I heart Astrophytum

Subject: I heart Astrophytum Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:13 pm

I'd would have to say the genus Astrophytum is easily my next favourite genus after Ariocarpus. I have only been cultivating them for about a year. They are such a fascinating genus with many different vatieties, forms and cultivars. The Japanese cultivars are truly stunning and am working on getting more of these unusual types into my collection. The Japanese cvs. are not too common here in Aus and over the coming years I intend to collect many of them via seed with the intention of grafting and hopefully getting out there amongst the community.

So far I have several plants from the genus and my favourites are Astrophyum asterias, Astrophyum asterias cv. SUPERKABUTO & Astrophytum capricorne.

In the top pic you can see in the foreground A. asterias, 2 A. asterias cv. SUPERKABUTO, A. myriostigma var. nudum & not so clear is an A. asterias X A. capricorne.

...and an A. capricorne of a decent size that I really like. This intersting species can get quite large given time.

...and a flowering A. asterias fma. nudum, which doubles as my avatar Wink

I will post more pics of my other astros when I get batteries for my camera.
I hope you all enjoy viewing the pics as much as I have enjoyed growing these plants.
Smile

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mmm spikey...

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:09 pm

They're definitely very cool little plants... every time I go to collectors' corner I find myself drooling over some of the specimens they have there.

Age : 35 Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 181 Location : Cairns

How will I get my hands on some A. capricorne?

They look quite difficult to transplant - would that be a fair assumption?

Is it legal to import seeds of cacti from international suppliers?

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:49 am

Generally it's not legal, and if it's CITES listed then you need to pay for the CITES certificate too. Good luck getting them through quarantine and customs though.

I would say they are probably one of the easier Astros to cultivate, but like all Astros they present certain difficulties in cultivation. So transplanting is left until the plant is rootbound basically, this avoids unessecary root zone disturbance.

I can get you some A. capricorne seeds if you like or you can buy them at cactus-seeds.com.

I have only ever seen these plants for sale three times since I have been collecting, I bought two of those and one sold on ebay the other night for a decent price. I didn't buy that one. You just have to hunt around like I do to find cool collectable plants.

To give you a an idea of the size of those plants, the A. asterias is about 7cm wide and the A. capricorne is about 9-10cm wide.
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mmm spikey...

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:26 pm

Nice plants Trigonus, I really love astros too def my favourite sp. What cv's are you growing from seed ?

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:46 pm

Cheers mate. Currently I have A. myriostigma, A. capricorne. A. asterias, A. asterias 'TEXAS' & A. asterias fma. nudum. All pumping along and have a bit of mixed batch too, will have to ID them when they get bigger. Am looking at getting some more interesting Japanese cv seed if I can find a decent supplier for those.
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mmm spikey...

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:34 pm

Some nice plants there. I really love the look of the "usual" or typical A.Asterias Smile

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:39 pm

Yeah, same here, just picked up another one of the same size, so looks like I am going to be self sustaining soon with my A. asterias, very keen to start breeding them.
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mmm spikey...

Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 119 Location : brisbane

i have got seed from international suppliers in the past with no hassles. I was under the assumption it was legal tho?

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Thu May 01, 2008 5:51 pm

Not sure what the exact legal status is. I know someone who recently had their seeds consficated by quarantine, they also sent him a nice friendly letter that they had found his seeds and he had his first warning. As far as I know they are lenient to a point then they just say that's it and destroy your seeds.

Bummer! That said it is my opinion the more seed coming in from OS the better, there is no other way the diversity of plants can possibly spread through our country otherwise.

Not sure why they are such fascists with seeds as they contain no soil, and I myself am pretty clued in on whats a weed and whats not a weed and how to control plants if they become weedy. I was in weed control for over 5 years Wink

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mmm spikey...

Age : 35 Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 181 Location : Cairns

But by that very token look at opuntia and mimosa (not a cacti) - absolute noxious weeds in this area - trig...you'd know it... hornet I'd trust... but there's a multitude of idiots out there!

It's always the way... A few ruin it for the masses.

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Thu May 01, 2008 6:09 pm

Oh yeah Opuntia vulgaris (I think it was that species) was classed as noxious weed (in the 70s I think) and they hammered it with the Cactoblastis bug eventually. Still a problem in some areas obviously, very hard to get rid of.

You definitely raise a good point, and this is EXACTLY why the laws are in place. It is probably for the best, wish there was a way around it for serious collectors though.

Do you know what weedy species of Mimosa it is you have up your way?
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mmm spikey...

Age : 35 Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 181 Location : Cairns

M. pigra I think.... It's sensitive plant... but not the big version (pudicia??)

It's everywhere!!!

I can't walk five metres without being stabbed by its little spines! Horrible stuff!

Subject: Re: I heart Astrophytum Thu May 01, 2008 6:14 pm

Spines are OK, as long as they are growing from a cactus I don't mind Wink

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mmm spikey...

Age : 35 Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 181 Location : Cairns