Yesterday I took one of my thanksgiving/x-mas cactus plants to wrok to show off the blooms. Sorry no picture yet.
One of our regular customers happened to be in at the time and was telling me about how her grandmother had one years ago that filled a washtub and a method that she used to make it bloom with thousands of flowers at one time.
Supposedly the grandmother never fertilized the plant, but once a year on August 15th(this was the date given me) she would take a medicine dropper and distribute one tablespoon full of castor oil evenly around the roots of the plant just below the soil.
Has anyone ever heard of doing this to a plant?
holiday cactus
That's a new one for me.....my Grandmother just put hers in a dark closet for the month of October (I think). One thing for sure, that plant was 'regular'. LOL
I usually put all of my holiday cactus outside after the last frost. I have about a half dozen of them maybe one or two more. Anyway who's counting!! I try and keep them in bright indirect light and out of the rain. Then when I start to notice buds which is in October,I bring them into the gh. I get lots of buds but not what I see on other peoples plants or on the store bought ones. Maybe I should try some with the castor oil and some leaving them in a dark spot and maybe leave them outside a little longer and see what happens.
I also think I am keeping them too cool for mine to open a lot of blooms all at once. My plants had buds on them before my grandmothers did and hers are in full bloom while mine seem to be taking their time. She also is keeping hers in her heated house while mine are in a gh that is kept around 46F. Though the outside temps have not been that cold for us yet and the heat hasn't even come on in the gh but twice so far. So the gh has been being quite warm without the use of a heater.
I also have some superthrive but have never used it on any of my cactus or succulent plants.
Christmas cactus (Schlumbergia) prefers a resting period of at least 14 hours darkness per day for about a month to bloom well...requirements that are similar to poinsettias.
my plants also have buds on them, but so far they are still under the tree and under the porch those usually stay under the porch all year. It was 23 degrees last night, but that only lasts for hours here, so I have not moved the one under the tree yet. Just checked them this morning and they did not freeze, they must be some tough plants, some are blooming but they are not full of buds either, just so so. During the spring I do use superthrive and peters in a mister and mist all of the epies, cactus, succulents and hoyas around with it, and they really take off and look healthy all the time. If you all got buds months ago, mine are starting out late (Fuschia, White, and Pink here).
Gourd my colors are as follow
1 pot with all light peach
1 pot all red
1 pot gold (gold charm) really nice gold flowers these are not the tangerine or orange ones but actually have a gold flower on them.
1 pot dark orange
1 pot mixed orange ,white,fuschia,red
If I move mine plant that is in full bud at this time to a spot with only 50% shade will that cause the plant to abort their flowers? The buds are getting a good size now. This is the first year I have grown this species.
But it really doesn't have spines, so I can handle it.
I also grow Rhipsalis, which are cactus, they really don't turn me on. But I just wanted to learn something about them. Some of the leaf forms are terrific, so that is why I grow them and I like to tryi new things. Norma
Norma,
I've never had a problem with my holiday cactus dropping the buds when I move them just around the yard or back into the gh. I know that anytime I buy a new one that is in bud and bring it home then only do I notice bud drop.
Haven't seen the gold here, that's one that I'll keep my eye out for. The Rhipsalis types have neat leaves like Norma says, this is my second year with some very small plants, they are starting to grow but I have not seen any blooms on them yet. Maybe this spring. Some leaves actuallly curl. When I took a another look, it looks like they are full of blooms, each section has a bud forming or formed. Will take photos later today.
There was a thread by Happenstance that had her instructions on feeding the epies throughout the year and then stopping during the colder months, that is what I did this year, fed heavily from Feb thru Sept or so, then stopped. I used those instructions for the hoyas, epies, and the Christmas Cactus, and to be honest on my string of pearls and string of bananas (which are all over five feet long). Hopefully we can find her thread.
I have about 12 Christmas cactus in plastic box and put some water bottom of plastic box that it sitting on metal stool in lathe house for 4 yrs never repot or move around just leave them alone until it get buds and it now bloom so big flowers. I have heard yellow (gold), orange, white, pink and red. I have orange buds will start bloom sooner. I took the pic last Monday morning which it got so big this year as last year it was small.
SnowElk
went to wal-mart last night and they have the gold charm on sale for half price in 8" baskets. Marked down from $8.99 so they are now $4.50, for a nice full basket. I almost bought all 3 of the even though I already have one. But at that price for plants that size you can't beat it.
SnowELk, haven't seen you post in a while, how have you been? Plants looking good there.
catsmeow, that's good to know, will check them out here tomorrow. Here is one that was under the tree all year. Just moved it this morning and took all the epies down. It is starting to bloom. THe other photos I took look really washed out with the sun, so I am going to retake them a little later on in the day.
