Propagation of asterias from seed

[snarfie]

Thanks for the help, the first six akabana seeds have germinated, and a few caput-medusae seed are also on their way to germinate

[Hanazono]

It seems they are very healthy.
You can see their flowers in 2021 or 2012.

[Nic]

How are the variegated asterias doing?

[Hanazono]

I normally repot asterias seedlings in early spring.
As a trial, I repot in autumn.
I selected 20 of miracle kabuto seedlings sown seed in 2012.

The seedling is in a 5 cm square tube and pushes out the tube.


Removed from the tube
Roots have grown well.


Trimmed off roots
You have to make a good space for growing new roots in a new pot.


Drying 20 seedlings
They will repot after the drying process.

[jfabiao]

It's amazing how regular your plants are. After a couple of years my biggest seedlings of a given species are more than twice the size of the weakest of that batch. Do you cull the runts or am I doing something very wrong?

[Hanazono]

jfabiao

Yes I cull seedlings.
Seedling sizes are varied and I size them as large, medium and small.
The photo is large ones sown seeds in 2012.

Hanazono

[jfabiao]

That makes a lot of sense (and makes me feel a lot better ), thank you.

[Hanazono]

I repotted 20 seedlings of miracle kabuto sown seed in 2012.
Pots are 65 mm square.

[brooklynbridge24]

I'm amazed at your collection. Asterias are my favorite cacti, but I don't have many since I don't often find them for sale. So I would love to have a go at growing them from seed. Do you have any recommendations on which might be the easiest to start with and where to get seeds from? I'm from south east Queensland and don't know anything about importing seeds so I was looking at buying seeds from OzCactus.

[Robb]

Importing seeds is easy provided you stick to your country's importation laws and CITES. Most seed suppliers will provide customs declarations with the seeds ordered, and some also supply CITES certificates (for extra money and a longer wait, that is!). You may have to do some research around what species are allowed in, as a few Opuntias are considered invasive. I've had good experiences with Mesa Garden, Succseed, and Koehres. In my opinion the easiest genera to start with are Mammillaria, Lobivia/Echinopsis, Echinocereus, and some of the columnar varieties. I hope this helps a bit, and apologies for hijacking your thread Hanazono, but since we're from a similar area I figured I'd give my 2 cents worth.

[Hanazono]

I normally sow asterias seeds in early spring, in July but I sowed in Feb. late summer last year as a trial.
They are now 1 year old and it is the time of 1st repotting.

I selected 50 seedlings.

Removed seedlings from pots and washed.
I checked rotting on roots.

Cut tap roots and dried 2 days

Repotted in 10 cm square pots
Seedlings are 5~7 mm in diameter.

[MagiCarpus]

Hello Hanazono,
Let me show you an A. asterias I unpotted today. It's a three year old seedling that I purchased from a local club member. Based on these photos, would you recommend me to cut the tap root? If that's indeed what you'd suggest, how much root should I remove? Also, can you spot any rotting roots? Thanks!

[Hanazono]

It is a bit late to cut tap roots completely.
March should be the best season to cut.
You just have one asterias.

Because of above reason, I recommend you to do a normal root treatment.
The tap root is very poor condition and I can see rotted parts.

Please cut a bit by bit from the bottom of root.
Continue to cut until to reach very health root section.

Dry 2 weeks and set for the rooting.

[MagiCarpus]

Thank you Hanazono for the solution,

It has been 2 weeks since I performed root surgery. It is now sitting happily in fresh medium using the same pot...wish it a long and prosper life from now on

The dead roots are trimmed off and the fresh cut dusted with cinnamon powder...2 weeks passed, and it seemed to have callused nicely.



all potted up...I soaked the body in diluted acetic acid solution for 30 minutes to remove the mineral deposit (it's pristine!)


Once again I appreciated the help and will be updating its recovery progress on my collection thread.

[Hanazono]

I hope you got a good rooting result.