I cut my freeze damage off so it encourages branching as soon as possible. They grow back amazingly quickly. I had 50 blossoms on one plant. Covering these large epies is a chore. Finding space for them inside in a large wood shop was all I could do in the last snap.. It still got down to 28 in the shop. I covered mine with a painter's tarp and then would boil some water to fill the inside with warm steamy air. I potted mine into a SMALLER pot because I heard they like crowded toes. It was so hard to roll that huge pot around. I wanted it in a pot that I could lift and put up high on top of a metal storage cabinet in the wintertime. It limits the growth a bit but the blooms keep coming.I have found that fewer branches have gotten broken this way. We have another freeze coming, but nothing like the last one.

My family all has cuttings from my great-great grandmother's plant. When I came to Sarasota for the winter I went to Selby Botanical Gardens. I looked for "our" kind and did not see it. A staff member said that it does not like cold nights and they keep them in the green house. I have a different kind of epiphyte in a live oak, it looks like something out of Little Shop of Horrors, it is so big. Here's a link to the kind my family has: http://www.washjeff.edu/greenhouse/Eoxypetalum/ I've been told to keep them in small pots, fertilize in the spring, and don't water them too much. They don't seem to be subject to many pests. I didn't bring a cutting down this year, will do so next year and keep it in the pool cage. I'll post next year with a report. Carol B.

Hope you let us know when it does bloom! Right after you mentioned yours, I noticed mine has a bud, too, and it only gets a little direct morning sun and indirect the rest of the day. The buds remind me of alien pods, and eventually they reach up and out like something that wants to grab you if you turn your back on it. I don't remember how long it takes them to bloom from 2", but seems to me it's pretty fast like Thelma662 said. Mine took several years before it was blooming sized. It's one of the few things I've found that seem to do just fine inside all year, too. Let us know or better yet, post a picture!

Hi, I have a big Epiphyllum oxypetalum in a hanging basket in my New York City apartment. It is doing great and blooms most years (it has one big bud now). In the last couple of years, in addition to its regular leaf-like branches, it has sent out a lot of very long, thin stringy branches fringed with a lot of air roots. They are really long and tangled and occasionally poke me in the eye. Two questions: I'm wondering if it's ok to cut off some of these to get the plant a little under control. I am putting the pot into a bigger basket and I've discovered that one bit of root has grown through and into the old basket, so I may have to cut it to make the transfer. Is that OK? I know orchids don't mind having some roots trimmed back, but I don't know about cereus. I love this plant - it couldn't be easier to take care of. Incidentally, I have a ton of cuttings--bits that broke off and are rooted in water and ready for potting. I also have a couple of little ones in pots. I'd be happy to give some of these to anyone in the NYC area who wants them.