Here is another one that is forming buds (but like I said mine seem to be behind everyone else's), this one has two different colors in the basket and also some other type of cactus.
Here is another basket with also two colors, I think white and some pink or fuscha.. Sorry about the quality of the pics. I think that I don't know what size to make the pictures before I save them, I used 600 for the first one, and then decided to use 700 for the second ones to see if they are better. What number is supposed to be used?'
The buds on these ones are also very small.
Gourd,
what color epis do you have? I have a VERY large plant that blooms red. No name as it was given to me as a few small cuttings 2 years ago and now it hangs almost 10ft to the ground. I have a yellow that I don't know a name for that was shared with me as cuttings this past spring by another Dg friend and I have about 24 other named varieties that I got from an ebay auction and a friend here at Dg. Those are all new though and rather small,most of the are just starting to make side branches.
Gourd, I was so busy around my home and busy with my mom's ill in nursing home.
I doing fine.
SnowElk
catsmeow, Oh, I got lots of epies.. alot of them are named, but some outgrew their names which means I can't read the name now. Red, White, Yellow, several others, pinks, corals.. here is a photo of some of the ones I took down today. There are about 6 or 7 baskets of them and some others in other smaller baskets. I am afraid they are all mixed up now. I do not have a greenhouse, so I used some shadecloth around the arbor here in the patio to shield them from the cold. It is kind of messy right now, but by tomorrow, I will straighten it out. Will take more photos tomorrow. Several still have the names written on them.
added: SnowElk, good to hear that, you take care.
This message was edited Dec 3, 2004 5:32 PM
These were the baskets back in June, the roof rats had eaten lots of my epies so the baskets were munched down. Now they are really full.
Gourd, I just looked at the epi cuttings you sent me early this year. Many had names on them in magic marker ink but now I find only one still does... "tinseltown". I guess there will be lots of surprises when they grow up! However, all are doing well and I haven't lost a single one.
darius, that's great, The ones you sent me are also doing great, and boy are they big. The Sharpie was supposed to last a longer time, but I guess with the sun, the ink fades off.
They were never in the sun, which is why I was surprised, LOL. It's not a problem, I'll just have fun waiting and watching. I may need help with ID in a couple of years, though.
Gals, I think I have reported this several times, use a #2 soft lead pencil. The name won't fade if you face them away from the sun, in other words the name side should be facing the plant and not u. Put two labels in --- one in front and one in the back, and if that doesn't work add one to the bottom of the pot face down, the sun won't fade it. Labels get brittle, so keep them out of the sun.
I sure would like some one to add this to the FAQ list as a useful tip. Norma
Norma
All my epi cuttings that I got had sharpie marked on them so I guess I better go and put some permanent tags on them while I can still rerad what's on them.
This is what I have in epi plants right now.
I have 5 no names. They may have names but I don't know them. So far of the 28 varieties that I have only one has bloomed and that is a red one and it is a no name. All of the others are still small plants in 4" pots.
David W Grant--red/lavender
Virginia Strong--deep rose
overture--frilly white
raspeberry ribbins--rasp./orange
Judy C.--lt. yellow
tarnatula--brt. pink
Ruth Wallace--peppermint stripe
high society--org/lvdr/pnk
fluid orange--org/red
tel star--slm,org,prpl
color wheel--cant find info
forever young--fuschia
zafferan--lt pink
limoges--pale pink
bridesmaid--shades of pink
tele Ann--drk ylw/orng
pink plume--pink
pink parasol--deep rose pink
strictum--no info
Alices pet--deep melon
blazon--bright red
aztec treasure--no info
miss america--deep rose pink
This message was edited Dec 4, 2004 4:18 PM
Here are some of mine:
TelStar- orange xl bloom
Petal Pusher
Ruth Wallace
Red Sails
Basket of Cheer
Padre - pink lg bloom
DarkStar purple XL
Pegasus - purple/red/orange XL
Calypso
Ramblin Rose
Magenta
Small Orange
Coral Red
Sm. Pink
Cream Gold
Tinseltown
RicRac
Flora Dora
Sunland
Blushing Baby Pink
Venetian
and about 7 unknowns. I can read the name on about half of them, the others now I have to wait till they bloom. This is the list I started in April or so. Who would have known that there are so many. The last four are from Huntingon Gardens (hybrids), picked up cuttings there at their last sale.
You have quite a collection. Are you going to merge any of them? They will get nice and big, but I don't know if I could keep them in more pots than I have, they sure do look nice when they bloom. I mentioned before that the first epi I saw was at a victorian home that had these big urns and the epies just flowed out of them touching the ground, then they were in full bloom and the flowers looked like water lillies. They were incredible. This is my first bloom ever and got me hooked.
