The Epis Are Here, The Epis Are Here!! 2005 PART TWO

I guess I should have been a little more precise about the orchids. I can grow them!!!

I just never have any luck getting them to bloom again!! LOL

Pretty green leaves just don't do it for me. :-) And yes we probably have more humidity than Modesto K, but not much!!

Julie, I agree on the pricing of orchids.....they are pretty darn expensive, but I guess it's all about priorities. I've paid a pretty penny for some treasures in my succulent collection and never (well hardly ever!) batted an eye.

We don't have that much trouble getting our orchids to bloom. If the leaves are deep green, they are not getting enough light, and they usually won't bloom. Mine was next to a west facing block window with diffused sun, and they bloom annually. I seem to have problems getting my epis to grow and bloom. Any suggestions?

Here's one of our orchids.

Beautiful, cacti_lover. Aren't the variations great?

Fish emulsion for the Epis. That made a big difference in helping them bud up this year. I just learned about it this spring and about a month after I fertilized them.......Buds!

K :~D

I think I will exchange places with my orchids and Epis. My Epis are getting too much sun, and the Orchids haven't been blooming and have lovely dark leaves.......easy fix! Thanks for mentioning it!

Karen, I just started using fish emulsion on some of my plants. My first lesson -- don't use it on strawberries! pfft!!

k

I had to go back and see which episode of this Epi Saga contained the discussion of Ric Racs and found it here:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/480652/

So today Happenstance Garden is giving a very wet welcome to this form of Ric Rac (at least I think that's the one it is!) I didn't expect it til about the 15th of the month so it was a nice surprise on this gray day:

Epiphyllum anguliger

Good day for photos, though. Is there a reason for the rocks in the center?

These are rooted plants and because of the weight and length of the leaves (there are 4 plants in the basket), I've found that putting the root balls in the center of the basket and then adding the weight of the rocks they tend to stay in place until firmly rooted in their new home.

I do this with other types of cuttings too, depending on the height/size of the cutting, I may pile rocks around the base of the plant/cutting until it can stand up nice and tall by itself.

It looks great, Candy. I have one that looks just like it in the same basket and all! This is an old picture, but you get the idea!

I've got some more epi buds on the way. Pictures will be forthcoming in a week or so.

I got this one at Home Depot. I think it is Epiphyllum chrysocardium, but I'm not sure.

I got this one too at Home Depot. I think it is Hylocereus anthonyanus:

I hope my ric rac will flower this year. I picked one up a couple of years ago but so far it just seems to grow pads and lots of air roots.

Perhaps you might like to see another Epi, although is not quite as showy?
This is another night blooming Epiphyllum and it is very fragrant. Since it is still chilly outside, this one is still in our sunroom and it is starting new growth. At the same time it is budding everywhere. I just walked upstairs and the scent of an open flower caught my attention. The scent is reminiscent of carnations mixed with the"white scent" of the oxypetalum type.
Epiphyllum phyllanthus var. phyllanthus
You may have seen my page on the plant, it has a bit of history.
http://www.kammlott.net/Ephyllanthus.html

And here is the plant. Btw, the fruit is edible.

Marvelous, Ursula! I must add that to my list of must-haves.

My Ric-Rac blooms in November. My other Epis bloom in spring, and my E. oxypetalum in early Summer. Is that normal?

K

Karen, I hope that's normal for the Ric-rac. I got mine around January and haven't seen any buds so was hoping it was a fall bloomer :-). E. oxypetalum bloom time varies depending on your climate. You're a bit warmer there in California than where I was in Oklahoma so your summer warms up sooner. Mine bloomed in the middle of July in Oklahoma....this without ANY help whatsoever from me (as I hadn't a clue what to do other than give a bit of water now and then LOL). But from what I read in my online searches, mid-late summer is normal for E. oxypetalum. The Epi that I have now started blooming a few weeks ago. So I think your Epis are "normal" LOL

-Julie

These are beautiful.
Kaleem

Thanks Julie. I have also found that the E. oxypetalum blooms easy with little or no attention. Good thing, the way things go around here. That's why I was so thrilled to see an Orchid blooming. The orchids are sitting right next to my E. oxy. LOL

K

I gotta stop looking at this thread!

Clare and Ursula......so pretty! It's probably a good thing these are pretty hard to find, otherwise I'd be obsessing about them. (As if I'm not already!)

Clare our HD has the typical half-dead ferns, pathos, philos in those baskets, but I've never seen the Ric Racs, they look super!

