A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Late or Early christmas cactus ..

Is my christmas or turkey cactus later or early.

created by dodge

whichever it sure is pretty.

that is beautiful Barb. Just beautiful. A lady a ceramics said her Christmas cactus is blooming now too.

Mine are not---but in all fairness, I do not have it within 1-3 feet of a light source as I am supposed to have it. Not to mention I have heat reflective film on my widows. I think it keeps out the UV light, too??

but at any rate, I DO have 3 buds on my one cactus that I bought.

I guess will have to live vicariously thru yours.

BTW: my cuttings from you and the ones from Lynne are not blooming but they are doing well---very well.

Thanks Sheri and carol,

I have another that was suppose to be yellow ........not in bloom.

They take at least a year to bloom.
BTW .......I had that pot on the porch all summer in the shade ..No sun at all.
Right now it is in the north window inside and blooming like no 2 maro.. I keep them on the dry side mostly.

b

Hi dodge, that is a happy looking cactus- you definitely have a green thumb! Do you feed it much?

Thanks Steve,

Feed it......
They actually live on neglect.......I may of given it miracle gro once or 2 times this summe.
Mostly I let it set in the shade all summer and keep it on the dry side.

No special favors.

Thanks for the info barb. I put a few of mine out in the sun for 1 day last summer---NOT a good idea. A few of the "leaves" () got a bit white so I brought them in--they kinda sat for weeks---But I think all is well now.

I guess next summer I will try the east facing front porch---the roof on it should protect them, huh????

Wish there was a blue one>>>>>>That would be awesome .. Red white blue.

b

Funny you should say that, Barb.....I was wishing the same thing......

Takes one to know one.

That type cactus grows in the shade of a jungle. I used to hang mine beneath trees for the summer.
I'll find you some names for yours, Dodge... might take a bit, so don't start holding your breath yet.

There is a lite violet colored one... almost blue

I don't know how I missed this thread, but that is a beautiful plant, Dodge!

My pink Thanksgiving cactus is getting small buds now - the latest count was over 30 - I'm so excited to see it bloom again. But it will be several more weeks before they are big enough to bloom.a

Thanks Willy,

All grown from cuttings from different seedy folks..

Please LMK where the purple hails.. Or almost blue.
One of my whites was to be yellow but I think not.

PNP

Thanks so much ...This is the greatest it ever did.

Even hubby noticed it .

dodg

Are you ready to get bored? OK!
I may have put my mouth in gear before my brain was fully engaged, But I will give it my best shot. I am going to preface this by saying that I miss my brain I used to have all this stored in the back of my head and would never rely on books for this kind of easy stuff, I miss all my cactus books that I foolishly loaned out and didn't get back. And no disrespect for them, but the botanists of the world are worse than the geeks that sit around and think of ways to confuse me on the computering stuff.
Every few years, botanists get together and try to make each other feel smart by thinking of ways to completely change a plants family, and break their own set rules of classification for no reason other than to confuse people, much like the geeks of WC3... Having said that, I will now try to not stick my foot in my mouth...

I won't call these plants Christmas cactus or Thanksgiving, or Easter cactus. Look at the calendar and you decide what you want to call it, because almost all of these epiphytic and monophytic plants are capable of blooming at almost any time of the year (not to be confused with parasitic plants which suck the life out of other plants, epiphytes reside cordially with Orchid cactus, in the crotches and branches of their host jungle trees).

For hundreds of years the plants with the scalloped edges were classed as Schlumbergera and the plants with the saw toothed edges were Zygocactus. Call me old fashioned but I liked it that way... you knew right away which family the plant belonged in. Those fleurgeeks decided to just throw those rules out and reclassify hundreds of plants. I am old and my books are even older and that is what I am going with good old fashioned standards. Do we average gardeners really care if the pollen is five sided or nine sided? I think not!

I can't see some details that would make it easier to be sure but I believe that the one on the right with light orange flowers with white at the base of the petals is Zygocactus truncatus 'Orange Glory'.
(truncatus is a designation for the 'squared' off top end of each joint)

The taller plant in the center with red flowers is almost certainly a Zygocactus truncatus 'Christmas Cheer'

The pinkish white flowered lady in front is Zygocactus truncatus 'Alba'
(Alba is a designation for white flowers of any species)

I can't see it well enough to be sure, but I think the red flowers on the far left belong to a Schlumbergera buckleyi based on my blind perception of scalloped edges. Are the edges scalloped or saw toothed? It may only be another truncatus hybrid.

Finally, to make sure that I have planted both feet firmly in my mouth, I have to say that I think I can see the stems (no flowers) of a Rhipsalis of some sort nestled down in the bottom back side. That may just be wishful thinking though...

OK... wake up now ... I'm done.

Holy heck .all that in my POT??????????????????????

I saved that an will go take another photo of the other side..

Did you write down or off he head again..