I may end up having to merge a lot of them. I just can't say right now. With the gh that I currently have space is VERY limited. But I have plans for a new one come spring that is 32 ft long so I if things go according to plan then I can pot each in it's own pot.
Maybe next summer when my plants are large enough we can do some trading,would be glad to share any that you don't have once mine are big enough to cut on.
I had no idea there were that many Epi's... I want to be in on a trade list in a couple of years...
Here's a new Christmas Cactus I bought today. Could not rsist the color. Of course, there's no tag/name. What else would you expect from Lowe's?
I noticed today my red Christmas cactus has blooms in the window, visible only from outside.
Darius I bought 2 new x-mas catus from walmart last night that are different from any i've seen for sale at places like that. Must be some new hybrids they are putting out.
castmeow, Sure, anytime you want, just let me know. Most of mine are merged, as soon as one has a new arm I used to write on it immediately the name, and keep on doing that until I could tell which were which. Now they are filling up the baskets really quick.
Norma, thanks for the tip on using a pencil. Did not put any labels in there but maybe I should. Still owe you a trade but just haven't been able to figure out what to send you.. I will figure it out soon.
Darius, those are nice.. have got to get out of here and go to both those places and see what I find. It is so cold here, that just looking out the window changes my mind. What color is that one from Lowes?
Earlier, it looked "peachy" with darker edges, Now just as dusk with indise lights, it looks more like white centers and dark pink around the edges. Too bad it didn't have a tag.
Thanks to you enablers, I went to HD and Lowes (got two small containers with the White Holiday Cactus), but wanted to let you guys know what else I found. A Giant Granadilla Passionvine in a five gallon pot that someone had returned and it was marked down to 5.00. It may have had a little frostbite but I am hoping it will come back. Isn't that great..lol. I had ordered this one from a mail order place and they were out.
Here's hoping that our weather stays warm and winter flys by..
Hi Antoinette! Congrats on your purchase! You got yourself a deal! The epis you sent me are doing wonderfully, and I can't wait for them to flower.
Which passiflora does it say that it is? The common name could apply to Passiflora alata "Ruby Glow," Passiflora quadrangularis, or Passiflora x decaisneana. Here's a link: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/472127/ In any case, all three are not hardy in your zone and need protection from frost. Can you let it stay indoors for the winter? I just had a P. quadrangularis "Warmlands" bloom in my portable greenhouse. Last year, this same vine died on me here in Zone 10 when the temps dipped below 45. I had to buy another. Here is a picture of it:
Home Depot also sells the P. alata "Ruby Glow" which looks like this:
HI Clare, yes tag says passiflora quadrangularis, and the tag is a Lowe's tag. Also wanted to tell you that P. alata Ruby Glow bloomed for Thanksgiving, it had two blooms and a couple of small buds. I have them outside still. They are not frozen but, losing leaves.
The quadrangularis leaves do look alot like P. alata though. Will take a photo of the tags and post them on the vines forum. I was shocked to see this one there, that's for sure.
Here is Ruby Glow 2 weeks ago.
edited to say: I guess I better move them someplace safe reallly soon. It has been in the 20's here already for a few hours a night.
This message was edited Dec 6, 2004 2:01 PM
Antoinette, I think you might have Passiflora x decaisneana from Lowe's. Apparently, P. quadrangularis is often actually Passiflora x decaisneana, and they look very similar. Anyway, whatever it ends up being, it was a great deal to be sure. I think your P. alata may be more cold hardy than the others. I have my P. alata here in the ground, and it is having some vine dieback and dropping many leaves, but it should come back just fine. Temps dropped down to 35 during the cold spell we just had.
Your P. alata should give you many more blooms next year. Each year, mine puts out more and more flowers.
Do you think you'll leave your epi's in the hanging baskets? Mine are getting heavy, and I'm wondering at what point to repot. By the way, you also sent me an epi cutting called "Tropical Night" that you forgot to add to your list. That description was hard to track down, but I found it in Cox's Epiphyllum Nursery Catelog from1976 that Norma was nice enough to send me. Thank you, Norma! Here is the description of Tropical Night:
"Large turkey-red; petals large, full, broad, rounding, with ruffled edges. Magnificent." I can't wait for them to bloom and will post pictures when they do.
I really am going to try and find some tubs or something for the epis sometime next spring. I may even wait one more year and see how long they get in those baskets, as long as we feed them they should be alright. You are right about them being so heavy. Had to put a step ladder out there to get them down. Several have been broken by DH when he mows under the tree. I found the Tropical Night epi earlier today too..lol.
Just took the photos of the tags on those passies, gonna upload them. A
I am dying to get some urns like you saw before, but they are just so darned expensive! Even the ones I saw at Costco weren't cheap but probably half the price that they would go for elsewhere. I'll check out your tags on the other thread.