North-central Californian grower

This is a place for members to post on-going topics about their plants and experiences.
User avatar
BarryRice
Posts: 618
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:11 pm
Location: Woodland, California, USA
Contact:

Re: North-central Californian grower

Post by BarryRice »

Seeds sown 29 Sept 2013, from Mesa Garden.

This IS kind of a tricky one. From an original set of 12 germinations, I now have 5 small plants.

For the first few years, the plants are so poorly rooted, it's laughable.

On the other hand, perhaps if I had a soil medium superior in some way, they'd have better root systems?

Cheers

Barry
I'll grow it as long as it doesn't have glochids. Gaudy flowers a plus.
george76904
Posts: 487
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:01 am
Location: Americus GA

Re: North-central Californian grower

Post by george76904 »

Did you ever try to graft any of them? I have a few currently that have 1-2 tubercles and you are right they have very nearly 0 in the way of roots, but I have a couple grafted ones that I'm just waiting on them to flower.
User avatar
BarryRice
Posts: 618
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:11 pm
Location: Woodland, California, USA
Contact:

Re: North-central Californian grower

Post by BarryRice »

Nah. I prefer plants on their own roots. I graft plants usually only for emergency purposes (like getting past rot) or propagation. But I'd rather keep a plant on its own roots if possible.

Cheers

Barry
I'll grow it as long as it doesn't have glochids. Gaudy flowers a plus.
User avatar
BarryRice
Posts: 618
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:11 pm
Location: Woodland, California, USA
Contact:

Re: North-central Californian grower

Post by BarryRice »

My Ariocarpus are in mass flowering mode..
Attachments
IMG_7306.JPG
IMG_7306.JPG (57.78 KiB) Viewed 2299 times
IMG_7307.JPG
IMG_7307.JPG (62.51 KiB) Viewed 2299 times
IMG_7309.JPG
IMG_7309.JPG (113.24 KiB) Viewed 2299 times
I'll grow it as long as it doesn't have glochids. Gaudy flowers a plus.
fanaticactus
Posts: 3194
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:44 pm
Location: Grand Isle Co., Vermont

Re: North-central Californian grower

Post by fanaticactus »

Nice show indeed. I've tried to grow them--no luck.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
User avatar
BarryRice
Posts: 618
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:11 pm
Location: Woodland, California, USA
Contact:

Trimming Astrophytum asterias roots

Post by BarryRice »

Hey guys

Following the protocol of some of the experienced Astrophytum asterias growers here, I tried trimming the roots on a few batches of seedlings.

From my pilot data, the procedure appears to have no beneficial effects.

I divided two batches of seedlings into equivalent subsets. I trimmed the roots in one subset for each batch. About a year has gone by, and here's what I found in terms of plant diameter:

Group 1
Trimmed: 26.9 mm
Not trimmed: 27.7 mm

Group 2
Trimmed: 26.9 mm
Not trimmed: 31.5 mm

So, while trimming roots may help for some folks, it apparently has no benefit for me. (There were no significant differences in survivorship, either.)

I'll upload photos shortly. (It seems this new version of cactiguide requires images to be really tiny.)
I'll grow it as long as it doesn't have glochids. Gaudy flowers a plus.
Post Reply