WOW, Bill I too am impressed.---and lucky for me, I have rooted cuttings from that very pot---

I have 3 red and 2 peach mini plants-----then there are 2 that are not marked with any color--I thought I had a white also so that may be what they are.
(psst.--dodge put their colors on each start with a marker.)

and Bill what is the name/variety--of the almost blue cactus--- That is a must have.....

I'm sorry but I can't give you a name, but I have seen them a couple times. Its a newer (past 10 years) hybrid. When I shake to cobwebs loose I will try to think of a good place to look.

PS.........I can supply the white.......
pm me addy

Bill do we need to find us a plant book to order this color of cactus from?/ or is this a kind of "go to Lowe'e or HD & look" kinda thing????


If mine ever bloom---Barb & Lynne tell me I have red, white & peach. I then have a tangerine one from my DD-----and I think I bought a pink one---now to locate the "blue one" or is it deep lavender???

The one I sent you is a dark bright pink. Mine has lots of buds now - do yours have any yet?

I am sorry to say they do not---although I read last night they DO NOT like to be moved--and about a month ago I yours into the computer room and put it on a east facing window ledge. Of yours I have only 2 cuttings/starts left now---but they are healthy and growing new "leaves". I have them in their own pot too.

But a dark bright pink sounds nice..

Looks great, barb!

Thanks G mama

Bill, right before Christmas I bought a dk pink/lilac colored cactus. It had a bloom or 2 but now it does not---I have it isolated. it has some disease & I need to repot it and clean off the "leaves".
Below is it when it was blooming: (the white is dirt & water)

and then there is this: (I bought it the 24th)

Couple months ago, I nearly lost all my cactus, christmas / thanks .

White fly here. I mixed water/dishliquid and Lemon juice in a squirt bottle.
Sprayed it daily.
Then bought Bayer rose fertilizer..........Now were all ok.

Hope it isnt the Blight we had in Penna. Killed all my Orchids.

b

What makes you think it has a disease?

because I saw
an occasional (1/16 or smaller) thin white 'thing'. not much thicker than a hair. like perhaps a dozen or so, but spread out & low to the bottom of the plant.
well, I washed it off with some insecticidal soap when I noticed the "infestation", which was right after I got it home.
I thought they came back, but I just now tried to find one to take a photo of for you to see, and I found like 1 place that might be what I had. However, I could not take a photo, because you see:
My camera is just a Nikon Cool Pix L3 (5.1 Megapixels) and it would not give me a clear enough photo so that you could see what I am talking about.
However No activity, webbing or such is apparent.
The plant itself looks healthy, strong & green.
Perhaps I should just wash it off again & then replant it???

I hope not too, Barb. I am glad to hear that all is well at your house as far as cactus go. I too lost my orchid. and the "why" is mysterious.
Valarie's orchid is sitting right next to mine, and it is alive & well. I guess mine either got too much water or not enough.

Thanks Junigirl

My orchids were about 4 years old. One 3, one very young . It survived but is just limping along.
Mine lived with water under them all the time.. ?

Beats me.. I suspect blight. Wipped out the whole tomato patch an more stuff.
Glad I canned extra tomatoes the year before.

b

Dodge--Remember I bought a red christmas cactus right before Christmas that I used as a centerpiecer for christmas dinner ??
Well, last week, when I was returning things to normal, I moved the cactus about 12 inches closer to the west facing glass sliding doors--same table, same height,-same light really just the few inches closer to the light..
At the time it had several buds but after the move, about 3 buds dropped off. Do you have any idea why this would happen and what I could do to keep the few that are left from following suit. I would be really happy if this plant bloomed again.
PS otherwise it looks healthy--it even has a new "leaf", however it is reddish.

Bill, after setting this plant in exile & without water since I last inquired about it, a few days ago, I cleaned this plant off one final time with soapy water, trimmed off a few saggy "leaves", watered it well & let it set a few minutes.

Then I repotted it in a 1 size bigger pot, with some cactus soil. It seems to be doing real well now with no signs of any problem.

BTW: what ARE the green parts of a cactus called--I am almost certain it is not "leaves".

"segments"
I'm glad your plant is recovering!
Next Christmas you should get lots of blooms.

thanks for the information, Bill.

and I so hope that I wll get lots of blooms. I would so love all the color. I have several pots of the Christmas/thanksgiving/easter cactus. so fa most are too small to bloom.
last year (2008) one of my pink cactus budded but did nothing else, & finally the buds died.
I guess I need to read your information about cactus care again.

Check out these Schlumbergeras!

I know I am Polish, but I do none of that to my cactus.
The pot loves a crowd an blooms 2 times a year.

Ordinary garden soil.

I didn't read anything on the page, I just liked all the pretty colors of flowers!

I did read some of the information, Bill. what I read was good.

But if you have a simpler way, barb, I am all ears.

Actually if cactus is out of the shade it does better for me.

Oxalis. bit different. DOesnt require lots of sun . Prefers part shade.

No fuss stuff on both..

That's English.

b

Thanks so much, barb.