dose anybody have cactus bloomimg yet?
christmas cactus
I was out in the sunroom yesterday and noticed that my so-called Christmas cactus were beginning to form tiny buds. When we were in Illinois they bloomed right on time, however, since we moved to AR, they have become Halloween or Thanksgiving cactus. Probably has something to do with the length of the days here and there. This was last year on the 12th of November.
hi, first post here, though i have been following this thread for a couple of months. attached is a photo of a Christmas cactus on my front porch with fuchsia blooms that began to flower about three weeks ago. it has always been an outdoor plant. i also have a Thanksgiving cactus hanging in a north facing living room window that began to flower this past week; I'll add photos of the white blooms tomorrow. why two plants given totally different environments are blooming at the same time i don't know...
...and here is the thanksgiving cactus in my north facing window. the white blooms have a red center. i have a number of holiday cactus; they seem to like the central cali coast weather...
i have lot of name christmas cactus too.maybe we can do some trade
bespokecarmel, love that white, red center! very unusual. No sign of buds on mine yet.
isn't the red center nice? and here is a photo of a red easter cactus that bloomed last month in my garden...this one hangs sheltered in a tree.
i like your lily on your trade list.i have ton of those too.need to trade lily to
Here in western PA, the Christmas cacti are just starting to form bloom buds on the plants. These are outside and we are just now getting our first frosts, so they came in this week. With Christmas cactus, be sure to maintain the day length that they were getting outside. If they get light at night, they may drop the flower buds.
Can anyone advise me on how to get Christmas cacti to bloom? Should I place the plants in a dimly-lit or dark spot right about now? Any help is appreciated, thanks
My understanding is that shorter days, cooler temps and less water will trigger blooming. After the bloom buds start, it is important to not increase day length until after the flowers have formed and dropped.
Lost most of mine do to the heat last summer, and the freeze this winter, and a problem with the new watering system.
Sandy
Mine is getting ready to bloom. "Gold Charm".
Gary
here my beach dancer in bloom. light peach color
Usually Christmas cactus bloom anywhere from Thanksgiving to sometime in January, and often there is a smaller bloom in the summer. I offer this link http://cactus.biology.dal.ca/paulS/christmas/christmas.html as a partial explanation. I have also abused them by keeping them quite dry in the winter, and they would bloom immediately after starting to water.
So I just like them whenever they bloom and don't sweat it. None of mine bloomed this fall, most gave me a small showing this summer. Keep them moist and fertilized until they bloom, then barely moist after they bloom with no fertilizer until summer.
Yes, nurseries will force their plants in darkness but I don't.
I think the short day/long night treatment induces buds more than anything else. Mine are loaded with buds this year, and all I did was keep them in the front living room where no lights are turned on after dark. Temp was kept a consistent 68-70 degrees, and I watered them when they were dry-- maybe once a week.
I also get a smaller flush of bloom in the spring when the day/night length is similar to fall.
I've been going around collecting pieces of Schlumbergera buckleyi when I can find them, and I now have four. I'm curious to see if they are all the same flower. The phylloclades look different on all of them so we'll see.
Also started some Schlumbergera seeds on October 1, 2010. Have about 25 seedlings from a cross of LImelight Dancer x Beach Dancer.
This message was edited Nov 7, 2010 4:11 PM
good luck on the seedling.i have no luck doing seed.here is my buckleys
2 of mine did very well with blooming in the living room 50-100 each with only a dark period from 11pm on when the lights are out. I think daylight length and care have more to do with bloom than a plunge into darkness
I agree with what you say. Kept in my greenhouse, temps range from high 30's to low 70's. Light time is determined by my work schedule as I often like to putter in the greenhouse at night until 10 or 11pm. I have probably 40 of this type of cactus that always bloom yearly. bob
Just notuced buds on mine today.
My 2 are in full bloom right now. Should take a pic, I suppose. :>)
My Caribbean Dancer getting ready to put on a show. This is a really vigorous, free blooming Schlumbergera that I would highly recommend.
i have gold charm and caribbean dancer to do some trade with?looking for name christmas cactus or???? see what you have to trade
You all have such beautiful christmas cacti. I've been wanting one for a while and I am receiving segments to root via a trade. My dad decided to show how much confidence he has in my ability to root them ... he bought me a christmas cactus. :p Well at least I'll have a blooming one for the holidays! It is just forming buds now and I think it's Fuchsia.
My Gold crown is bloming.
Oh smashedcactus that's beautiful! Where do you people buy your named Cactus at? I've seen them in two places but they were unnamed.
I have several named holiday cactus that i have purchased through my local cvs-they purchase from a grower/wholesaler named 'hanabay flowers' in half moon bay, ca.
I see people who post "what is the name of this variety' on sites and then relist under whatever name people give them, so when i trade i tend to take that info with a grain of salt. there are so many hybrids of so many plants, many done by amateur gardeners, that i would think it would be near impossible to identify a particular 'named' variety unless it comes from the person who initially crossed it.
If you enjoy the color, i say go for it!
I definitely love the one my Dad bought me. It's just having unnamed products means I can't offer them in a trade :-/ It's hard to say "I have a fuchsia colored ... " when someone is offering a xmas cactus trade heh.
I bought mine at WM. It was named by a DGer. There were several last year at a Kroger store, but I have no more room (that is what the DW told me) LOL.
All of mine, xbucklyi, and 3 others are not setting blooms this year. Surprising as I treated them all quite well, last year. But I don't force, just let them follow the plan they have.
The one my Dad bought me is blooming! It's not Fuchsia though, I think it's Red. It looks nothing like the Fuchsia they had blooming in the store.
I made a mistake and watered mine while they were in bloom. Most of the buds fell off and the flowers turned to mush. I still have a few that will bloom, though.
Gary
So, I gave one plant to a friend a big schlum, and it was bloom city. My only blooming plant of the year. Sigh.
Pandora Rose.
very nice.
While I was at the store today I noticed they got in some Truncata. They had fairly large size plants for 19.99 and had two colors - peachy and a yellowy one. I hope they have them still there next month and maybe on sale. After stocking up on extra blankets and winter emergency gear I'm plum broke for the month.
My Christmas cactus have turned into Thanksgiving cactus. When we were in Illinois, they bloomed right at Christmas but now they bloom sooner. I can only figure out that it is the difference in daylight farther south, or maybe since they are about 35 years old, they just want to do it their way and bloom at Thanksgiving.
JeanK, I didn't realize they got that large! My Nana had a very large red one but it wasn't anywhere near that size. Very pretty.
Acts238, is that lavender or pink? It's quite beautiful!
I think my Christmas cactus is made up of two different plants. After I took the picture above the other stem/branch bloomed. One produces mostly red flowers and the other produces red with a white stripe down the petals. Has anyone had this happen?!?!
I'm noticing a few more stores are getting them in. The store I bought mine at got in some larger "Named" varieties of Christmas Cactus and they are around 20 bucks more than the one I got. I'll be going to Lowes next week to look for new pots and I hope they got some in.
The get huge! I had 3 that size until I sold one, and am planning on dividing up another. I have decided an 8" pot is big enough.
*crosses "small" plant stand off the list and adds "big" plant stand.*
I think I'll be needing a bigger plant stand lol.