New blooms on my Rick Rack Cactus
Rick Rack Cactus
OK...big question...how do you get it to bloom? I have 3 or 4 of them, growing up trees, over rocks at the rate of the speed of light....no flowers. Secrets?
I give it filtered sun in really hot weather, but give it as much sun as it can take in late winter without letting it sun burn, this seems to help it set buds. Winter may be in the low teens here, so I have a small green house and it spends the winter hanging near the ceiling windows. I never let the temp. drop below 50 degrees in the winter. Water lightly year round and more in hot weather. They hang in trees in my yard.
I keep it root bound in a high humus soil. I dig this in the deep woods around my home. I fertilize lightly with 10-10-10, about 1/2 strength or less.
MY REAL SECRET... I feed with banana peel every few days just when the previous peels have turned totally black. I slice the peels and divide among all of my rain forest epiphytic type plants. My Orchid Cactus and Night Blooming Cerus also bloom well. And old man walking thru a Garden center once told me this is the secret to beautiful Orchids. I never saw the old man again. But I do have success with my plants when I feed the banana peel. I eat the banana, the old man said the potasium is good for me and the plants.
Hope this helps you to get beautiful blooms also
Betty
This message was edited Jul 21, 2005 9:54 PM
Silly me.. I didn't realize they bloomed.. I usually give my nanner peels to my roses but I will have to hit my blooming cacti/epi as well
Very pretty Picabo .
Patti
Lovely! I got a tiny, weeney little ric rac. It's going to take a long, long time to get mine to look like yours...lol.
:) Donna
I have one for 2 years now and I am still hoping for flowers. Yours is very pretty!!
Please, do come on over to the orchid cactus forum and share your flower and your knowledge!!
PerennialGirl, You may be surprised. I smuggled a large cutting home from Calif. in a suitcase about three years ago (I didn't say that). It is less than two foot across now, but very thick.
Very nice indeed! How often does it flower? How old is your plant? My neighbour has a similar one [not exactly that] that has grown into a bush and hangs over to my side of the compound wall for many years, but have not seen it flowering.
Dinu
Do you stick the peel into the soil or just lay it on top?? I have a Night Blooming Cereus I got from a friend last year as just a leaf she rooted for me. So far all it has done is to grow a leaf on the side (lloks like it has a vein like in it). How long can I expect it to be just a leaf?? Thanks!! Bonnie
Bonnie, I lay the peel on top of the dirt.
On your Cereus question, everyone is different, I am not sure what triggers the bud set. I have had blooms on cuttings that are less than a year old and not had blooms on plants several years old.
I do know that almost without fail everyone that I have given cuttings to will have blooms on the same night. People will call from hundreds of miles away and say their Cereus is blooming the same night that mine is.
My big "Mother plant" was about 12 feet tall last year and I had to cut her back. I have to move them into the basement for the winter. I was able to pot up about twenty of these "Old Stock" plants. Several are already setting buds. It is going to be interesting to see how many bloom this year.
The "Mother" would often have 15 to 20 blooms open on her "Big" night each month.
I try to have a "Blooming Party" and guest carry home a flower.
picabo,
Do you just leave the old blackened peels on there forever? Or do you eventually take them off?
Your bloom is gorgeous, by the way :)
I leave them. They just become part of the soil.
picabo - Been reading this since I have ric rac and didn't know they bloomed. I've been throwing the banana peels into the compost but not must save out some for ric rac use! Best tip! Thanks,
Sue
Soozer - Don't Realllllllllly know that it has any thing to do with the plants blooming. That is just one thing that I do that I think helps.
My rick rack blooms pale yellow. There must be as many rick racks as there are other types. Unfortunately my nice plant got frost burned, and I am gently nursing it back to health. I may have to cut it up and start over.
Karen
Picabo and Kachinagirl I love your Rick-racs. Thanks for the pictures. I was surprised to find out there are different colors in their blooms too. I am constantly learning something new here on DG.Thanks again .
Patti
I didn't realize that they came in different colors. I did have a plant years ago (I need to find the pictures). Seems it looked like the RickRack, the flowers were in the same position on the leaf, but lots and lots of tiny flowers. It moved to the compost pile. Thanks for sharing!
Picabo, that is a gorgeous flower. Thanks for sharing the flower and the blooming tip!
Karen,
I'm amazed to see so many buds there. Now I have to keep watch at my neighbour's plant that overhangs my compound to see anything like that.
Dinu
It was totally rootbound, Dinu. Then I gave it a slurp of Miracle Grow water. That's what happened!
k
K,
Could you kindly enlighten what 'miracle grow water' is?
D
Sure, I hope you can get it there, if not perhaps you may want to trade someone for some. It's a fertilizer you mix with water. Here's a link to their info.
http://www.miraclegro.com/index.cfm/event/ProductGuide.product/documentType/product/category/%2FCategories%2FProducts%2FPlant+Food%2FIndoor+and+Outdoor+All+Purpose+Plant+Food/documentId/637153cfaa6b1ff545c0236933b0a7a4
Another one I like, specifically for my indoor plants, African Violets & Hoyas is
http://www.vf-11plantfood.com/
k
Karen...How often does you Rick Rack Plant bloom?
Mine is usually only once a year. It will bloom for almost a month. It then starts to put out new grooth until Fall.
Clare... Thank you! Glad to share.
This message was edited Aug 5, 2005 5:41 PM
Mine usually blooms in November, which really threw me the first time it did it. My other Epiphyllums bloom in spring!
