hello Joe, I'm sorry for your personal loss, those are days in my life that I do not look forward to. As far as the plant, first thing I would do is take cuttings. Make sure what ever knife/razor you use is sharp and sterile. Not having seen your plant, what has worked for ME (a hot and dry enviro)is to cut the "leaf" of the cacti on a diagonal, from areole(?)(the place where the spines are) to areole. Try to take at least 6" of it and allow it to callus for a week or longer in a moist enviro. Do not leave it in the sun during this time. For the soil, for ME, I would place some coir/peat mix with perlite, orchid bark, maybe some coarse grit or sand. All of this in the oven at 300 for 10-15min. Allow to cool and place in a small sterile pot with drainage. I insert the well callused cacti, cut side into the soil. I soak the whole pot from the bottom with filtered water that has just a bit of B-1. I allow the soil to almost dry before light top watering begins. Place this in a brite area, no direct sun though. With some epis, covering the cutting with a plastic bag that you vent helps, others it will rot. Some people root their callused epies in water also, use clean water and change it once a week or more. When you see roots forming, consider plating at this time. For the plant, a pot the next size up should work, you will want to use a light soil mix, with some of the ingredients listed above. These are epiphytic cacti that grow in trees and as such they can survive on fallen tree debri and whatever else catches in the crevices of trees. Depending on your enviro depends on the ratio of ingredients you use. I tend to make mine more "humusy" because if not I would need to water multiple times a day in the summer. The basic idea is fast draining and light. Other additives I've read about, stryofoam (food grade not degradable), leaf mulch, forrest duff, etc. You might consider browsing a site like Epiforums, there are some VERY smart people there, unfortunately I'm not one of them. One more reccomendation, once you have everything settled, consider trading cuttings of your plant with friends and other gardeners. Not only will you be spreading the joy of epies, but the memories of your parents and their neighbor. Also if something horrible happens to your plant, contact the people you gave cuttings to and voila you plant is still alive just smaller. good luck, -Ethan

Greg I only know from reading other forums that in UK they call 'compost' what we call potting soil. Here from the post by flora_uk on House Plants forum: Yes, purpleinopp we call potting soil 'potting compost'. There's seed and cuttings compost, potting compost, John Innes compost, ericaceous compost - all sorts of compost. And also the pile of rotting stuff at the end of the garden. All compost to us ;-) What we call compost is made from kitchen waste/garden waste - great for garden beds but not recommended to use in pots (& that's why I asked if you are planting it outside or in the pot). Bagged stuff sold in stores is potting mix to us. Otherwise, I am not 'qualified' to give advice about best soil mix to use for potted Epi. Rina

Hey Karen, Sorry it seems like I couldn't see a good chunk of your last post when I first responded or maybe I forgot to scroll down. 5-1-1 mix is 5 parts pine bark (fairly fine like the reptibark you use, 2-10mm range), 1 part pumice or turface or some other porous rock (I use pumice), and 1 part peat. Just recently I made the mix with slightly larger bark fines (5-15mm), so we will see if that results in better growth. Like you say, epiphytic cacti like fast draining mixes and are used to very loose soil/organic matter. I'm not intent at all on removing the peat from roots dry. In fact, the last plant I potted up I removed all of the peat wet as you've suggested, but I did water it in straight away. I think your suggestion to remove the peat with water and then wait a few days to water the plant in is a good idea, I will definitely try that out in the future. Some of the plants I've ordered via the internet have the root ball in plastic bags so they have to be potted up immediately. As far as being confident that my mix is better than straight peat from the nursery, I'm fairly certain it is. Besides the fact that peat is overly water-retentive for these plants, it typically comes fairly compacted from the nursery meaning there is no structure or air gaps in the soil. Using a 5-1-1 type mix allows me to water more frequently (good for root health and gas exchange) and my established plants are growing really well. Thinking about the issue carefully I think that perhaps the combination of root loss when getting rid of the peat, coupled with perhaps potting up into too much soil (given the drastically reduced root ball) might be the problem. I've noticed that when I repot plants that are actually composed of many different cuttings shoved in the same pot, the newly repotted individual cuttings are more prone to this problem. In contrast I've had less issues potting up larger plants composed of 1-2 cuttings with much larger root balls, even after removing the peat. I live in Barcelona. The botanic garden is a bit of a haul to get to, but I think I know a grower or two that I can talk to. Regarding twisting off stems as you say, it might also depend on the species. For example my R. grandiflora, pachyptera, and paradoxa all have stem segments that narrow down where they attach to the stem. Thus the resulting wound is pretty small, especially if the segment you twist off is already loose. In contrast when you cut an epi right across the middle of the stem the wound is quite large and I would be very suprised if it did not rot were you to immediately pot it up.

You are fortunate it is blooming! Just let it do its own thing and enjoy it! I have several Epi's they are growing well but,,,,,,no one is even thinking of flowering! Lucky you!!!! Rosie