FragileWarrior wrote:
Sheldon wrote in
:

On Jan 21, 7:38�pm, FragileWarrior
wrote:
I finally figured out what the trigger is thanks to a cutting on a
window sill. �It's the cold. �Not light. �Not fertilizer.
�COLD.
My little cutting bloomed on a cold window sill while my big plant
(30 years old) was being carefully lighted for only 8 hours a day,
plunged int
o
absolute darkness as well as being carefully NOT watered, all without
a single bud in sight.

I dragged the big plant to the cellar -- and, believe me, that took
some work -- and put it on a cold windowsill for three weeks and
BINGO! ï¿
½Buds.

Mine bloom when not watered for a couple of months and allowed to
become really dry... I suppose cold would work too... many plants
attempt to reproduce when stressed. People tend to over water cacti
and succulents, but they can go a very long time without any water but
some don't handle cold very well so you need to define what you mean
by cold. No water is easy, no water means *none/zero*... but when you
say cold what temperature are you talking... it's real easy to
maintain no water but not so easy to maintain a constant temperature
except indoors, and I don't want to live at say 50F.

I mean cold as in "on the ledge of a basement window when it's below
freezing outside".* The basement has some heat but I shut most of it
off. It's not below freezing but it's quite a bit below 50F on that
windowsill, AFAICT.

*The cutting that bloomed on the bedroom windowsill was actually pressed
up against the glass.

I always put mine outside for the summer (semi-shade) and don't
bring them in until frost threatens. (I usually spray them with
soapy water and then rinse them before bringing them back inside.)
Buds start to set around the time they're brought in, and then they
bloom profusely between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They often have
a smaller flush of bloom in the Spring.

helco
E. Central Illinois