Karen
My Night Blooming Cereus blooms all summer. The Epies bloom two or three times a year. I was wondering why the Rick Rack hasn't set buds again. I guess that's normal.
All......I feed mine with liquid Kelp and the Potassium is the only element used........no N, and no Phosphorus!!! Blooms!!!! E
Roselaine...A friend of mine uses Kelp on his plants. I have intended to try it, but haven't yet. Do you have the Rick Rack?
yes, I do! I serve the liquid Kelp to my roses also....they're stronger for it! E
I have a bottle in the greenhouse, I'll mix it up.
Thanks
Betty
RUK,,
Thank you for linking this post on "Tropicals" from my original one on the "Orchid Cactus" Forum. Actually, my post started out on another Forum (maybe Houseplants???) but got moved tot he Orchid Cactus Forum by Daves Adm. I am glad it did. Much more appropriate.
Betty (Picabo),
I use dry Kelp Meal in everything when I first pot it up. Learned that YEARS ago! I also water in all newly planted annyals and perennials in the Spring with liquid Sea Weed. Both help immensly in root-development. These products can be found in large Farm Supply stores and sometimes in independent nyrseries. NEVER in any BIG BOX stores!
If you cannot find it, Carroll Gardens here in Maryland has a huge mail-order business and they carry all of the "unusual" stuff. It is owned by Allan Summers--our local Gardening Guru. Just go to carrollgardens.com . I am sure you can find your way to where to order by following all the links. You can also sign up for the FREE weekly newsletter. Lots of good information in there.
Kachinagirl,
I coppied out the picture of your blooming Rick-Rack cactus. It is amazing! Looking at it, it seems that a lot of the blooms are coming from the skinny ends.............and I cut all mine off this Spring because I always thought they were ugly!!! :-( I AM rooting them all and they are all growing.....I will be happy to share some. I have a bunch of these from this year and I still have 3 pots left from last years rooting. They are growing well. If you are interested, send me a d-mail.
Everywhere I have read that the Rick-Rack is not easy to bloom.
I will try the banana peels. Years ago I read that they can also be cut in pieces and put in the "vase" of a Bromiliad as fertilized. They are just hard to get out when they have turned to black mush.
Lets keep up this sharing on information on this plant, OK? I will definitely watch this thread!
here is the "Mama" doing SO well this Summer. This is the one I trimmed and am also watering it more. The other one is my Hoya Carnosa (see the flower???). Yesterday I fertilized it with some Fish Emusion and Epsom Salts--just because I was doing that to all my Brugs and flowering pots.
My yard ends where the split-rail fence is. The Brug you see is a Rosamond. BIG! No buds yet....The house is my back-yard neighbors.
Here are the Rick-Rack cuttings. The ones in the saucer are from this Spring--all growing.....the ones in the clay pots are what I have left from last years "trimming". I gave mailed a few off already.
Gitagal...Your plants are soooo pretty. Your RickRack is much prettier than mine. I will post a picture of my entire Plant. I love the Hoya
I wish I knew for sure the answer to the blooms.
My flower seems to grow on the leaf slightly different from the one posted by Karen. I can't explain I'll find a better picture. DH needs the computer now.
Betty
Growing up in Miami this plant grew wild and we called it a Fishbone plant. Just on a whim I bought a piece back to Dallas...ran acros a pic in the dictionary and found out it was called selenis. Saw it again in plant show ...been in love with it ever since. A DGer just sent me some from florida and now you guys have given me wonderful information as to what its needs are....but I am thinking if those frounds or hairs that are attached to is for climbing...would it be advantageous to place a piece of bark or some type of wood in the middle of the pot so the plant can have something to attach itself to?
Sylvia
Sylvia...
I think that they would love it. I saw an Orchid years ago that was growing up a piece of cork/bark it was beautiful. I think that the Rick Rack would be the same.
When you find these in the wild where are they growing?
Betty
picabo.. the day after I read your post back in July I started putting the peels to my NBC and ricrac.. the NBC is loaded with buds and I'm tickled.. the ricrac still not showing anything but I haven't given up hope. Thanks again for the tip
My NBCs are getting ready also. Hope you get tons of beautiful blooms... Hang in there on the Rick Rack, it may be during the winter or next spring.
Betty
Betty I am talking forty or fifty years here. LOL ...before the CND in Miami became a mass of concrete and stone. ...at a time when one could walk down the street and pick fruit off the trees.....there were all sorts of trees mangos, papaya, mulberry, wild cherry, avacados, kiwis, sapadillas, seagrapes and others I only recognize when I see them. Mostly I remember them growing in and around these trees... mostly shaded and wet areas. about five or six years ago I found them at a friend of my dads place. she lived in an old wooden constructed house and they were growing around the back somewhere under a fence...she didnt know what they were or where they came from and had no interest....:)
Sylvia
I just traded for 3 nice sections of an Epi and also a Night Blooming Cereus with someone in CA. They are not rooted yet, so I will have to be patient with them. maybe next year????
I have started putting little pieces of banana peal on top of the soil. Will it do any good since they are just "leaves" rooting??? One of the 3 leaves she sent me had small buds on the edges, but they haveall fallen off. Iexpected they would.....
Gita
Here's the Epis and the NBC's leaves all potted up.
Gita.. Hang in there...They look like nice cuttings. I have had them go for a long time without setting buds and have had others try again real quick.