last year and grafted a young seedling.

Cactus / Astrostigma

This is a hybrid, Astrophytum myristigma x caput medusae.
The shape is very similar to the mother, myriostigam but the body color gives a hint of the hybrid.

I failed last year but I try to make an intergeneric hybrid crossed with some other genera in this year.

Cactus / hanazono super

This cactus is Astrophytum asterias cv super kabuto but it starts to show hanazono character also.
You can see a brown flowering bud coming out from a bottom of ribs (valley).
Normal asterias flowers come out from tubercles which are on the top of ribs.
Flowers of hanazono come out from anyplace of the body.
This cacti will be a hanazono super kabuto.

Cactus / Onzuka

This is Astrophytum v myriostigam cv Onzuka rampo-gyoku.
This cultivar was developed y Mr Onzuka of Okayama prefecture in Japan.

I had collected quite many good mature plants but lost some in this spring.
I have to accumlate numbers again.

Cactus / Ariocarpus retusus cultivar

The name of cultivar is quite unique and included inspiration of the developer.
This cultiver is toku daruma royal tama-botan, retusus v major with very lage roud tubercles.
I have no idea why the word of "Royal"added on the name.

Since tubercle size is only possible to confirm by own-root, I keep quite many seedlings.
The photo is one of my seedlings, sown seeds on 12th November 2006.
The current plant diameter is around 10 cm.
Seeds were collected from my grafted plants.

Cactus / ruri kabuto

This is Astrophytum asterias cv ruri kabuto. It seems v nudum but ruri kabuto has the gene of capricorne v major.

I tried to make ruri kabuto nishiki (varigated ruri kabuto) and crossed varigated asterias pollen on the ruri kabuto showing below.

Cactus / Ariocarpus hybrid

This is an Ariocarpus hybrid, kotschoubeyanus x bravoanus v hintonii.
I sowed seeds on 07/10/ 2009 and grafted very young seedlings, 3 days old, 10 scions or so.
It was my 1st creation of Ariocarpus hybrid.

Scions showed various mixed faces and some of them were in flower in 2010.
This one shows well mixed parents face, I think.
Although it has still been late spring in here but flowering buds have been lifted up already.

Cactus / red flowering asterias

There are various opinions but I think this one is almost red flower.
The stigma is also red. Unfortunately it seems this red stigma can not make seeds.
I just can use this cacti as male plant.

Cactus / reddish flowering asterias 3

This unusual color flowering asterias is also come from the same seeds packet.
It is quite unusual color but not my favorite and so I have not increase nombers of this form.
I just have kept this plant only.

Cactus / reddish flowering asterias 2

This asterias is propagated from same seeds packet as yesterday's post.
It seems quite red before buds are open but it turns to yellow after open.
Almost all asterias propagated from the same seeds packet were this form.

Cactus / reddish flowering asterias

The flower color of standard asterias is yellow petals and orange throat. There is red flowering asterias developed by Japanese origianally. I tried to get red flowering asterias a while but it was hard to get. I started from seeds and so there was no guarantee seeds named "red flower asterias" to be red flower asterias.

I got 2 asterias almost true red flower and many unlike.
The photo is one of unlike red flower asterias. I think this one was crossed many times and the size of body is very small. The gene of thin petals is also mixed.

Cactus / asterias

When you repeated crossings, plant size becomes small. Astrophytum asterias (kabuto) repeated crossings in history and body size has been small.

I have tried my astrias to return to the original size. I select some of my plant and use them for the process. The photo is one of my plant for that purpose, 15 cm diameter.

Cactus / Ariocarpus hybrid 2

This is another Ariocarpus hybrid, retusus v elongatus x fissuratus.
I have created 4 Ariocarpus hybrids in total.
I sowed seeds on 17/10/2010 and grafted several seedlings.
I think this cacti shows father's gene strongly.

Cactus / spegazzinii

My main collection is North American cactus but I collect some South American cactus also.
The photo is Gymnocalycium spegazzinii v loricatum. I bought seeds and sowed on 16/11/2003.
Spegazzinii has several variations. Loricatum has short and thick spines.

Cactus / Ariocarpus hybrid

This small grafted cacti is an Ariocarpus hybrid, kotschoubeyanus x scaphirostris.
I crossed in 2009, 1st filial hybrid and sowed seeds on 25/11/2010.
The successful gramination ratio was poor and seedlings were abnormal color which came from crossing stress, I think.

I grafted several young seedlings. They have grown slowly.

