I have a few Kalanchoe plants that I found growing wild (where someone had apparently dumped cuttings last year). They were blooming when I found them - last fall, but so far they haven't bloomed for me. Is there any trick to getting them to bloom or should I just wait for the weather to be cooler? The plants look great - I wonder if I'm taking too good of care of them .. . some things need neglect to bloom, any ideas?
thanks,
Onalee
Kalanchoe any tricks to bloom?
The trick is the amount of light it gets. Short light periods/long dark periods will encourage Kalanchoes to bloom.
Hi onalee -
Depends on the variety. Here in 9b California Kalanchoe blossfeldiana blooms pretty much year round planted in the ground. Rests for a few weeks usually Dec-Jan. It can take full sun or pretty heavy shade.
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/591/
If you are speaking of something like K. beharensis it blooms here from late Spring through early Winter and can also take full sun with little or no water or shade, but flowers less in the shade.
http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/26548/
Oooops I did not specify it clear enough above.
I did mean hours of light not intensity. Shorter days during winter month will give the signal for blooming but the actual blooms will be later on. Commercial growers may force them to bloom out of season by artificially reducing the hours of light given per day.
ok - I guess I'll just wait a while then and not get bummed out yet. They may be like my Christmas Cactus which often doesn't bloom until well after Christmas here in Florida, zone 9b, for some reason. I really liked the blooms - they were red, as I recall (of course, I didn't take a picture!). Thanks for the info!!
Onalee
Since you are further south than the rest of us, it will be later in the year when your nights become long enough to trigger blooming. Los Angeles is at about the same latitude as Atlanta, GA and it looks like Clayton, CA is at about the same latitude as Richmond, VA, so you can see that we are way up north compared to you.
Thanks for all the info . .. . patiently waiting . .(or not) for blooms!
thanks!
I also heard that cool temps, 65 at least will encourage them to bloom. Can't remember where that came from, but I had one that didn't bloom and that was the info I got.
AAAAHHH - They are starting!! I found small buds starting on them today - - -YEAH! I don't know if it the coolness or the shorter days that did it (it just got down into the 40's this week here at night) - BUT THEY ARE COMING. Yea! Thank you all for the info - - I just needed to wait longer!
I have a kolanchoe gastonis. The information I've been finding on it indicates that the plant will die after it blooms (monocarpic)It's also viviparous, (bear live young).
All very interesting huh?
Must be you have a different kind of kolanchoe.
This message was edited Nov 21, 2003 10:21 PM
Yes, it must be different because it was blooming when I found it and it must have dropped seeds or something from the blooms because then it had a bunch of babies and now the original plant is about 18" high and 12" across - huge! And the babies (which I separated to their own pots) are about 10" high and they are gonna bloom too! I'm so excited - - - I love finding plants that someone has discarded and giving them a new home - especially when they bloom!
I have some 'mother of thousands' , which I believe is in the same family, and it has 'live' young plants on it, but I don't think it dies after it gives 'birth' . .. there are so many of these plants, it would be hard to tell, though.
goshhow lucky to find these. i have been looking to find some of the mother of thousands and kalanchoe pinnita air plant one. i cant seem to find any around here. the ones on the net are like 30 dollars. anyone know where i can get one? thanks imzadi Marie
I would be happy to send you some mother of thousands plants if you send a padded SASE - probably would take .60 postage. I don't know if there are any babies left on them, but I have THOUSANDS of small plants . .. (no pun intended).
email me if you want some . ..
Onalee