CLOSED: Cactus - Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving

Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving Cactus Cuttings Trading

I have to repot all of mine 10 or so pots about 5 different colors. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks until the weather is a little more stable before doing this.

Is there any interest in trading cuttings for colors, or types you do not have?

Post your name if you want to be in on a trade, with me or another person.

I believe they can be sent in bubble envelopes so the postage expense will be minimum.

Judy

PS Someone is going to have to tell me how to repot them and take cuttings.


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Posting Trades Here:

Darius - cuttings from all of Judy's

Sequee - cuttings from all of Judy's

MaVie - cuttings from all of Judy's

JanetS - cuttings from all of Judy's

starlight1153 - wants SASBE or trade for unnamed daylily or canna seeds. - lost hers power outage.

Maxine - Judy's Apricot trade for yellow cactus

PerennialGirl - Judy's Apricot for her Red Epi

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pins2006 - older fushia Easter (or at least Lenten) cactus -
----Judy - trading a red to pens
----JanetS - wants to trade with Pins, list later, no Cactus
----Maxine - trading her yellow for Pins Fushia



This message was edited Feb 22, 2005 10:24 PM

another

I root mine in water Judy. Works fine for me. Then pot them up in 4" pots.
Karen

more.....

Oh please, would somebody trade or SASBE some of all of the colors with me. I lost all mine during that unexpected 8 degree ice storm we had here that freaked us southerners out and knocked out our power.

I don't have much in the way of plants to trade. I got some unnamed daylily seeds or canna seeds I can trade.

When you go to take cuttings. Just break them apart at the segments. You need to to three segments per cutting for them to do good. Then the ones your sending just protect them in a bubble envelope and mark fragile. By the time they reach their destination they wil have formed a callus and be ready for potting.

They like a course, weel-drained medium with high porosity. You can either use a pure course peat moss to start them in or a raition of 80-60% peat and 20-40% perlite. Once they are rooted good, you can use a 20-10-20 fertizlizer and in the winter a 13-212 or 15-5-15 .

Yopu want to keep your cuttings on a slight wet/dry cycle. Too much water and you wil rot the roots.. to little can cause delayed development, reduced flower size, and premature flower bud abscission.


To transplant your big guy, get lots of newpaper down and lay the pot on its side and gently slide it out and then bring the new container over and lay it on it side and slide your plant into the container. Then carefully stand it up and add your new soil that way.

Happy Gardening!

starlight1153, I will be glad to send you cutting of all my "babies". I like to make people "smile".

Thank you so very much for all the information.

Judy

Your welcome Judy and thankyou!!!!! : )

Just please, when you get ready let me know what I need to send to you.

Thanks again! I appreciate it!!

Judy, would you have extra of the pink? I could take off a piece of my yellow cactus if you like?

Is your pink thanksgiving, Xmas, or Easter? I only have the Thanksgiving cactus's, but would like some of the others.
I have watching in the stores, but so far nothing!!

Maxine

I believe all of mine are Thanksgiving also. I'll have to look closely when I repot them. They normally start blooming when the weather turns off cold, that can be any time from Oct to Nov here, and then bloom through January. By this time I believe my house is too warm for them to set their buds.

Maxine - I would love to trade with you for a yellow, but look at these pictures and see if you still want.

The last two cactus changed dramatically when they fully opened, I'll post the other pictures I took. I also have bright solid red but I couldn't find a picture of it.

Apricot color is the first picture

What at first I thought was going to be white, then I thought was going to be pink turned out to be a lavender color. Here it is

I have an older fushia flowered cactus. I think its an Easter (or at least Lenten) type of bloomer. It's not rooted, but I can take cuttings and try to root them if anyone is interested.

Pins, we would love for you to join in!!!

I for one would like a cutting, as soon as it warms up a litle.

Judy

Judy I would luv a piece of your Apricot one. It's simply gorgeous. I have a red Epi that I could trade.
:) Donna

Donna, Sounds wonderful!!!

