FOTD – November 22 – Amazing Cactus!
I have never had a cactus bloom like this one is doing. It must be the soil I used. It’s not real “dirt.” It’s a growing mixture and we have some leftover from plants Owen was growing that needed it. The stuff is expensive and it’s intended to get seeds started — which it absolutely does. It’s expensive, but it was perfect for the badly (very badly) cactuses in need of repotting. The dirt in those small pots was a couple of decades old, so there were probably no nutrients in it. And anyway, cacti really like sandy, gritty soil and a LOT of sunshine. For half the day. Not all day.
After the transplants, this plant looked pretty sad, Last month, they began to perk up and it decided to make a lot of buds. A bunch of which are blooming. I’m still amazed at the color. The red and white is exceptional. As I said, it has to be the stuff it’s growing in. It’s supposed to be a pH0 (neutral) growing material, but it sure has had a profound effect on this plant. Never seen anything like this.
Just one bloom
And there are more fat buds! It is, however, happening rather fast!
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Categories: #Flowers, #Photography, Cee's Photo Challenge, Christmas cactus, Flower of the day
MORE CHRISTMAS CACTUS 
FRESH BUDS AT END OF YEAR 
FLOWERING CACTUS 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
You have a lot of blooms already … so pretty.
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I’ve never had a cactus bloom this heavily. Usually, I get a lot of flowers — one or two at a time. It makes the growing season long. This time, it’s all blooming at once, so I’m expecting it to be a shorter season, but very impressive while it lasts. I was shooting indoors and the regular lights were lit, so the colors are a little bit off. The flowers are a deeper red and the white areas are really white, not “off” pink. Right now, our days are very short. If you take a nap, by the time you get up, it’s dark outside. Dark in the morning, dark in the afternoon, too. Now, we wait to turn it around after the Winter Solstice.
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Your Christmas Cactus is truly amazing.
Leslie
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I was so afraid to transplant it. These plants just break into pieces so easily, but finally, I had no choice. The soil was dead and the plant wasn’t going to grow without new soil under it, not to mention a bigger pot. I used a fabric pot, too. They dry out faster and are frankly a pain in the butt to handle, but they keep you from overwatering.
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I love Christmas cacti, but did you know there are also Thanksgiving and Easter blooming cactus? Each Thanksgiving, my big one puts on a spectacular show. She is about 2.5 feet in diameter, and she is covered in blooms. Enjoy your lovely plant, and have a wonderful day. 🌸
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I know that my “Christmas” cactus has been known to bloom a second or third time in April or May, and sometimes in September and then again around Christmas. Some of them send up buds all year round, though not all of them will bloom. They don’t have different names. They are all one plant and they get their schedules based on how much light they receive. IF you have a place where they grow by almost entirely natural light and get very little electric lights, they will always bloom when there is the least light which is usually November-December. If you go through a long unsunny period with a lot of gray clouds and rain, that might trigger them again, and of course, I’m assuming on the other side of the world, they adjust themselves to the light over there which should be exactly the reverse of those of us in the northern hemisphere.
It’s NOT unusual to have a Christmas Cactus blooming away in the spring or summer. The plant makes all the decisions. We just get to enjoy them 🙂
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Please refer to the following sources.
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/thanksgiving-cactus-christmas-cactus-73148
https://worldofsucculents.com/thanksgiving-christmas-easter-cactus/
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/linn/news/it-thanksgiving-christmas-or-easter-cactus#:~:text=The%20Christmas%20and%20Thanksgiving%20cactus,hence%20the%20name%20Easter%20cactus.
https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/thankcac.html
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Actually, using leaves as the gauge, mine are mixed. Both kinds and more than one color. I may have done it myself while repotting. Lots of branches break off and get tucked to whichever plant I’m standing near. I got these from a friend who brought them as babies from Russia. For all I know, it’s another variation. However, all of these cactuses really bloom when they damn well feel like it, no matter what anyone says. I used to edit the American Graphics Guild group at Doubleday and the ONLY thing most people agree on is that plants to their own thing and your job is to cooperate and figure out what works for this plant. Then, give it what it wants. Plants don’t negotiate. But it’s nice to know they aren’t all the same. I thought it was just variations between the leaves and, as I said, they bloom when they feel like it — in and WAY out if supposed schedule.
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You are right. Plants are going to do exactly as they want no matter how had we try to convince them to bloom. For me the joy is just that they bloom at all. 💕🌸
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🙂
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It really decided to reward my efforts in a big way 😀
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Glad your efforts are being rewarded.
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I looked after a person’s cacti collection (huge! – and I’m the least useful person for cacti, as I usually overwater massively) and that was the first time I had the instruction to water once a week sparingly and ONCE A MONTH with a drop of cacti fertiliser. And boy, did it some good to them….
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That was what I learned when I first started growing plants. Eventually I had a gigantic collection of indoor plants — hundreds. I said I’d never done well with growing plants and she said “Nonsense.” So I followed her lead and EVERYTHING grew. It pays to listen to those who’ve done it before 🙂
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie ~ Authors.
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I have always loved Christmas cactus, but hardly ever see them any more.
I logged on to a garden centre, found a beautiful white one and ordered it. My Christmas treat!
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We don’t have a lot of nurseries anymore. Before grocery stores and lumber yards and shopping malls started to sell plants, there were nurseries all over the place. We had a LOT more plants to choose from, too and some places were dedicated to certain kinds of plants. We also had (on Long Island, in New York) a huge arboretum. Every year, they would sell off — for almost nothing — thousands of spare plants, or older plants that had been replaces. Not all of them would grow in a “non greenhouse” environment, especially the really big Amazonian orchids. They need a very specialized climate where they get most of their water from humidity in the air. That was when I really wanted a greenhouse.
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I could do with one of those too!
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I think you can grow ANYTHING in a greenhouse 🙂
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Thats why I want one!
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