Astrophytum asteria- Wrinkling despite it was heavy rain last week.

[Lupask01]

I have bought this astrophytum for nearly a month and I didn't water him at all since then. I put him outside with about 6 hours of bright-fun afternoon sun (South-West facing balcony). Although it's summer, clouds always come at noon and stay there for few more hours, so I don't worry about the heat.
The last 2 week or so, a typhoon sweated in with heavy rains for 2 days, and I left him outside. But since then, he still showed evenmore dehydrated.
The root system seem okay, so I don't know why my AS doesn't look okay.
Because I saw the soild is not well-drained, I have changed to the new but bone-dry mixed and wait the tap-root to recover after repotting.
Any suggestion for me?

[Jura]

I had similar issue, I keep my smaller ones in full sun and they looked just like yours.

I've decided to put it in more partially sunny area and covered with a green mesh . Watered 1 time a week, 2 weeks later it filled and now looks very round.

I'd suggest more shaded area for you and it will be fine

Roots look gorgeous on this one too

[Lupask01]

I had similar issue, I keep my smaller ones in full sun and they looked just like yours.

I've decided to put it in more partially sunny area and covered with a green mesh . Watered 1 time a week, 2 weeks later it filled and now looks very round.

I'd suggest more shaded area for you and it will be fine

Roots look gorgeous on this one too

Many thanks, I will put him under the orchid cloth and wait for a few month.

[Steve Johnson]

Looks like you have a lot of soil with organic materials in your mix -- too rich for desert cacti, especially Astrophytum asterias. Here's what I would recommend:

• Clean the soil out of the mix as thoroughly as possible -- get the roots squeaky-clean, or at least close to it.

• Soak the roots in 1% Hydrogen peroxide for 1/2 hour. This does 2 things -- first, it kills any potential plant pathogens that could lead to rot. Second, it promotes faster healing of the roots when the plant settles in after repotting. Here's the setup I use whenever any of my cacti need the peroxide treatment:
  
  
  

• Let the roots dry out completely, then repot in fresh, dry mix.

Your mix should be mostly mineral for free drainage with some soil added for water retention. The mineral options are:

• Horticultural pumice gravel -- best, because it has the unique combination of open porosity and good water retention.

• Calcined cat litter or Seramis -- also good because they retain a decent amount of water.

• Crushed granite poultry grit.

• Perlite -- least preferred because it's a floaty pain that gets all over your plants when they're watered. If Perlite is your only choice, a nice layer of gravel top dressing will keep the floaty stuff down.

Granite gravel doesn't hold any water, so if you're going with crushed granite, 60% mineral and 40% soil should be about right. For everything else I have on the list, go with 80% mineral and 20% soil.

When you repot your asterias, let it settle in for 2 weeks, then water. The roots need to be completely dry before the plant is ready for its next watering -- my default recommendation is watering every 2 weeks. Uncontrolled watering (as in letting the plant get rained on) is likely to be a death sentence. If you experience Fall/Winter dormancy conditions (overnight lows below 10C), keep the asterias completely dry until its roots wake up and are ready to start taking up water in Spring.

Unlike other members of the genus, A. asterias tends to be finicky about how it's being treated. Hopefully these recommendations will help.

[Lupask01]

Thanks Steve for your suggestion.