Cactus / luethyi

Several Mammillaria luethyis were in flower this afternoon. It was a warm day today. The temperature in the greenhouse was more than 40 C'.

I onec collected grafted luethyis more than 100 plants. Almost all grafted stocks were so weak and I dislodged  many plants last month.
The photo is a grafted luethyi, one of remained plants.

Cactus / super kabuto

I bought a new camera. I had tried to find a best setting for cactus flowers.

It may not be the best but I found a good setting yesterday. I took a photo, a flower of super kabuto yesterday.

Cactus / short grafting stock

 I got the following information through the internet last year.

"Attach a short pereskiopsis stock on a scion and bury the stock in potting mix. Roots come out from the stock initially but roots also come out from the scion eventually."

I set up 3 Ariocarpus last year, on 05/10/2010 and checked roots yesterday. Unfortunately roots just came out from the stock only. I am not sure how long does it take coming out roots from the scion. I have buried them again.

The photo is kotschoubeyanus with a short pereskiopsis stock.

Cactus / myriostigma

An Astrophytum myriostigma was in flower yesterday.

I bought a small seedling in 2003. Astrophytum grow normally slowly but this one has grown with quite good speed. The current body diameter is aroung 15 cm.

Cactus / Hanazono kabuto

This is an Astrophytum asterias cv hanazono kabuto. Hanazono means a flower garden and this cacti has multiple flowers. Although the histories of super kabuto and miracle kabuto are quite clear but it is unclear for hanazono kabuto. It seems hanazono character will appear when the caci became mature age. When the cacti was young seeling, the appearance is same as a normal asterias.

Cactus / myriostigma

This is Astrophytum myriostigma v nudum cv khoyo, kikou. I degrafted this cacti last autumn and under rooting currently.
This cultivar has two specific characters. One is khoyo, turning body color to red in autumn and spring and returning to green in summer when the cacti was juvenile. This cacti is too old to turne  the color but it is remained some character. The other is kikou, turning body shape as like tortoiseshell when the cacti was matured. This cacti has shown the kikou character.

Cactus / super kabuto

This is an asterias cv super kabuto which has a special pattern on the flower.Normal asterias flower is yellow with orange throat. Red flower has also developped. I found this one 4 days ago but I had never seen this special pattern on asterias flowers before.

Cactus / miracle kabuto

Astrophytum have been in flower continuously. This is an asterias cv miracle kabuto.

Miracle kabuto is similar to super kabuto but it has finer white flecks than that of super kabuto. Miracle kabuto is a sort of monstrosa and was started from just 1 plant. It was mixed with various asteria in history. Because of that, you can not expect that all seedlings are miracle kabutos. I normally select good miralce kabutos when seedlings are 3 years old.

Cactus / Onzuka

An Astrophytum  myriostigma cv Onzuka was in flower yesterday.

I bought seeds and sowed on 29/07/2005.  I grafted very young seedlings. I  degrafted this cacti and rooted in 2008. Onzuka was developed by Mr Onzuka of Okayama prefecture in Japan. I understand the original plant was myriostigma v tulense and so the body shape was elongated naturally.

Cactus / super kabuto

Many Astrophytum were in flower lately. This asterias cv super kabuto is one of them.

This super kabuto is mixed red flower gene.
I propagate this from my seed and the diameter of body is around 10 cm.

Cactus / red flower asterias

I bought 20 seeds of Astrophytum red flower asterias and sowed on 06/08/2007. I grafted 10 young seedlings. I found ture red flower was just 2 plants.

The photo is one of two true red flower asterias. Since stigma color is also red, I think this cacti has true red flower gene. The problem of red flower asterias is small body size. I assume mixing was repeated offten in history.

Cactus / herrerae

This is a Mammillaria herrerae flowering yesterday. I also propagate this cacti from cuttings. There is white flowering one, called albiflora but this is standard color flower.

Cactus / aselliformis

A Pelecyphora aselliformis was in flower yesterday. I propagate this cacti from cuttings.

Seedlings of aselliformis are very thin and growing slowly, too slow. The best way to make a normal shape, own-root plant is grafting seedlings. You can cut pups from a grafted plant and rooted.

Cactus / pectinatus

I do not keep many Echinocereus. An Echinocereus pectinatus v dasyacanthus was in flower. The flower of Echinocereus is quite large and the stigma has a distinct color.

Cactus / Astrophytum hybrid 2

This cacti is same as yesterday one, niveum x super kabuto.

I grafted an abnormal seedling. Body color is yellow and its life will be short.