you have 2 very nice epiphyllum (orchid cactus) they need a soil that will drain well they should dry out between watering over watering will cause them rot.your Luiba Lovely Dawn is Chiba lovely dawn....Dark yellow petals with darker edges,Sakurahime name means Princess of the cherry bloosoms, rose/ pink with edges of sliver/white give the lots of light but no direct sun I would water them lightly for a few weeks after they been repotted or until you see new growth it will take a good year or so before the bloom and if your luck maybe this coming summer

Gardenbear,
Thank you. I'm so glad to have the names accurate and to know blossom colors. The third plant I will just have to wait and see what it is if it blooms.

All 3 are showing a bit of new growth now.

Yes, I understand about overwatering. That is the same with Schlumberga.

Here we have a unique climate issue in that we have the common problem of potting soil retaining too much water as well as an extremely dry climate that results in over drying. It is very difficult to keep plants alive and healthy with both extremes. I've found that Soil Moist crystals help to avoid both ends of the extremes. They wick excess water away from the plant when watered and release it slowly as the soil dries. That gives a more even moisture w/o the extremes. Especially helpful for someone like myself who frequently forgets the weekly waterings that most plants here require.

When you say bright, indirect light. Will they do OK in similar lighting to Schlumberga (that is north window with ~15 hrs of darkness this time of year) or will they do better in a South window with a sheer curtain?

Do they require the cool temperatures and/or hours of darkness to set buds like Schlums?

they need cool temps in the winter above 55 and less water I give mine about 14hr of light each day(8hr of darkness) the cool temps and a good rest helps set bud ( some will bloom no matter what you do to them) I cut back on feeding them about half of what they get in the growing season if your plants are older they will do better with a little rest I hate to say it but no matter what you do you will find it hard to say no to orchid cactus after you seen yours in bloom I started with one 9 years ago and now have over 300 plants growing in my basment all winter along other house plants
Schlumberga this is a hard one for me I grow all my holiday cactus out side for the summer and I don't bring them in until late sept or before the frist frost and they bloom just as well as those that one would keep in a low light room but before you jump to any changes try it with a small holiday cactus and see how it works out your zone may not get alot of frost but in New England once the frost hits I have my potted plants in they I sit and wait until spring to play out side LOL
now if some one could tell me how to post a pic I would love to share pic my epies with every one

Bear

Bear,
I'd love to see your epi's!

To post your pix set up an account at photobucket. Upload your pix into an "album" and it will automatically give you the html code to use in your posts here. Just copy & paste the html for a given picture into your forum posts. You may need to experiment with re-sizing the photos so they appear decently in the forum posts. It's pretty straight forward.

On the Epi's, I was reading at the epi forums that scale is a frequent problem and saw some pix there that made me realize I had brought home a boatload of the nasty critters. Wiped plants down with alcohol once. They look a lot better but I see a few scale remain so I'm going to keep doing this until they are bug free. These are pretty big plants so I may need to break out a toothbrush as even a cotton ball makes for a pretty big job.

They also recommended a homemade fertilzer for all cactus made from beer, epsom salts and ammonia that I'm going to try. Several claim it helped their schlums and epi's pop into health immediately and put out tons of bloom too. Someone recommended it for other houseplants too so we'll see how good this stuff is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photobucket

I have tried the homemade fertilzer made from beer, epsom salts and ammonia but I would spend more time mixing it up than I have time to spare as it is I spend one whole day just watering and checking my epies that its earier to buy a premix fretlizer but it does work well and worth the time to mix it up if you don't need alot sun is my day to work with plants and start new cutting so they will be ready for spring sale I plan on adding a few more hybrid holiday cactus to my sales this coming spring it helps to pay for new epies

thanks for the help didn't know about photobucket I joined and I hope it works

Gorgeous plants!

Thanks for sharing.

You made me realize that I need to get some hangers for mine. They are lovely when allowed to drape down.