Does anyone want to take this thread over and organize a good swap with hopefully lots of people taking part???

Judy

Pins, I would like a start of your Easter cactus also.

Maxine

Judy, love all of your colors.

Oh jeez... You folks are making me drool with your pics. Slobber..slobber...slobber...

For those not sure which catctus you have there are two types.. One is the Schlumbergera truncata , which is the Thanksgiving Cactus and the other is Schlumbergera bridgesii, which is the Christmas Cactus.

The way to tell them apart is by their margins and anthers.

The Thanksgiving Cactus has 2-4 saw-toothed serrates along the leaf margins and has yellow anthers.

The Christmas Cactus hs denate margins and purple anthers.

What you think is an Easter Cactus is really just one of the other two that has been proagated to grow and bloom for that season.

Ok, got me a new drool towel, who has more pics. pant..pant..pant.. LOL : )

Is there a place where I can see pictures? I'm a visual person. I'm not certain waht denate margins are. I do believe that I must have the Christmas Cactus, but it always blooms mid February to mid March and it's over 15 years old. I just checked, and it's anthers are the exact same fushia color as the petals, so that must be considered purple.

I'll be glad to propagate as many three leaf segments as people want. It's not a huge cactus, as I don't repot it often.

Maxine, I'd love to trade for a cutting of your yellow cactus. Judy, I think I "accidently" broke off a piece of a friend's light lavendar cactus last fall (she said I could keep it, though). I would like a start of either your red or pink Thanksgiving cactus in trade.

This is such a great trade going!

Check me to make sure I've listed everything in the top posting.

Judy

Dentate means "toothy" and this is typical of a Thanksgiving cactus which has alot of Schlumbergera truncata in it's background.

The flowers of a Thanksgiving cactus are also held upright and at an angle to the plant.

Picture is of the segments and flower of my Thanksgiving cactus "Thor Ritt". It would be considered a good example of a S. truncata hybrid.

The typical Christmas cactus is also known as Schlumbergera buckleyi or bridgesii, and mine don't usually bloom at Christmas. In fact, mine is blooming right now. It has crenate segments, which means "scalloped". These are the ones that your grandmother may have had and it's not unusual for them to get passed on from generation to generation, and be a hundred years old. This is probably what Pins has, and they are to me, the most interesting type of Holiday cactus. General growth habit is more pendant, meaning they hang down more than truncata hybrids do, so they make good hanging basket plants. The flowers are also more pendant and symmetrical than those of truncata hybrids. These kind of cactus are not typically found in the stores because of their odd bloom time and pendant habits-- you usually have to acquire pieces of these from a collector or someone dividing up a very old plant.

The plants known as Easter Cactus are a whole other animal, although they are jungle cactus like the Schlumbergera. Most of them are various hybrids of Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri, and I can't grow them well at all. A Google search would probably shed more light on Easter cactus if you were interested.

I got my S. buckleyi from a woman in Brookville, PA and it's very old. It is bright fuschia with coppery orange overtones that aren't picked up very well in the picture.


This message was edited Feb 21, 2005 12:15 PM

This is a batch of one year old Schlumbergera seedlings. They are a cross of "Lavender Doll x Tinsel". Lavender Doll is more nearly a truncata type hybrid and Tinsel has the characteristics of S. buckleyi and the seedlings run the gamut of soup to nuts of both types. Some are heavilly dentate or toothy, and still others are more crenate, or smoothly scalloped. I can't wait to see them bloom!

This message was edited Feb 21, 2005 12:16 PM

Great Information!!! Thanks!!

Thank you so much for your good information. Many things that I didn't know.

Maxine

IndaShade - you have my admiration... I had thousands of seeds and started saving some to send to my "seed addict friends" but dang they were so tiny I finally just toss the lot. Now I'm saying "Bad Judy".

Oh my, such lovely colors and helpful information! Got this bookmarked for future reference... along with about 300 other threads scattered all over DG... :)

Thanks gang!
Donna

Inda Shade. ... Did you happen to hybridize your cross there for your seedlings? If so, I wondered was it hard to do? Everything I see I need to dab..dab.. dab..

