I've had a half dozen of these cacti which have rotted over the past several years. They are very difficult to keep in Wisconsin and place outdoors in the summer. Perhaps they are best kept on a very sunny windowsill all of the time. I'm keeping these under artificial lights and in windows, but never will try to put then outdoors. These are blooming and making seeds, and I plan to plant some of their seeds this winter.
Astrophytum asterias are a threatened species in the wild and I would like to have my own population to keep growing if I can have them grow from seeds into adult plants. These plants came from an Arizona greenhouse, and Arizona growers probably can grow them much easier than we can. I'm going to try growing them using mostly artificial lights - and see if this can work in the next 5 to 10 years - with new adult plants that will make new seeds.
2 Comments:
Good luck with those in Wisconsin. I'm located in the PNW and just brought an 30-40 year old Ariocarpus Fissuratus from Arizona so I feel ya on the cooler weather with less intense sunlight. Gotta love those slow-growing endangered globulars. Astrophytum asterias is next on my list especially if I can find a cool cultivar for cheap.
Here in Wisconsin, I've found it to be almost impossible to keep them alive if they are outdoors for the growing season. I have a handful of plants from seed that are a few years old and they did very well outdoors last summer. All of the adult plants I've bought and tried to keep outside in the summer end up rotting.
The plants in this photo are being kept under artificial lights and I have no plans to put them in any out door conditions. My hope is to learn how to get them to bloom and make seeds under artificial light. They are blooming in this photo only because I had just purchased them in Arizona, and they still have energy from living there.
I think if you want to purchase these plants I would keep an eye on a website like Miles to Go.
Best of luck growing.
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