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Description: This is a very nice and distinguishing plant. Some time
this star shaped form of
A.
Superkabuto is regarded as
“Mirakorus (Miracle) kabuto”, but this name is not correct as
the true 'Mirakorus kabuto' is a completely different plant which is very rare and not
available for sale. Astrophytum
'Mirakorus' when young is quite similar to the star form of the ordinary
A. asterias with small dots, only old plants develops the typical wide
and not raised dots. The plant in photo looks like the 'miracle kabuto' but
is only one of the innumerable forms of the polymorphic cv.
Superkabuto.
Cultivation is not too difficult in a
greenhouse, although grows
quite slowly. The plants need a loose well-drained
mineral soil. They need a good amount of
light.
Watering can be done weekly during
summertime, if the weather is
sunny enough, with a little
fertilizer added. Kept this way, plants will
show a
healthy, although slow
growth. They are
frost hardy to -4°
(-10°) C
Be careful: The epidermis of Superkabuto is harder than in
the normal asterias and cracks easily if plants are overwatered.
Propagation:
By
seeds, remembering that
seedlings dislike strong
light and
dry conditions and need to be
repotted frequently. Eventually, as they become mature, they attain a
maximum size of 8-10 cm (20) cm. However, old plants become
senile and have
a tendency to succumb to
disease and a weak
root system. At this
stage,
as is well known, they
die suddenly. So, after they reach
10 cm in
diameter grow them slowly, and adopt a new repotting period, using
intervals of every 2 - 3 years. Additionally grow them under drier
conditions or with stronger sunlight. But plants are often
grafted to accelerate growth as
they would generally take at least a five years to reach
maturity on their
own, but the grafted plants are typical rather tall growing, compared
with plants on their own roots that are usually more flat to the
ground. |
Cultivation
and Mail Sale 
