I have the exact problem - vigorous vines but no flowering for 2 years now in the same location that 3 years and before I had many beans. My treliis is actually an arbor than can be walked under @ 7 feet high. My pH is 7-7.5, micronutrients are not lacking, N is low but P &K are excessive. Am adding sulfur to lower pH but suspect the problem is something else. I've checked into toxicants from tree roots (not too far away) but not sure on that. I regularly add hardwood leaf compost mixed with grass clippings so am wondering if that is a factor. Sunlight is 6 hours a day so don't think that's the problem. We had severe Spring droughts for the past 2 years, but I've watered every other day though wonder if I was getting enough down for uptake during the bloom period. Temperatures were excessive - mid 90's- so am suspecting that as the main culprit. Am to the point of pruning the layering vines in hopes of getting results when things cool in the Fall. I've typically had excellent blooming & bean production just before the first frost. Other experiences? Advice?

Hi Mithander, Sorry, there's so much going on w/ this plant. Fungus gnats are generally indicators of too much watering. These plants are jungle cacti, not arid cacti, so they do need water w/ reasonable frequency & are designed to tolerate the extreme heat of the tropics. (They originally hail from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil which is where I grew up, so I know they have rainy season in January & that it gets VERY hot.) But that said, they need fast draining mix 'cause their roots can rot quite easily. Yes, flowering is a lot of work for the plant, but generally one withholds water for one month after flowering & then the plant slowly starts to come back. Usually mine start putting on new growth again in March or April & I resume a regular watering schedule. Maybe the soil you used had wetting agents in it? If you still have the package maybe read the list of ingredients. At any rate, soil that's too wet & then a a plant moved to a pot that's too big combine to make for conditions for rot. Also putting it into a cooler room combined w/ damp soil can also lead to serious rot & root rot (that's why you have fewer roots). These plants normally grow up in the crotches of trees w/very little mix & just whatever leaf debris & animal wastes happen to drop on them. Their natural habitat gets lots of rain, sometimes frequent rain (depending on the season). Sorry, but if a plant stays too wet, the last thing to do is water it more. Does the pot still have drainage holes? 'cause this is in part a bad drainage problem. I'd put it back into the smaller pot, into a mix of 1/2 African violet soil & half perlite or pumice. I'd smell the roots for rot & then sprinkle ordinary cinnamon (like you use for baking, actual to prevent rot) on the roots & then shake them off & pot up as above. I'd put the newly repotted plant into a position of bright, indirect light & then please leave the plant alone. These plants thrive w/ benign neglect & when healthy, a bit of fertilizer. They tend not to do well when fussed over. I realize you're trying to help the plant, but you're killing it w/ kindness & not resolving the basic problem which sounds to be bad mix, compounded by too much water & then maybe also cold, air conditioned air. While you wait for it to recover you can check out your other cuttings which you mentioned are growing well & also read lots of Christmas Cactus posts here at C&S. Good luck!

Yes. Definitely wait until it warms up ;) You will probably have to wait a week or two to see if it continues to stretch. Another thing you can do to alleviate the problem is slack off on watering. If you don't water, the cactus won't grow (and it won't stretch either). A few of our forum members here use this technique to keep their plants in good shape over the winter when they don't have enough light to grow properly.

This is what I remember from it. Note that the poor thing died years ago so my memory could be quite fuzzy. If I remember right it had four ribs, arranged in a square. It also could have been three arranged in a triangle. Either way it was a pretty geometric, symmetrical shape. The spines were quite short, under 1/2 or 1/4 of an inch. They weren't all that noticeable unless you got up close. Same goes for the aerobes. From a distance it looked kinda bumpy along the ribs, with shadows where the spines were. The pointy tip wasn't always there either. It was kind of like a rounded dome until it started growing again, about a year or so before it was killed. Again, I'm so sorry that all I have is a picture of it dead. It makes me sad that I don't have a picture of it living, it was such a gorgeous plant. Edit: When I was researching a few years ago I thought it looked like a San Pedro cactus, though Peruvian apple cactus looks like a pretty good match based on Google image searching. The thing that's been throwing me off is that it only has 3 or 4 ribs. I haven't seen that in any other image I've found until now. This one looks almost exactly like it: (Picture found here - click me!)