CactiGuide.com

This greenhouse isn't big, but it is magic! Only good and happy experiences take place here. It is a trove of rare and unusual cacti & succulents. With the exception of a few things that have been propagated by small cuttings, everything else is seed grown. So let's start off by showing the newest sets of seedlings.
These are 3 day old Astrophytum seedlings, the first of around 3000 Astrophytum sp seeds that I am planting, and around 1000 Ariocarpus sp.

Traveller,

Are you growing asterias cultivars? I remember having substantial difficulty getting astrophytum seeds when living in Australia.

H

Traveller wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 4:29 am This greenhouse isn't big, but it is magic! Only good and happy experiences take place here. It is a trove of rare and unusual cacti & succulents. With the exception of a few things that have been propagated by small cuttings, everything else is seed grown. So let's start off by showing the newest sets of seedlings.
These are 3 day old Astrophytum seedlings, the first of around 3000 Astrophytum sp seeds that I am planting, and around 1000 Ariocarpus sp.

Wow that's a lot of seeds! Can't wait to see your progress

HudsonLH wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 5:57 pm Traveller,

Are you growing asterias cultivars? I remember having substantial difficulty getting astrophytum seeds when living in Australia.

H

Hi Shane,
I am growing Astro cultivars, as well as a lot of Ariocarpus. Before all of the lockdowns we are dealing with and the travel bans, I used to go many places, and have a number of friends through Europe, Asia and North America. At this time, all Astrophytum species, cultivars and varieties are legal to import here (New South Wales). As I see it, the difficulties lie mainly in:
1) Locating a good seed source.
2) Having the cash to buy the seeds but also pay for Phytosanitary paperwork and shipping.
3) Jumping through all the hoops that customs and quarrantine throw at you.

I once bought 300 Astro seeds from Germany, which were all myriostigma cultivars, but were mixed together. Customs saw the word "MIX" on the seed packet and said even though they were all myriostigma, they were a MIX which is improper labeling and therefore illegal to import.
They gave me the option to spend way more than the seeds cost to ship them back to the sender, or at no extra cost to me, incinerate them.

Also another set of astro seeds were denied entry because they "weren't clean enough". Apparently, the small umbilicus strand that comes off the depression in the seed should not be on them when shipping. If you can find clean seeds available and someone willing to pack and send them properly, you can get them out here.

Difficult, yes; Impossible, no.

Anyhow, long story short, between 4 different cacti collecting friends in Europe and N America I have around 50 types of Astro seeds either here already or in the post, and from a friend in Japan, about 20 Ariocarpus cultivars also on the way.

I have had to rely on friends more recently because places like Koehres in Germany is not up to where it used to be as the old owner died and now his daughter runs it, but is not as organized as he was. Mesa Gardens and such are good for localities and your basic Superkabuto, but none of the real exotics.

In the past, I had traded with a number of people and even gifted several with a number of good types amd varieties, so this year I've been calling in all the favors to get my own collection back on track.

There are a few types that I have just planted that don't even have a proper cultivar name because they are ones being developed and have not seen public release before.

Anyhow, time to finish my coffee and get working in the greenhouse

Alex

Traveller,

I believe Shane posted after me .

I've found that the seed sellers with the most interesting cultivars are also the least likely to be willing to trudge through bureaucracy (CITES, phytos, etc.). I look forward to see what unique forms your astrophytums will take.

H

Good Day Hudson,
Sorry about that, I replied minutes after waking up, whivh turns out to really be minutes before I fully woke up.
It's actually surprising to find out that many collectors have been working on their own little cultivars or gene lines, amd evem among things like myriostigma "Kikko", you can find out that the Kikko from one person in Japan looks different from a Kikko in Thailand and even a Russian Kikko!
For now we still have mostly just photos of various green blobbies, except for the ones in the tray which had both parents variegate, in which those blobbies are all the colors.
Some are a little further along and are now green blobbies stuck on green sticks.

The cactus that I now believe is a Turbinicarpus valdezianus flowered yesterday and should have more flowers open again today.

I continue to prepare rooted succulent offsets and cuttings that will be for sale once shows start again.

Our winter nights keep dropping down to 5C°, but with the daytime temp in the greenhouse hitting 35-40C° and the daylight hours getting longer, I am finally seeing new growth on some of the plants.

Nice new growth is visible on my Adromischus marianiae and other crassulas.

Yesterday was a good day. I grafted a number of pale & variegated astrophytum seedlings. Also got a tracking number for a big batch of Ariocarpus seed that is coming my way. Later in the day, one last 6pm surprise visit by the postie, with Astrophytum seeds from Italy.
I wasted little time sterilizing my trays and planting the new haul.
Here's pics of the grafting:

Today, I sowed around 120 Astrophytum seeds, mostly myriostigma varieties, but also some red flowering asterias with both parents variegated and a dozen coahuilense kikko.
Also I sowed 40 Ariocarpus fissuratus cv Godzilla and some Discocactus horstii. More work was done to prepare grafting stocks, as I am still in dire need of ready to graft plants.

OH the JOYS of working with Pereskiopsis!!

I went to pull a weed that was growing in a Peres pot and the whole thing jumped forward and tagged the top of my thumb. I got 10 glochids for my carelessness.

The Turbinicarpus and the Titanopsis continue to be the only 2 plants in flower, unless you count the Venus Fly Trap that keeps sending up flower spikes (which I cut as soon as I see them).

The Turb is up to 4 open flowers now. What a great plant.

Just a silly photo here.
My Crassula pyramidalis - compact form
Looks like some kinda angry plant monster.
What do you think?

I saw that Hanazono's Strombocactus disciformis were in flower, so I took a close.look at mine and sure enough, I see a dozen or more flower buds with just the top poking through the wool.

Lots happening in here today!
Technically, Spring is another 11 days away, but it has arrived in the greenhouse.
Several plants are in flower and I can see flower buds pushing up from the tops of all three Strombocactus disciformis.
There's 4 buds on one, 8 buds on a second, and 12 coming up on my big one.
I had a Thelocactus in bloom today as well as the larger side of my fused Stenocactus.
I doubt anything will happen, but I crosspolinated them just for the heck of it, to see if anything happens.
And then just for good measure to really mess things up, I then moved pollen back and forth between them and the Turbinicarpus that's in glorious flowering mode.
After reading the label on my really big Thelocactus, it appears that it was last repotted in 2004 and the time before that in 1978.....
Probably needs it again.
Anyhow, a few pics to enjoy.