Astrophytum Ornatum

Water:

April-September: 1 x every 2 weeks*

October-March: 1x per month *

*This is only for a sunny location

Light: sunny

Nutrition: 1x per month (May-September)

When you combine dots and spines you get this cactus. Astrophytum Ornatum is the spiniest in the family. It is also the easiest, least demanding and fastest growing among the Astrophytums. This Astrophytum has the white dots for a reason. These protect the cactus from full sun and in the wild they often turn light gray. This gives the Astrophytum camouflage when it is still small and protects the cactus against herbivores that like to take a bite out of it. In nature, the Astrophytum occurs in a large area in southern Mexico. Here this cactus grows on mountain slopes at an altitude of 800 to 2000 meters.

Like most Astrophytum species, Astrophytum Ornatum first grows in a spherical shape. When it gets older, it stops growing in width and becomes longer. Ultimately, this Astrophytum can grow into a cactus of 90 to 110 cm high and 25 cm to 30 cm wide.

In summer, large yellow flowers with a diameter of 5 cm appear from the head of this Astrophytum Ornatum. These smell very nice and are beautiful to look at. The Astrophytum Ornatum only flowers when the plant has a diameter of at least 11 cm and is between 8 and 12 years old.