An old Christmas Cactus

Discussion in 'Houseplants' started by jbest123, Dec 4, 2013.

  1. jbest123

    jbest123 In Flower

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    This cactus was bought in the late 70s and has been looking shabby for a few years. There is a lot of brown foliage that gets new growth at the end of the branch/stem(?). You can see on the second photo the cactus is getting ready to bloom or set out new growth. Do I try to prune out the brown or prune to a smaller plant or just let it go?
    [​IMG]
    PC040007 by tsebmj, on Flickr
    [​IMG]
    PC030005R by tsebmj, on Flickr
     
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  3. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    I clip off all the old growth on mine John and they've come to no harm. In fact they're producing more flowers now than they ever have before.
     
  4. cherylad

    cherylad Countess of Cute-ification Plants Contributor

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    Wow John... I don't think I ever saw one that huge before! I bet it's amazing when it's in bloom.
    I noticed one tiny bud on each of my plants. I moved them to a room that only gets a little morning light through a partially opened curtain. The rest of the time it is pretty much dark. And the heating vent to that room is mostly closed so it stays kinda cool in there.
    Is that the right conditions to get it to bloom?
     
  5. jbest123

    jbest123 In Flower

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    I guess Christmas cactus can cause some debate over its care. The link below is for Purdue edu and has good info for the CC. Turns out that we follow there recommendations pretty close. We leave ours outside until just before a frost and it blooms every year. It was the pruning I wasn't sure about.

    http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/cactusFAQs.html
     



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  6. purpleinopp

    purpleinopp Young Pine Plants Contributor

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    From the hairs all over the ends, it looks like you've got an Easter cactus, Hatiora gaertneri. Are the flowers red? That's some big mama plant! The brown sections are (hopefully) just lignified (have become old and woody, perfectly natural.)

    If you do trim and don't need more of the same plant (which propagates easily by sticking the cut end in damp but not soggy soil,) and wouldn't mind the small effort of filling a free box available at the post office, please consider offering to share your cuttings with someone, they travel easily wrapped in newspaper. You could receive something back in trade, or ask to simply recover the cost of postage. These plants are rare to find in stores.
     
  7. jbest123

    jbest123 In Flower

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  8. purpleinopp

    purpleinopp Young Pine Plants Contributor

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    The link you pasted confirms, hairs on Easter cactus, unless the illustrator of the drawing for CC forgot about them.

    [​IMG]
    Easter cactus, Hatiora gaertneri ( photo / image / picture from purpleinopp's Garden )


    [​IMG]
    Easter cactus, Hatiora gaertneri ( photo / image / picture from purpleinopp's Garden )


    See how the anthers and pistil don't protrude from the flower as significantly?

    TC & CC flowers have drastically protruding parts, with TC leaves having points, and the flowers 'leaning' to one side.
     
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  9. jbest123

    jbest123 In Flower

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    They must have been forgotten. The TC and EC have points on the lobes the CC lobes are smooth. The CC and EC have bristles on the lobes.
     
  10. chocolate

    chocolate In Flower

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    Seems like a discussion about cactus, maybe I can show some of mine.....

    First of all John, that large cactus plant which is obviously very old, is lovely but I would cut out some really nice pieces and use them to start up a nice young plant, the Mama plant looks quite tired.

    My easter cactus .. rhipsalis gaertneri

    [​IMG]
    Pink easter cactus ( photo / image / picture from chocolate's Garden )





    [​IMG]
    Red rhipsalis ( photo / image / picture from chocolate's Garden )





    [​IMG]
    ( photo / image / picture from chocolate's Garden )
     
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  11. cherylad

    cherylad Countess of Cute-ification Plants Contributor

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    Sure hope mine grow up and look as good as all of your's.
     
  12. purpleinopp

    purpleinopp Young Pine Plants Contributor

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    No doubt, Cheryl! That's some massive mama, amazing!

    Chocolate, you always have stunning plants to show! Is the middle one something different? The sections look huge. Rhipsalis gaertneri has been renamed Hatiora gaertneri, BTW, though many other Rhipsalis names are still valid.
     
  13. jbest123

    jbest123 In Flower

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  14. chocolate

    chocolate In Flower

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    John, Eileen is right, you will get much better plant, maybe not as big of course but a better plant, only use the healthy green pieces.
    You will have dozens to trade!
    PP. here is another look at same plant, different view.
    There are small sticks in the pot to stop the birds burying things and knocking the buds off.
    The plant got 1st in the cactus section at garden club, looked great when it was fully out.
    I also have a miniature one with flower just under 1" in diameter and minimal foliage, looks a lot bigger but the flower is tiny compared to the others, and rounded petals where the others are pointed.
    Thanks for the name update too.

    [​IMG]
    ( photo / image / picture from chocolate's Garden )





    [​IMG]
    ( photo / image / picture from chocolate's Garden )
     
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  15. purpleinopp

    purpleinopp Young Pine Plants Contributor

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    No hormone is needed. They should 'snap' apart at the joints between nodes, or you could cut them. They should callous overnight for the injury to heal before any propagating. If you want, you could just send the pieces to people instead of propagating them first. They travel well wrapped in newspaper, (assuming the temp outside isn't too hot or cold.) I've sent pieces of my plant to several people, and it's common to send/receive freshly cut pieces when trading succulents. I did a lot of that this past season. With one exception, all of the plants I've received in trade were freshly cut pieces. I've had success propagating the softer green pieces, as well as the older, woody ones. I usually use chunks of 3-5 sections, but bigger would be fine too if you don't want to spend forever chopping up pieces that size (no idea how much you intend to cut off.)
     
  16. purpleinopp

    purpleinopp Young Pine Plants Contributor

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    All of this talk about cuttings got me fired up. The next day (after my last post) I started snapping pieces off of my plant that has always leaned out one side of its' pot in an unintended way, and ended up with about 15 cuttings of 3-5 leaf sections each. After they were calloused, I stuck about 8 of them around the 'empty side' of the pot with the mama, and the rest in a couple other pots with empty spots.

    This sets the overall size back 2-3 years, but I think it's worth it to start so many new individuals who can much more quickly fill a couple pots than waiting for the mama to get around to filling its' naked side. I think the hard ball of sandy peat I've never been able to get off where the stem meets its' roots has been holding this thing back.

    I'm going to try to maintain the self control to leave the main pot alone to get really massive like yours, John. Inspiring! In 2 years, should be much more 'wow' overall than the 1-sided thing it's been so far. More of a globe shape like yours. Then I'll also have 2 pots for sharing cuttings.

    Love your dog pic, BTW!
     

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