Propagation of asterias from seed

[BarryRice]

It seems you repot very soon after germination. I usually wait until the plants are about 6mm in diameter.

Thank you for all these interesting lessons! I'm interested to see if they work for me!


Cheers


Barry

[Hanazono]

My standard practice for the seedling repotting is in spring, 1 year old seedlings.
The repotting done in this morning is a trial, autumn repotting, less than 1 year old seedling.
Younger seedlings are easy to repot because the development of roots is poor normally.

Average size of seedlings shown on photos, No. (2) is 6 mm and No. (9) is 7 mm.

[Hanazono]

I repotted 2 pots of A. asterias cv miracle kabuto seedlings sown seeds in 2013.
I normally cut tap roots of asterias when seedlings are 2 years old.
These seedlings were cut tap roots when they were 1 year old in 2014 as a trial.

Seedlings in a 10 cm square pots before repotting
Average size is 20 mm in diameter.

Since tap roots were cut when seedlings were 1 year old, there are fine roots only.

Seedling after repotted
35 seedlings in 5 cm square tubes

Seedlings show the evidence of miracle kabuto when they reached to this age.
The photo is a typical one, with white lines along rib tops.

[Vipassana]

Thank you for sharing your experiences with Asterias. This has been a fantastic read.

[george76904]

Very nice plants and a great thread! Do you have any of the v-type super kabuto that you have raised from seed?

[Hanazono]

Yes I have several v-type super kabutos.
All my kabutos are propagated from seeds.
The following 2 photos are typical ones, 10 cm in diameter.

A v-type super kabuto, it is also called as "tiger" in Asian countries.

A v-type super kabuto, it is also called as "arrow-type".

[george76904]

Those are stunning! So did you buy seeds of that cultivar originally and grow them to maturity from seed, or did you grow them from the original superkabuto seeds and they just happen to be the v-type/tiger/arrow?

[Hanazono]

1st photo
I bought seeds named "tiger super kabuto" and propagated.
This one has an abnormal shape of stigma and is hard to make seeds.

2nd photo
I collected seeds from my plants and propagated.
Both parents are v-type super kabutos.

The gene of flecking pattern on super kabuto is quite positive.
If you wanted to get a v-type super kabuto, you need v-type parents.

[george76904]

May I ask who your seed supplier was? I have been searching for seeds of the V type asterias for months and have never found any (at least never any in stock).

[Hanazono]

There was a local cactus seed supplier and I bought seeds from him.
Unfortunately he closed his business off several years ago.

I also can not buy cactus seeds locally.

[george76904]

Well I actually managed to track a v-type down! It is not nearly as cool as the ones that you have, but hopefully I can make some seeds from other super kabutos and that the next generations will be better. It is not quite as big as I would like (about 1 inch in diameter) and grafted. Do you think it is big enough to degraft? If I degraft it I want to leave an areole or 2 on the stock so that it will hopefully pup from the remaining areoles.

25862768200_7e0faf3966_z.jpg (28.98 KiB) Viewed 4798 times

Edit: Got it! But I cannot get it to link through flickr... hmm

[Hanazono]

I think the size is all right for degrafting and rooting.
The rooting of asterias is slightly harder than other Astrophytum species such as myriostigma, ornatum etc.

The flecking pattern of super kabuto will change.
You have to wait but your cactus will be better near future.

[george76904]

What would you say would be the best idea for rooting? Just cut it off let it callous, and put in an airy rooting mix like perlite or vermiculite?
Thanks,
Will

[Hanazono]

I use a similar method as you described.
Pumice sand is used for my rooting medium.

[Hanazono]

I made a space in wet-boxes and repotted 25 seedlings of miracle kabuto.
Currently 50% of seedlings show the character of miracle kabuto and so I have to sow many seeds and select good ones.

Before repotting
Seeds were sown on 23rd July 2015 in a 10 cm square pot.

After repotting in 10 cm square pot