Hana's cacti

[Hanazono]

3 hanazono kabutos were in flower in the afternoon.
Hanazono means a flower garden.

2 years old degarfted one

13 years old

13 years old

[Hanazono]

Many asterias were in flower in the afternoon.


I took some photos.

Super kabutos


Miracle kabutos


Hanazono kabutos


1st filial hybrid, senil x superkabuto

[hegar]

I must say, you do have an exquisite collection of rare cacti. The genera Ariocarpus, Astrophytum, Pelecyphora and Turbinicarpus are my favorites too. With their overall small size and sparse to non-existent spination even my cactus-hating wife could probably be persuaded to have them in our front yard.
It seems, you have alone more Astrophytum asterias specimens than I have in my whole collection!
I am doing fine with growing Astrophytum and Turbinicarpus spp., but have serious problems with plants of the genus Ariocarpus. Just this sping I lost an Ariocarpus fissuratus plant that I had purchased about ten years ago.
What kind of substrate (growing medium) do you use for your Ariocarpus spp. plants?
I have been using coarse sandy material from the arroyos (creek beds) near Orogrande, New Mexico and top-dressed the surface with larger pebbles from that area and store-bought golden granite.
Unfortunately, I cannot regulate the plants' environment as well as you are able to do, because my plants are all residing in the ground.

Harald

[Hanazono]

The potting mix for Ariocarpus is:
1~7 mm size pumice sand - 3
Organic material - 2

Top dressing is:
4 mm size zeolite

Silica sad base potting was used before but it was hard to manage Ariocarpus seedlings.
There is no pumice sand deposit in Australia, assumed imported from New Zealand.
It is costly but work for Ariocarpus very well.

[hegar]

Thank you very much for letting me know the growing medium you use for the cultivation of Ariocarpus spp.
I am very surprised though to read, that you are using 2 parts of organic material. I was under the impression, that some of my plants died, because there was perhaps too much organic matter in the root zone. That I thought could be the case, although I did not add any compost, peat moss, etc. and planted my cacti in desert soil, which is definitely not rich in organic substances.
An article by Dag Panco and Cristian Perez Badillo in Xerophilia, Anul. 1, Nr. 2 (2) from September 2012 says, that the growing medium for Ariocarpus spp. should be purely mineral, crushed rocks only (volcanic tuff, scoria etc.) and 25% of the volume should consist of several cm wide rock chips.
Well, that goes to show you, that these plants are perhaps not as finicky as I thought, when it comes to providing them with a growing medium. I am sure, that you do have a good number of years of successful cultivation to your credit.
What both of you Ariocarpus growers have in common is, that each of you does use volcanic origin rocks in both the root zone of the plants and also as top dressing. I shall be looking for a good source of reasonably priced zeonite, pumice, tuff, and scoria.
One again, thank you for telling me, what works for you when it comes to growing plants of this interesting cactus genus.

Harald

[Hanazono]

I think each cactus collector has different opinions for the soil.

I believe the habitat environment is not optimum for cacti especially seedlings.
Cacti have been endangerous species because of that.

I propagate Ariocarpus from seed.
I found:
- high temperature
- high humidity
- soft sunlight
Ariocarpus seedlings grow with reasonable speed by above condition.
Organic material can assist the speed.
Permeable material such as pumice sand can keep moisture in soil without frequent watering.
This condition is completely different from the habitat environment.

I extend to use same soil to mature Ariocarpus.
They grow with same soil from seedlings.

[Hanazono]

Some cacti were in flower yesterday.

Astrophytum hybrid hakujou fukuryu banjyaku

Astrophytum hybrid fukuryu banjyaku

Thelocactus heterochromus f longispinus

[Hanazono]

An Echinocactus horizonthalonius was in flower yesterday afternoon.

[Hanazono]

I could not login a while.

I set my greenhouses for summer on 20th November.
Greenhouses have covered over by 50% shade cloths.
I will keep these shade cloths until mid of March next year.

Large greenhouse

Small greenhouse

[Hanazono]

4 asterias species were in flower.

K Sato's kabuto

Ruri kabuto

Miracle kabuto

Super kabuto

[K.W.]

Good evening Frank,

thank you for the beautiful plant photos!
When I see your greenhouse I become envious.
No insulation against frost and snow. In Germany unthinkable. . .
Reminds me of the friends in Arizona. "You want to have a collection of cacti - buy a sun protection mat, and you're ready to go!!!
In Germany you have to buy a greenhouse and a powerful heating system. . .

Yes, I'm jealous!

K.W.

[Hanazono]

G'day K.W.

There are no snow and no ice even it is mid of winter in here.
The minimum temperature in mid of winter is around 5 'C.

Summer is very hot.
It will reach to 45 'C in Christmas and new year times.

Frank

[Pushrestart]

Frank, truly a beautiful collection of astrophytums and ariocarpus beauties . I seem to look at a cactus and it almost immediately dies lol
How long have you been growing, and what is the one factor that you think has been key to your success?

Cheers.

[Hanazono]

My collections were interrupted 3 times due to moving.
The current collection was started in 2003 in here.
All Astrophytum and Ariocarpus were propagated from seed in here.

I think you have to find a local environment which allows seedlings to grow a reasonable speed.
You have to sow seed every year.

Both of Astrophytum and Ariocarpus grow slowly and need years from seed to flower.
You may loose some seedlings until they reach to flowering size but you can keep some numbers if you sow many seeds every year.

[Hanazono]

More flowers:

Turbinicarpus alonsoi

Turbinicarpus alonsoi (grafted & degrafted)

Thelocactus heterochromus