It's 8PM - Do you know where your buds are?

Now this is funny!
I was about to write puff puff for Darius yesterday, no kidding.

I need to figure out how to give mine a winter chill. I have a heated apartment, no garage, and outside temps below freezing.

Here's my part: open, open, open!

Darius, hmmm. That is a quandry. I think the best you can do is to bring them inside the apartment with you and keep it as cool as you can stand it!

Clare, that really isn't sufficient. The two back rooms I keep closed off each have a dehumidifier that runs almost continuously, throwing heat into the rooms. They probably stay about 55ºF, maybe even 60ºF. My front (main) living areas stay around 66º-68ºF, higher on really blustery nights when the wind penetrates the window jambs.

I wonder if my landlord's garage gets below freezing, and whether he has any room in it?? Might be worth asking.

I wonder how important the winter chill really is. Do we know? I thought it was the length of the light and amount of darkness that triggers blooms. I really just don't know enough about epi's yet to know for sure. I do know that my Epi's and Christmas/Thanksgiving cacti live outside all year on my covered patio, and it doesn't get below 40 here. Sorry that I'm not much help.

Clare, I kinda think we are all in the dark about specifics on these guys, LOL. I know my knowledge has increased a hundred-fold in the last 3-4 years and I STILL know nothing!

LOL, Darius. I know nothing too:-) I do know that you must be doing something right because you have buds! I think it is the weird weather that is causing them to open so slowly. It's very frustrating.

Beautiful buds, Ursula. I forgot to say that earlier. Even the closed buds add wonderful color to the landscape.

Yes, I must agree with the color in the landscape, Clare. It's lovely to look out the window past my computer monitor and see tiny splashes of red flowers-to-be!

Thanks.
About the prolonged winter chill. Some of you, the lucky warm climate people, have perhaps the answer to this question. Are your Epis just loaded up with tons of buds and then provide a fire works for a few weeks or do the buds come in a only a few single numbers/plant.
My reds really will only bloom well, I mean produce a SHOW, when I keep them very close to dormancy through the winter. I have never provided my new hybrids with winter conditions like that. Will they bloom better if I also stick them into an unheated room over the winter?
Now if those Epis grown in warmer climates are also kept fairly warm over the winter and still bloom like crazy than I am simply wrong.
But 40 degr F is a good temp, that is the same as in my garage or in an unheated room in the house for me.
So, how about any warmer places? 60 degrees minimum - are they still flowering well?

In my experience the cold is a necessary element. Here's a portion of a post I made in another thread from March 2004:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/421252/

The same Epis that were/are in the large tubs were in an enclosed pool area that was unheated and lived through the frigid winter of 90-91(I think that was the year?) when temps in Marin County and most of the Bay Area plumeted into the teens for a number of days. They bloomed beautifully as I recall and showed no ill effects from the prolonged cold weather, but I did lose a lot of tropicals. The mother plants of all my Jades also survived that winter, but many many of the ancient landscape Jades in the Bay Area turned to yucky soup puddles.

One year I brought my Holiday Cacti into the sunroom before they had enough time to chill (we were going out of town) and they barely bloomed that year.

Not a scientific study, just my experience .......it isn't just the shorter daylight hours, they need to be chilled. Our lows over the last seven years have been 37-39F, no frost and they live outside all winter long in the monsoon rains. I do move them into a more sheltered location so the wind doesn't beat them up too badly.

This message was edited Jun 30, 2005 12:39 PM

Candy and Ursula, you are probably right, but just to make sure that the other environmental conditions were the same, when you had your plants in the other areas, were they subjected to the same amount of light and darkness as when they were outside -- i.e., no artificial light at night? If the answer is "yes" and if they still didn't bloom as well as being outside, then I agree that winter chill is the key.

I guess the way to find out for sure is to ask someone who lives in the tropics, Zone 11 and higher -- is there higher than Zone 11? -- if they get an explosion of flowers from their Christmas cacti when the days become shorter and when their plants are left outside.

We could write to Logee's to see what they do, but they probably have a temperature controlled greenhouse. Here, it routinely dips into the low 40's during the winter, even briefly dipping into the high 30's. I do get an explosion of blooms. Poinsettias are similar in some respects, but I think they need complete darkness at night for so many hours a night for so many months to bloom in time for Christmas.

Here is my Christmas Cactus -- err, actually, I think it's a Thanksgiving Cactus -- on December 21, 2004.

I got another flower last night. This picture was taken about 7:00 p.m. without the flash. I like the way the flower looks better without the flash. This picture shows the approximate size of the flower.

Here is the same flower this morning about 10:00 a.m.

It looks nice in the daytime! We are having a foggy overcast day today, and I think that explains why it is still open right now. When the sun comes out, it will start to close.

