Christmas Cactus Mind of It's Own!

16 years ago

I was under the impression that CC bloom when they are exposed to cold temps. So far, that has been the case with all of mine. Well, Maryland weather has been a bit crazy lately. 90 degree temps during the day now and in the 60's at night. Not cold enough, I though, to encourage buds. I have about 12 CC and two of them are setting buds now. I don't understand it. These happen to be two that received less light than all the others.

Conversely, the one that budded up at the end of Sept. last year is not doing anything yet. Plants can be a bit of a mystery sometimes!

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Comments (11)

hallgal2
16 years ago
The weather has been unusually warm here in NY too. I wasn't seeing any buds on mine, and then the dog knocked it over. Now I'm thinking we'll go without flowers this year. Oh well, it's a good excuse to buy some more.

Just wondering - have you ever bought any christmas cactus online? I have found a vendor who has about 20 different varieties, but I'm a bit reluctant.
User
16 years ago
Hey GH,

Yes, but it's also said that lengthened nights or darker periods can kick them into bud too, so maybe the temps didn't do it, but rather the lengthening dark as sunsets get earlier did it?
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Purple, I've enjoyed reading this thread and wanted to add my $.02 worth. The first thing I noticed is that the stems appear to be flacid.....wilty. That could be caused by over OR under watering.....whichever might cause the roots from being able to access water. In this case, I wonder if the water you're applying is evacuating before soaking the whole soil volume. One thing about these plants (all plants) is that though they need to dry out somewhat between drenchings, the potting soil must be completely saturated on watering day. This is true for all plants, even those cacti that are native to extremely arid regions. Have you ever seen "Medicine Man ", a movie starring that gorgeous specimen of manhood Sean Connery? It takes place in the rainforest of Brazil. There are scenes of my lovely Sean ziplining through the forest canopy, sharing the scenes with huge epiphytic cacti and other plants. Really neat movie. Plus, it stars Sean Connery. I get that it's difficult to understand how those prickly, barrel shaped desert cacti have ANYTHING to do those graceful rainforest plants. Here's what I "think " is a good analogy, but don't laugh at me toooooo hard if it really stinks. Take your dog into consideration for a moment. It's a mammal. So are you and the pesky squirrels in your yard. Big differences amongst those three mammals yet they share essential similarities. Still with me? Now, think of those incredible bottlenose dolphins familiar to anyone living in coastal areas. Superficially, they seem to have so little in common with your dog, but those porpoises are just another type of mammal. They live in a different environment, for sure, but the similarities are much more important than the differences. You just need to try to provide the kind of environment your dolphin needs. :-) Dorie
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johnh_or
16 years ago
GH....I have to agree with pirate_girl. Mine is in a south bay window all year. Doesn't get any direct sun. It is forming buds right now. But it usually blooms twice a year so I wonder about the long night/short day thing. I think some just have a mind of their own like you said!
greattigerdane
16 years ago
My Thanksgiving cactus is getting small buds early this year as well. Usually it's near the end of Oct that the tiny little buds start to poke their little heads out. I found light really doesn't matter when they are setting buds and flowering because mine sits in front of a north window all winter long with lots of flowers.

Billy Rae
GrowHappy
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for all of your comments/feedback! John, now that you mention it, I'm remembering that two or 3 of mine also bloomed for a 2nd time in the Spring, when the days are longer. Granted, it was in early Spring. When does Daylights Savings Time kick in? I'm sure I didn't write down the bloom dates, so I can't go back and verify. Darn!

Oh, also my small one at work is setting buds. It is usually cool in the office and pitch black every night, and on weekends. It only gets flourescent lights for 8 hours a day.

I haven't bought any online, BUT if you are referring to Whitton's GH....I've heard nothing but good things about them. Healthy, good-sized plants.

I've been looking for 'Cyberdancer', but am not having any luck finding one. It seems the Cyber series is not in the U.S. anymore. The Dancer series are pretty prevalent, though.

Now I'll be going outside everyday looking for buds, like a madwoman!
GrowHappy
Original Author
16 years ago
Billy Rae, so, it would seem that light does not really affect blooms much or maybe even at all. Short days and cold temps seem to be what send them into orbit.
greattigerdane
16 years ago
Growhappy,

Yep, I agree totally with that! Happy bud finding!

Billy Rae
tommyr_gw Zone 6
16 years ago
One of mine (white) is budding up, a thanksgiving cactus hasn't started quite yet. Cooler, longer dark nights is what gets them budding.
GrowHappy
Original Author
16 years ago
I went out to check on bud formation this morning. I found that 2 more are beginning to form buds! I'm so happy! I'm cheering the other ones on.....
jeannie7
16 years ago
Seems my own plants don't really care one way or another about temperatures...5 of the 7 have produced buds in volume at the present time.
Its only now we are receiving temperatures around the 60F mark during daylight and falling.....falling...we know not where....in the next week or so.

Last Monday...the temperature hit 92F...and Tuesday's..65 made us wonder what in the sam hill is going on.
But the C.C.'s are producing buds.

I suppose it just means we wont have bloom at Christmas...probably will around the U.S. Thanksgiving.
They say....at least one of our experts on a call-in radio program....swears that the smell of turkey will bring about bloom on a Christmas Cactus.

They usually then re-bloom around Eastertime.
ninecrow
16 years ago
Yep I got one of those too.... This time last year mine had buds on it, This Year Not a Dickie Bird...

Christmas Cactus Mind of It's Own!

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Christmas Cactus Mind of It's Own!

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