Astrophytum August

[Steve Johnson]

And what a wonderful start to the month it was! I'll lead off with a late-edition update on my July report...

Big news this time features the progress I've seen coming out of my Astrophytum asterias. To review, here's the state of said progress going from 6/28 to 7/18:



Here we are on 7/31, followed by the situation only 2 days later -- wow, that bud sure got big fast!



Look at what came by to join the festivities -- my Astro 'capristigma' hybrid:



Now the buds on the asterias and 'capristigma' are starting to open:



Opening more:





Ooh, not quite there yet -- let's give it another day:





Yeah!!! Not only do I get to see my first asterias flower, but the side-by-side timing here couldn't have been better. These pics are all about the asterias:





The buds coming in behind the flower strongly suggest that I should have at least 1 more asterias bloom before the summer heat gives way to a fall cool-off in October. But wait, my friends -- there's more!

This is the plant I call "Queen of the Astrophytums". After flowering only once a year since I got it in 2011, my capricorne senilis has done it twice for me this year. The capricorne synchronized with my 'capristigma' for their first blooms of 2014 at the end of May. The view from last weekend:











The summer isn't over yet, so I have a feeling we'll see more out of my lovely Astros soon!

Cheers, everyone!

[Onzuka]

Beautiful plants and well photographed. Astros and their hybrids are my favourite genus and I grow lots of them. I take it that you have been busy with the q tips, or cotton buds to us Brits.

Steve

[BarryRice]

Hey Onzuka-Steve

Is that how you transfer pollen? I use needle-tipped forceps, grabbing entire masses of anthers, but the method, while effective, is somewhat tedious.

Barry

[C And D]

I also use tweezers,
just grab a pile of anthers, and rub them on the other plant's stamen

I use small paint brushes for Euphobia, shish kabob sticks for Tylecodons
and hairs from a hand brush for Haworthias

To save pollen:
I cut off a bunch of anthers with tiny scissors, and put them in a labeled vial.
Then store in the freezer.
I cut off a small section of a shish kabaob stick and put it in the vial, and then use that stick to pollinate the next batch of flowers

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks for the tips on hand-pollination, guys. But sadly, my lament is not unfamiliar to many -- not enough time for all the things we'd like to do. Way down on my list of priorities these days, although maybe I'll try pollinating some of my cacti by hand as a little retirement project. In the meantime, here's what I've been missing:



10 days earlier, and I would've seen all 4 of my Astros flowering over the same weekend. Oh well -- not that I haven't seen it in flower before, and myriostigma is a prolific bloomer.

I'm really glad that I was able to get my asterias flowering on camera, because I underestimated how quickly bud #2 would develop:



Bud #3 may still favor me with a flower, although some daytime highs in the 90s would certainly help. It's more of a late August/early September thing around here, so there's still plenty of time for a heat wave or two before L.A. starts cooling down for the fall season.

[cantharis]

Wonderful Astrophytums - well done - and I see you also favour unglazed terracotta pots.