Thanksgiving Cactus Progression and Questions

13 years ago

Hi everyone,

Here are some pictures of my Thanksgiving cactus that I bought in bloom (red flowers with white centers) at a local grocery store last year.

Spring

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Currently (Taken today)

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I have it growing in cacti/succulent soil with a little orchid bark mixed in (repotted in spring also). The pot it's in is plastic and setting inside of the basket (it has plastic lining inside). I gave it tomato fertilizer (MG) this year in hoping to get it to bloom. It's one of my houseplants that's still left outside and it's close to the house at night (under the little porch, some Hoya forum members here may remember). It's still growing and I don't see any buds yet (probably not until next month).

Inside, it grows in the back bathroom where it gets bright indirect (maybe a tiny amount of direct) light from a skylight and a small western facing window. I also have my Epiphyllum oxypetalum in the same room. It sets on the bathtub (in a corner and it sets on the seat and the epi sets on another corner. The bathroom's cool in winter and gets humid (from the shower). Does this sound good for both cacti? BTW, my epi's also growing in a plastic pot with the same soil mix. They stay moist a long time but drain well. On a side note, you may notice some leaves that look variegated. I think I might have given it too much sun. This plant is not variegated (unless that's the new leaves turning green as they start out pink).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

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Comments (6)

tjicken
13 years ago
Well, it sounds as if it is worth trying, I cannot see anything obviously negative about your winter plans.

New "leaves" (phyllocladodes/stem segments) have less chlorophyll and are often reddish, completely normal.
puglvr1
13 years ago
Congrats Brad!! Very nice...its looks quite healthy and have grown very well for you. Sounds like you're winter spot for it will work out nicely. I bet it will blooms in fall or winter! I love the new growth colors, some of mine last year looked like yours where they got some direct sun, now mine are in 100% shade so I don't have the pretty reds and pinks like I had last year.

Give us an update when you get buds, good luck!
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It's not a matter of needing Al's mix, in particular, but wanting something chunkier that drains well without compacting. The most recent repotting was actually to remedy that situation you brought up. It was compacted and the soil ball had come away from the sides. I did help it out by letting it soak a bit with each watering but I finally decided enough was enough and gave it fresh mix. I still think it gets sort of stodgy at the bottom, which is why I'm just going to change the pot to something else entirely. In this window, it gets direct sun from about just after noon until a bit before the sun sets. It's almost completely unobstructed. There are parts of it that look like sunburn holes, and burnt edges along some of the segments. It's enough light to bloom a geranium regularly, and bleach out a Hoya pubicalyx to pale yellow. Roommates don't tend to move the kitchen plants, but the living room ones have gotten moved around a bunch of times. It doesn't really bother me, but these aren't the plants I am fussy about. The hoyas and orchids are the ones I don't want other people messing with, so they reside with me in my room. It is a nice one, I found it at Trader Joe's a few years ago as a tiny little thing. It has large peach blooms and really does bloom right at Thanksgiving. Hopefully I can get it to bloom in my new place as well. It blooms way better than the bright pink one, which has never given me any more than one bloom at a time. Oh well, I don't mind; it is very attractive as a plant.
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I left mine out with the last cold front, it got down to 34 with a windchill of 24. I didn't bring anything in. They all did fine, lots of buds and blooms. BUT, if it's going to be below freezing you might want to drag them in. I bring stuff into the house but it's not heated downstairs unless we're down there so the temps can get to freezing but I've never had any plants damaged. The really tender ones, like the seabeans that I sprouted, won't take any cold so I bring those up where there is heat. Stay warm and good luck! I'm sick of winter! Isn't the reason we live in the south to avoid freezing? Tally HO!
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Too much sun is a relative thing: if the plant is otherwise healthy, the reddish purpling of the leaves isn't harmful to the plant, it's just a reaction to strong or direct sun. Can you pls. post pix so we can see? I grow mine on the edge of a west window, sometimes the edge of the window helps moderate the light better than in center window, worth a try.
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Comments (9)
My TC cactus has been outside for at least couple of weeks of low nighttime temps, about 45-50*F. Didn't freeze, didn't die - started to grow new leaves:And during Summer, it was in full sun since it is in same pot with Euphorbia milii - obviously, we don't have heat and as strong sunlight as TX, but summer temps are in high eighties. It gets darker color, but doesn't die from sun. In your TX sun & heat, it may fry. I am not saying you should do the same, just pointing out that many succulents are quite resilient. E. milii flowers didn't 'like' colder temps, that is when I brought them in - flowers looked like this (photos from Nov. 6/17):Euphorbias flowers are 'recovering' now, and TC has lots of buds - photos below just taken (sorry, for the photo quality :) TC will not bloom before Christmas, maybe even after - but it is doing well. Here are temps on Nov 5th & 6th (in *C) and were same since Oct. 25th:
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User
13 years ago
Hi Brad,

You may wish to read up on Holiday cacti: they wil not bloom now, but may be expected to do so anytime after the frost.

Yours w/ the sharp & pointy edges is a Thanksgiving cactus, so blooms some time from Thanksgiving on.

What prompts these to bloom is shorter day length (longer nights) & cooler temps, can't be forced /w fertilizer.

Those red-purple new leaves (segments) are just coloring up from stronger sun. As said above, perfectly normal for them. Not burned or a problem.

When I had mine hanging at the edge of a west window, the branches that got direct light were red-purple like this, those that did not get direct sun, remained green.
angeleyedcat
13 years ago
Good luck with your Thanksgiving cactus! Love to see pics when it blooms! I too use tomato fertilizer on them for the last year, so far it's worked well, good blooms last year. Normally I get 3 blooming periods out of them no matter what fertilizer I'm using, the main difference seems to be is that the plants got much larger with the tomato fertilizer. It's low 40's here in the mountains often at night already so I have to do the inside late night out early morning thing to get good repeat blooms here for the next week or two or whenever I run out of time for it. Your a bit warmer than us so you should be able to keep them out for awhile longer with no problems, also probably no in out lol. Maybe yours will get some buds before you bring them in, mine get buds usually within two weeks or so after I bring them in. I simply can't leave them out until they do, it gets too cold.

I keep all of mine in a partly shaded northeast window (lots of bright light but only a little direct sun), house is normally 50-60% humidity all year or higher, it's cooler near the window - probably 60 to 65 degrees, so yours should do well too where you keep them. I've found it can get a bit dark in some areas of the house by early January in my corner of PA so I tend to shine a cheap drop light with one of those curly 13 to 20 watt compact fluorescent bulbs (equivalent to 60 to 75 watt) on any plants that seem to need some additional light. Usually 8 to 10 hours a day has been quite helpful to them if they need it. Cheap to run too. Not enough to make anything but my african violets bloom but enough to make some of the other plants a little happier. Makes it so I can put some plants in some unexpected places when I run out of room!
moonwolf_gw
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone!

I've read about two methods about getting TC to bloom: putting a box or cloth over it at night or to leave it out in cooler temps until buds form. I'm very happy to have my plant to achieve this size! Keeping my fingers crossed for blooms!

Brad AKA Moonwolf
tjicken
13 years ago
Note that in the second method both daylength and temperature are changed simultaneously, it is not possible to say the cooler temperatures causes bud formation.

I have not delved into this, but if I understand the short summary of some scientific studies in Christmas Cacti (McMillan & Horobin) right then both factors affect bud formation, shorter daylengths being the most important.

Thanksgiving Cactus Progression and Questions

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tjicken

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Thanksgiving Cactus Progression and Questions

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