Help Please Pruning and Repotting Queen of the NIght

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Our 7 1/2 year old big day blooming Queen of the Night / cereus bloomed for the first time ever last summer, finally ! It was already on notice, bloom or else...and so it did perform. This after placing it into a South facing spot all winter, pumping it full with flowering fertilizer, and letting it become rootbound. The gorgeous blooms are its saving grace. It has not been repotted for over 4 years; it is rather ornery when it comes to handling it, and getting too heavy for us for carrying outdoors in spring and back inside again in fall. Also, this disorderly prickly thing is soon outgrowing the only available sunny South facing spot where it overwinters ( or else it won't bloom), squeezed in between a desk and a plant stand.

How can we repot and prune this plant WITHOUT risking loosing its flowering capacity coming summer ? We want to put it into a lighter plastic pot, and possibly downsize it, or at least prune it here and there. And not get scratched...

But here is my dilemma : I read that the cereus form flower buds on older leaves. So I can trim away the little pencil sized off shoots, fine. But do I have to leave the 3 foot long one piece leaves intact ? And what about the sections where one or even two leaves grow out of a bottom leaf? On the picture I can see that there are blossoms on the end sections, yet the bottom section is the older part which did not bloom ? What to do ?

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last month
How can we repot and prune this plant WITHOUT risking loosing its flowering capacity coming summer ?

==>>

arent you basically asking.. how can you break what is finally functioning according to your wishes ...

put down the pot.. and walk away ... water properly.. dont over fert the pot.. unless you flood it out the bottom every time you water ..

and leave it alone..

crikey.. dont love the plant to death now that it seems happy ...

ken

PS: if you insist on messing with it.. watch some propagation videos.. and propagate a few dozen new plants.. and then you can mess with those to your hearts content...
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
last month
Your plant is not a night-only bloomer, or a Cereus. Compare it to Epiphyllum/Disocactus ackermanii. So many plants share the same nicknames, although they are totally different plants, it can lead people to read info about a different plant than the one they have.

To repot, wrap the top in a towel or blanket. It might be easier to trim off your least fav parts. At any time, you can remove any parts that aren't pleasing to your eye, or that you don't think will make blooms.

If anything breaks off, or you do any intentional trimming, you can use those pieces to start new plants to give friends/family.

I have the same struggles with these kinds of plants. They get so big!
doriswk thanked Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
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Hello again everyone, I have completed my repotting and would like to share a couple pictures. Here's a pic of the roots; as you can see the spiraling of the roots had this guy very pot bound (I was shocked to see so few roots overall however): Here's the finished plant: So I removed the plant from it's old pot and got to chopsticking. The dirt removed easily and was definitely very powdery (seemed like pretty much 100% peat moss and very fine). After working all of the old substrate out I washed the roots gently to remove anything trapped. Then I trimmed the roots, and applied a thin coat of rooting hormone to the cut root ends. I mixed a 25/75 orchid mix/ OilDri substrate, put a thin layer of this in the pot, made a little mound of substrate at the center (after finishing I wish I would have made it a bit higher in the center), and then proceeded to add the rest and work it around well. Then I gently submerged the pot in water for 10-15 minutes, then let it drain. As you can see in the final pic I have a weight on the opposite side that the plant is leaning. While it wasn't going to fall on it's own, I decided that since I didn't anchor the plant I'll just keep a bit of weight on this side for a couple weeks until I'm confident new roots have formed to firmly hold the plant. I hadn't originally planned to have the plant tilted, but the combination of that and my pruning has it a bit less balanced than I would like. In the future I would have anchored the roots, but live and learn. :) Thanks again everyone for your help and advice, and I'll report back to this post in a couple of weeks, hopefully with good results and 3 new plants to be trained as actual bonsai from the cuttings!
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They often don't bloom for 3 or 4 years. Especially the Oxy's. I think they have to build up a critical mass before blooming. also they bloom on year old leaves, so if you cut them back to get a thicker plant, you are stalling the bloom for a year. I have heard all sorts of things like a natural light dark cycle in early spring sets it up for a bloom. I have mine outside in march so it gets that. For you northerners, one would have to time your lights or put it in a room during the winter that is not lived in a lot during the evening. I really am not sure if this is BS. I am not a scientist so please take anything I say with a little salt. I fertilize mine with fish emulsion or seaweed. Whatever is handy once in the spring and then after every bloom cycle. Cause those big blooms take it out of them. I do not fertilize in the winter. I have heard that their roots do not like to be disturbed so repotting them EVERY year might not be a good idea. I have also heard that their blooming is a reaction to stress. I couldn't tell you if that is BS. if it is true, then my plant is stressed out bad. This was a 50 bloom night and I woke up to a really cloudy day so they staid open till 11 am. That's my speil, take it or leave it.
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doriswk
Original Author
last month
Thank you Tiffany for your suggestion of using a blanket for repotting. The present terracotta pot is getting too heavy to carry, and this plant wants to be outdoors in summer in order to bloom...

Would you mind sharing what the proper name for it is ?

As I said, it is day blooming, in fact the blooms remain open for about three days.

I have propagated small pieces all along for others.
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
last month
Happy to suggest! "Orchid cactus" is a good nickname for it. I suspect it's an Epiphyllum/Disocactus ackermanii, but I am not sure.

An alternative to repotting could be to get one of those little rolling stands for it, just push it out the door, unless it needs to go down some steps to get to its home outside.
doriswk
Original Author
last month
last modified: last month
It certainly does look a lot like Disocactus ackermanii, and it does keep the blooms open day and night until they die off after about three days. But the blooms do not produce a small seed bearing fruit, as described. I had been told by the lady who gave me the first two leaves that it was a Queen of the night, but I found out it does not bloom just at night.

So yes, orchid cactus it is.

There are steps leading outside. I normally repot my plants in spring, but with this one I think I will wait until after it has bloomed.

Help Please Pruning and Repotting Queen of the NIght

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL

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Help Please Pruning and Repotting Queen of the NIght

Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL

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doriswkOriginal Author

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL

doriswkOriginal Author

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