Seedlings are always so exciting and ya nevre know for sure exactly what you will get. Good looking seedlings ya got going there. : )

Yes, I did make the cross for the seedlings myself. Schlumbergera are not self-fertile, so you must deliberately cross them with other Schlumbergeras to get seed.

I have a number of seed pods on some of my plants right now, but it takes about a year for the pods to ripen. Then it's about two years until they bloom-- so growing Christmas cacti from seed is definitely NOT for the impatient!

IndaShade - "Schlumbergera are not self-fertile, so you must deliberately cross them with other Schlumbergeras to get seed"

Dose that mean all those little black "thingees" from the flowers that I threw away, weren't really seeds anyway, so now I don't have to feel bad about having tossed them??

Judy

Well, I don't know what the little black thingies were, but Schlums form a "berry" about the size of a marble when they have been successfully pollinated. Some are green, some are pink, and some will be red, depending on the genetic background of the plant.

It's thought in the wild that the berries are attractive to birds, who eat them and.... well, you know the rest of the story. :-)

I'll be back to this thread and taking cuttings in a few days... I'm creating a website for another DGer and it's taking me longer than expected, story of my life... (before you ask I don't normally do this, it's just a favor for a friend).

Judy

Judy,are you still looking for trades?If so,I'd love to trade for your apricot flowered cactus and lavender flowered cactus.Please let me know:)

Thanks,Chelsea

Wanted to bump this up so other people could sign on borad.

Judy

Judy, are we supposed to root the cuttings? Its not a very good time right now for rooting, as some of mine that were a gift from a friend just aren't producing any new leaves or stems?

Maxine

I would love to trade for some yellow cactus cuttings. How do I do this. Mine are red and pink and I have one that has a variety of colors all in one pot. I have one Christmas Cactus that is almost 20 years old and I need to take cuttings and start it anew. Let me know what I am to do to trade. I am new to this.

Maxine - take the cuttings when you think they will root. I'll be taking mine just as soon as this cold snap is over. The ones I can send I will the ones, like yours, I'll start rooting.

Will you have enough for smelltheroses, if so what of hers do you want??

smelltheroses - if you see anything else you want just post and we'll try to work it out. Can you take pictures of yours and post them on threads here? That would help people decide.

smellthe roses, I have one more trade left. then I don't wish to take any more off.

Do you have pictures of yours?

Maxine

I'm late as usual, too many irons in the fire... but I'm getting ready to repot. I watered them down good today and definiely have to REPOT!!!

If I have promised you cuttings, please send me an email with your address, it's easier for me this way I'll just print it out, cut and paste to the envelope. Trust me when I say, "I need all the help I can get".

Once the promises are completed I may have more to trade.

Judy

This message was edited Mar 27, 2005 12:26 PM

Please keep me in mind if you have more to trade! I only have one and it is just getting started and was from the plant that my great grandmother had. I hope to get a few more cuttings from the mother plant sometime soon. Thanks!

deb

http://whittongreenhouses.com/variety.htm - shows many varieties, wish I had them all.

I'm in the middle of doing this. I hope to get the cuttings ready for mailing tomorrow.

I'm just writing a number on the cutting that corresponds to this list.

#1 - 1st posting - similar to http://whittongreenhouses.com/madrilane.htm

#2 - 2nd posting - we're calling it Apricot

#3 - 3rd posting - started off white ended up lavender, plant marker says Thor Britta - http://whittongreenhouses.com/thorbritt.htm so that's confusing

#4 - Red - http://whittongreenhouses.com/malindi.htm - Malindi per plant marker

#5 - Unknown I forgot to color code probably a duplicate of one of the above

When I have the above promises, first posting, completed I will post what is available

Judy

This message was edited Mar 30, 2005 7:39 PM

What do you guys do to get them to grow so big?

Michelle