Yeah, I'll bet mixing your own fertilizer for a room full of plants would be a pain.

I know that when these things bloom I'm going to be hooked!

Hi Gardenbear,
I live in New England too! I would love to hear more about how you raise your epies in the north. I acquired some cuttings and am sure I will end up with 300 like you at some point :)

What sale are you talking about if you don't mind my asking? I would love to know where to get epies closer to home.

Take care,

Sherielynne

Sherielynne
here a few shots of my little set up in the summer I grow my epies in the shade house and come winter in the basement I keep the temp around 60/65 no higher or lower this has worked for me I'm slowly over taking the basement in the late spring or early summer I set up at the farmers market or a flea market it helps pay for my new plants and cuttings I all so trade cuttings for ones I don't have or one I want more of

Bear

Bear,

You're killing me! I'd love to have a setup like yours.

You are obviously "da Man" when it comes to Epi's.

Great job and great photos!

Bill

Bill.... I wish I was da Man when it comes to epies I had to find my way with growing them and what would work for me when I started I didn,t know there were places on line to find out more about epies so what little I could find in books or from garden centers made it hard for me to get things right I think each person has to find what works best for them I can only suggest ways of growing them or tell how I grow them but in the end it take the grower to find his/her way we each have a bit of a different growing conditions and watering habits and indoor temps in the winter but I'm always happy to help in any way I can and enjoy sharing what I know and I guess you can tell I like taking about them.

Bear

Thanks for the response. I haven't checked in very much through the holidays. I would like to hear how you put together your shade house if you feel like sharing as I will be putting something up myself this spring/summer. When I get going I would like to be able to trade cuttings/plants. I had gotten many from ebay last fall from 3 different sellers. I bought 5 from one seller and I just lost the last one...I'm very frustrated. The others form seleers who sent very healthy product seem to be doing well however. Thanks so much!

Sherielynne

Hey Bear,
Thanks for sharing your plants with us! They look great,this past summer I purchased 2 epi's. I was told that one of them had a white bloom, but was not sure about the second one.Hope mine bloom this summer,It would be a great treat. :0)

Hi Sherielynn

Greetings from Southern California. On Mother's Day the San Diego Epiphyllum Society has a big Show and Sale. Its well described on their web page. The cuttings are alphabetically arranged, each clone in its own bag. There must have been at least 1000 different clones for sale. They sell 3 cuttings for $5.00. If I remember correctly they don't add sales tax. Each cutting has the name, size and color written on it. Its an absolute feeding frenzy with hundreds of hobbyists hitting the plants 9AM Saturday before Mother's Day. I bought 100 cuttings from them last year and plan to go back this May for 100 more.

I don't plan to shop for specific names but limit myself to XL or L in any color other than red or purple. I could shop for you if you want as long as its kept simple such as: 5 each of red/ purple/ pink/ yellow/ white/ multi etc etc. Prepay me and I'll send them to you the following Monday.

I would be willing to do this a very small number of people, if you have difficulty finding plants in your area. I estimate shipping for 50 cuttings to be no more than $10.00. You should google local Epi Shows to see if local clubs hold a similar event. If you want to do this, email me direct.

Nick

rigo74, here a few pic. of my 2 favorite night bloomers, Oxypetallum night blooming cereus. the old they get the more they bloom, cutting are easy to start and grow like weeds, I love sharing pic. of the blooms, its my fav. white flower. don't mind the helping hand its always around when I need it

Bear

Bear, I can't take it anymore!
You just have such wonderful plants. I can't wait for mine to bloom so I can share them with you all as well.How old are your night blooming cereus and what do you feed them? Anything to help them bloom?
TIA
Rigo74

Rigo,the lagrer plant is around 10yrs and the small one is alot older its said to be some where around 20yrs old, but I can't prove it LOL. I have a rooted cutting thats just under 2yrs old and it set buds last year but I lost the buds due to a nasty rain storm. I feed them super thrive and miracle-gro but am looking into eleanor's VF-11 to see it is any better, I'll use in on some of my unknowns to see how it works with so many plants I need some thing that will mix up ahead and hold for a week or so, only time will tell

Bear

Bear, Wow!
you dont say 10yrs & 20yrs have you owned them the entire time or were they purchased from someone else? Sorry for all the questions - just like to know alot about older plants. I do feed my plants miracle-gro & super bloom, these both work well for me. Hope my cereus bloom for me this year.
What other type of plants do you grow?

