That particular Rhipsalis makes small whitish berries with no flavor. The fruit in the pot in the pic are from the Melo. (There's one still hanging on the top.) The hairs on the cephalium are so tight that as the fruit grows, it is forced up and out. The fruit are hollow and tasteless, and few seeds are inside. Rhipsalis species. The large stems are one species, the gold flowers belong Hatiora (Rhipsalis) salicornioides, and the white flowers and small green stems are the third species that co-habit with the Melocactus. I've had houseplants since I was a kid. Some followed me around the country for 10 years, but the majority became succulents in the mid 90s. With the internet came the opportunity to find formerly obscure things like cactus seeds and people who were growing more than they could want. The 2 things go hand in hand. I still have many plants that are 20 years old, including an Espostoa guentheri that is now about 9ft. tall and reaching the roof of the greenhouse. Anybody want to come get it?

Stan, wedging will sometimes work...but it's rare to be able to wedge something tight enough where it doesn't shift because of a strong wind or a direct hit from the hose. So if you don't see any new roots attaching to the tree within the next couple of weeks...here are the possible causes... 1. insufficient light/heat - the closer you are to the coast, the more direct sun you'll need to give CAM orchids and/or intermediate/warm growers. 2. pests - slugs/snails can really climb! Sowbugs will also eat orchid roots and new growth. Not sure if mice/rats/squirrels will eat new roots but they will sure eat the pseudobulbs. 3. loosely attached - if an orchid has wiggle room, the delicate root tips can be broken off. Unlike Tillandsias, orchids are all about the roots. Moss is essential for some orchids...generally speaking orchids that lack decent storage facilities...such as most Pleurothallids. But moss has the significant drawback of providing a perfect haven for slugs, sowbugs and millipedes. Plus, it's risky to use with orchids that like to dry out between waterings...such as CAM orchids. It's not so much an issue during summer...but it can greatly increase the chances of rot during our occasionally wet winters. Regarding broken off pieces...it depends how large they are. If they are small enough that I'd lose track of them on a tree...then I'll tightly attach them to a piece of wood that I can hang somewhere.

Yeah, my IDs are always suspect. Thank goodness I don't have a reputation to uphold. For a while I was growing tons of plants from seed. It became a problem even giving them away. I am trying to down size so i only rarely grow from seed, I think I have more volunteers than planted seedlings anymore. Just today I found some baby Cleistocactus growing in a pot of something else. Gotta go, there is a hotel room with my name on it 2 hours away.

I'd suggest that it might grow better if you repotted it into a glazed ceramic or plastic pot so that it stayed moist longer, try giving it warmer growing conditions and water more frequently, and perhaps fertilize it more often by using a time release fertilizer mixed into the soil. It sounds like you may be growing it too hard with too cool conditions and not enough watering. Where these are native they prefer it moist and warm, and will respond best with these conditions. Even in the winter dry season in coastal southeastern Brazil where most Rhipsalis come from, it still rains in the winter and they don't have a long dry season between rains. You might consider adding orchid bark to the mix, and I have found that sinking a small plastic yogurt or margarine container filled with fine gravel in the bottom of a larger hanging basket is just the trick to give a water reservoir for the roots without needing to over water the container, and when I go to repot, the roots of my plants have packed themselves into the gravel. I'd also suggest that bright light in winter and keeping the night time temperatures above 55F at night will keep it growing year round, probably even better if it doesn't drop below 60F. On the other hand, I also find that other Rhipsalis species that I grow outdoors year round, such as R. ceresculea and R. baccifera and R. clavata, do just fine with winter lows at night down to just above freezing, but we warm back up to mid 50'sF in the day in winter here. They don't really seem to grow much, however, until it warms back up again in the spring.