Beautiful, Clare. Did you give it a shower or did it rain there? In any case, I like how it looks with the water drops on it :-)

Lovely, Clare!

Thanks, guys! Julie, I watered right before the shot:-)

Clare, very cute in the morning light!

'Hot Lava'

It's a large bloom and very very red.

Thanks, Ursula!

Wow, Candy, wow! Great color!

Candy,

What a pretty deep red flower! Red is my favorite color. Where did you get 'Hot Lava' from? I would like to have a cutting.

Connie

Been rushing around for days it seems......trying to keep everything watered in this mini-heat wave we're having.

So Clare to answer (very tardy...so sorry) your question. Yes, all the conditions of light were the same, no matter the winter placement.

Your petite white is so sweet.....elegance in a small package. :-)

I think 'Hot Lava' is going to be a favorite......it is a true red, so very pretty in a more subtle way than all my bright shocking pinks!

I'm pretty sure 'Hot Lava' is available from various sources, but mine came from Epies by Pat http://www.epies.net last year.

Ursula - Just catching up and trying to spot the threads/posts I have missed in the last few days....re:puffing

Something about "great minds" think alike......I've been puffing at one of mine for DAYS with no results, but I still keep doing it.....must be that need to control and/or be "useful." LOL

Thanks, Candy. Then, you guys are right that the winter chill is a must for best blooms:-)

Here's one of this evening's "puffers."

And the third tub, which has yet to be repotted....because it won't stop blooming!! LOL

LOL, Candy! That is great that you are still getting flowers! Maybe that one won't get repotted until August or September! I noticed a little bud on my triangular-stemmed epi the other day. The parent species which has the triangular/angled stem must be a later bloomer than the other flat-stemmed epi's, and that trait has continued with the hybrids of that species.

It's 10:00 p.m., and I know where my buds are!

Dear All,

A wonderful thread with lots of nice flowers and very useful info. Much appreciated.

I thought folks might find this Epi oxy plant interesting. (Taken with flash) I got it as a cutting (from RUK, in fact - Thanks, Ursula!) less than two years ago and it has been sitting in that jar ever since against a south-facing window. It put out roots. I add good water from time to time and a little Peter's 20-20-20 now and then. It's budding.

Cheers,
Raymond.

No fair, Raymond! I have 3 potted epis (one is HUGE) and no buds yet. Grrrrrrr. However I now know what I have been doing wrong, thanks to this forum, and hopefully will see some flowers before summer is over.

What are the 'dead spider' looking things next to your epi?

Epi #2

last and least (in size, anyway)

Okay so I stink at growing epis. I grow some mean clematis. LOL:

NoH2O,
Wow those are quite some clematis plants!!! Nice.
Those 'dead spiders'? Actually they're old dried-up flowers of Maxillaria picta (an orchid) which was sitting near it a few months back. I dumped them into that glass ashtray and have never emptied it out!!
Cheers,
Raymond.

noH2O,
gorgeous Clematis. And no, you don't stink at growing Epis. Especially the first pic shows a beautiful plant.
Raymond,
so much for "matured growth" - budding in a JAR!!! But your plant also shows healthy leaves with a lot a color, they must have received good light. Obviously those plants can't be overwatered?

Clare - My "triangular" ones definitely set buds later, bloom later, and they all have the little "prickley" thorns that look fairly harmless, but are very sharp and painful!! LOL

Lovely long necked buds!! Will we have flowers tonight???? Hope so.


Raymond - Your Epis look wonderful! You don't stink, these are just plants that have their own agendas. :-)
With some TLC and some fertilizer and a winter chill period, I bet you will get blooms sooner rather than later.

Your plant in the water jar is just wonderful.......what a kick that is!

Candy, you're right about the triangular ones. That is cool. So for a longer blooming season, one should have both the flat kind and the triangular kind. Good to know:-)

I hope we will have flowers tonight too, but I've got to get to bed early tonight because I have a super long day tomorrow which will start at 5:15 a.m. I'll check before I go to bed and when I get up and will for sure snap some pictures. I'm very excited as these will be my first epi oxy blooms.

Cool pic, Raymond! I find it very interesting that the roots don't rot in that water. Perhaps it is only a cold/wet situation that can cause rot, or perhaps epi's are more resistant to rot than I previously thought. Anyway, congrats on those buds! I can't wait to see them when they are open. Ursula is just a gem, isn't she?

NoH20, your plants are beautiful! I don't believe that you stink at growing epi's either. Two of your three are Ric Rac types, which I've heard are a little more resistant to flowering than the others. Don't give up!

Thanks for all the encouragement.

Maybe tonight...