Rigo74

Rigo74,I'v never used super bloom, does it really work that good? I'v heard it was good but I'm not into trying new thing,I feel if you find some thing that works for you then stick with it.I really don't go by the book and I upset some people with the way I do things but it works for me The plants were a gift for the guy that had them, he 85 and was moving into a small apt. and couldn't take them, he said he got them when they were small and set in a north window for years, the smaller one was bigger but it was knocked over and lost most of the top half. he did save them for cuttings he still has them.that was was 6 years ago
I all so grow epies 50 diff.hybrids, hoyas, disocactus,hylocereus (dragon fruit) rhipsalis,lepismlum (pussy willow cactus)selenicereus 4 diff hybrids,holiday cactus 5 named hybrids 3 unknowns,aporophyllum edna belany,
Schneideriana maroon Huernia starfish plant (carrion plants)and lots of unknows epies that were givin to me or I pick them up cheap at tag sales. I guess you could say I'm hooked on them. here a pic of what the carrion plant flower looks like
OK I"ll get off my soap box LOL
Bear

{{gwi:508891}}

Nick,
Thank you so much for your generous offer! I accept and will be in touch via email ok?

Regards,

Sherielynne

Bear, Yes super bloom really works well for me. I have had good results with all my blooming plants.
Thanks for sharing with me your story of how you came about your cereus plants.I love to hear when someone has had a plant for a long period of time and it was given to them by someone else.
I have a few crown of thorns,pencile cactus,fire bush cactus,african mike tree and one stapelia gigatea with a pale yellow bloom. I like plants that are weird looking or are eye catching.LOL
I am going to google some of the plants you told me about to see If I like any to put on my list for this years(plant sales).
Well I guess I'll stop for now cause I could ramble on about plants all day and night....LOL :0)
Rigo74

Bear, Im back again, just got thru looking up(google) the plants you listed and have added a few to my notebook for future buys.
Rigo74

Rigo, I guess I can say your hooked too. your stapelia gigatea sounds like some thing I would like to add to my house hold

Bear

Bear, I went out to the garage and I have a cutting of the stapelia gigatea that I started at the end of summer.Your welcome to it when the weather warms up.
:0) Rigo74

Sherielynne, sorry I didn't get back to you on my shade house, it two small green houses 8x8 that I got on ebay, I didn't bring them in the first winter and the snow did them in, so all I did was replace the plastic with lath with 4" holes all wood, the plastic molds and looks like heck. the whole thing cost me under $400. I have vines growing on the front to help cut down on the sun not alot of shade in my back yard. as soon as I can I will be adding on one more room to the shade house to hold more plants.
come later in the spring I will be ready to do some trading

Bear

Hi Sherielynn

No problem, contact me in time. I'll have forgotten about it by then but will be glad to get you plants.

Nick

Bear, please tell about the lights you have in the basement for winter growing. My husband doesn't know it yet, but our basement is getting to look like yours, except for the lights. I started out using just the window light but it's no longer enough.
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge about Epis.

patann, the lights are just some spots light and 3 shop light I got at tag sales,I use reg,lights in the spots(the ones that look like pig tails), I find that the plants don't need grow light for the winter they are resting, my light bills jumps about $10.00 per month in the winter with the lights but to me its worth it. grow light cost more to buy and run so I need to keep my cost down so I can buy more plants, if your growing more than epies you might want to buy at least one grow light for your other plants.
Good luck and happy epie growing

Bear