Any idea what's going on with this one?

Hi everyone, sure hope someone has some ideas for me. I have a few small epi cuttings I've gotten in trade since joining DG. But, I have this Ric Rac cactus that I've had for about six years or so and it's never bloomed for me. Well, I had been keeping it in full shade all these years until someone said it needed more light. On May 16th I saw this bud and was so excited that I was finally going to see a bloom from this plant. I have been watching it, just waiting for it to open.

Here's what the bud looked like at first:

Now, today I look at it and it looks sick. Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Thanks for any advice,

Lin

Hi. I am new to DG and am enjoying it so much. I, too, have a rick rack and mine has not bloomed for me. I don"t know much about them and would also like to hear if anyone has more info. I hope you can get some helpful input about your ric rac. Sorry I can offer any solutions.




annie

It appears to have decided to drop the bloom from its plans.

Plants will do that for many reasons, most of them culturally related. What have you done to that plant since it started to show the bud? Have you, changed watering, lighting, temperature? Were you fertilizing it, and did you stop when you saw a bud coming? Did you repot it recently?

I typically think if a bud has set on any C&S that its time to keep it where it is. I am currently violating that rule with a Gymnocalycium mihanovichii right now, but its my own darn fault if they don't open.

Thanks AnalogDog. Nope, nothing has changed with this plant in years except the location but that was last year. It's been very rootbound for a couple of years and in this identical spot for at least 8 months and I haven't changed the watering regimen and it has not been fertilized in about 2 1/2 months. We have had some unusually high temps since the bud appeared ... a couple of days of 98, 99 degrees which is very hot for this time of year, I'm wondering if that had any effect. It looks even worse this morning than when I took that photo yesterday evening. I will just hope for another bloom eventually I guess. Thanks for your input.

Maybe it is time to water it daily, or at least more often than weekly. That's what I do with all my plants in the middle of summer, as the heat can dry a pot out very quickly.

I have had to water on a daily basis for more than a month now because of the unusual high heat we've been having.

Well then maybe it got shocked by the sudden heat. Otherwise, no ideas more.