Ursula, great story about retrieving your Epiphyllum phyllanthus var. phyllanthus....I love the smaller flower size.

As far as bloom time, my Epis all bloom sometime between late April and mid-July depending on how soon it warms up. One year ago they were well along in their bloom cycle, but right now they are sitting out in the pouring rain......not good for them, I have visions of rot and mold dancing in my head.

This image was taken May 6, 2004

Such a beautiful pot of epi flowers! After following this thread(s) for the past weeks, I just had to have some of these plants and so ordered 8 different cuttings - y'all got me hooked! It's going to be long wait of a year or 2 to (hopefully) have some flowers, but will definitely be worth it! Keep the pictures coming, I'm really enjoying seeing them all. :)

Kbuzz, same here. I ordered several types, too.

First bloom I ever saw was a Sonoma Sunrise. That started the hunt which turned up all these beautiful blooms. That was all it took, lol.

Same pot as above, today 05/05/05.....gotta be something special about this day with the "555" thing going!

Pouring rain at about 6:30AM......with the storm clouds there was not even enough natural light to take a picture without a flash!

looking very promising Happenstance. Tons of buds!!

Oh my! What a difference a year makes!
:~D

Thanks, kaperc. I just love them.

Hey, Kachinagirl. So you use fish emulsion? I got to try that. Glad you have buds now.

Yep! My Grandfather used Fish Emulsion, and his garden was incredible. Funny I didn't think of it myself! DUH! My Epi buds are growing daily so I will be posting some pics by next week (hopefully...or whenever they get around to it!)

K

Great! Can't wait to see it. I love epis.

Candy! Wow take a look at all those buds! Ya can't even count them all there are so many! And in your rain pic of your new baby above, you've got a lovely Easter???? cactus in the background just loaded with buds!!!! WOW! You're gonna have an explosion of flowers soon! :-)

-Julie

Silly Easter Cactus....hasn't done much since I posted this thread on April 23rd! http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/502957/ It's just been too cold and everything went back to sleep......that's the danger and now with all this rain the poor things are so confused.

Doesn't happen often, but I've seen it happen with Holiday Cactus and Epis ......a couple of these on again, then off again seasonal ups and downs and you wake up one morning with all the buds on the ground.

:-(.....fingers crossed that that does NOT happen!

Candy, I got lucky, I think, when I found those at Home Depot. I snatched them up really fast. We have a nice cactus/succulent section at this Home Depot here. I also got a E. crenatum there. These baskets weren't inexpensive. They were about $8 each.

Ursula, your Epiphyllum phyllanthus var. phyllanthus is fantastic and very special. Have you seen this web site: http://www.ecology.org/orchids/index5.html#Epis He has an interesting form of Epiphyllum phyllanthus var. phyllanthus also.


This message was edited Feb 21, 2008 1:13 PM

Here is a close-up of it:

Here are the epi buds I'm waiting on. Candy, yours looks fantastic!

Clare,
about ecology.org
My plant is the original mother plant!!
Joe Dougherty who runs the ecology org website received last Spring cuttings from me.The plant/story on my website had caught his eye and he contacted me. I am the collector he is referring to. ( and DH) If you look at the phyllanthus pictures on his site you will notice filenames like kamm01 or something like that. My last name is Kammlott. I traded cuttings from the Epi Deutsche Kaiserin and the Epi phyllanthus var. phyllanthus for some really nice pieces of Huernia herrei. He is a very nice and generous person and he had sent me a very long list of Epis and others to choose from. I happily chose the Huerna. ( Which is doing well, perhaps I will see flowers this year.)
Ursula

Awesome, Ursula! I guess it is true that it is a small world:-) You've got great taste in plants!

Clare I don't know which one is shown in your images.....remember I just grow 'em and watch them bloom, am not an authority or expert by any means. :-)

Thanks, Candy. I guess we'll just figure it out when it blooms. Don, over at the Tropicals forums, gets blooms a couple of times a year from his Epi oxy. I was looking for his pictures but couldn't find them quickly, but here is a list of links which are fun to look through: http://davesgarden.com/forums/search.php?forum=&search_text=epiphyllum+oxypetalum&limit=0&limit_poster=&Search=Search

It's cold, windy, and drizzling again.....and this silly flower is gonna open!

Any idea what this may be? I have has a bunch of epis just hanging out for several years and a couple have finally decided to bloom. One was an ackermannii(sp?) and then there is this one with tiny orange flowers.