Hello all. I've inherited a Christmas cactus, and for the second year running
it's come into a lovely pink blossom during this month. To keep it blossoming
for as long as possible, will I need to dead-head the dying blossoms similar to
dahlias?

William wrote in message
...
Hello all. I've inherited a Christmas cactus, and for the second year
running
it's come into a lovely pink blossom during this month. To keep it
blossoming
for as long as possible, will I need to dead-head the dying blossoms
similar to
dahlias?

Hi William,

I've never had to - they're usually self-cleaning (fall off when withered).
I will occasionally pull off withered blooms when I see them, before they
fall on the floor - which isn't self-cleaning! I've never gained the
impression that Xmas Cacti repeat flower in response to dead-heading, and
I've had mine for about twenty years.

Spider

On Fri, 2 Dec 2005 19:01:55 -0000, "Spider" wrote:


William wrote in message
.. .
Hello all. I've inherited a Christmas cactus, and for the second year
running
it's come into a lovely pink blossom during this month. To keep it
blossoming
for as long as possible, will I need to dead-head the dying blossoms
similar to
dahlias?

Hi William,

I've never had to - they're usually self-cleaning (fall off when withered).
I will occasionally pull off withered blooms when I see them, before they
fall on the floor - which isn't self-cleaning! I've never gained the
impression that Xmas Cacti repeat flower in response to dead-heading, and
I've had mine for about twenty years.

Spider

I've no idea how old my one is because I sort of inherited it from
my neighbour after he died. It's quite large and looks quite old, and
as you can imagine, being a parting gift from a old friend I want to
look after it as best I can. I normally let the blossoms wilt and fall by
themselves like you obviously do, and this year I've been especially
successful with my dahlias by dead-heading regularly, so I was
wondering if the same might apply to Xmas cacti as well. Thanks
for your advice and 20 experience; if I'd known he was going to
give it to me I would've asked him how to look after it.

William wrote:
Hello all. I've inherited a Christmas cactus, and for the second year running
it's come into a lovely pink blossom during this month. To keep it blossoming
for as long as possible, will I need to dead-head the dying blossoms similar to
dahlias?

No. It won't make a jot of difference. If you have two different clones
you might like to try cross pollenating them. Then you will get a small
fruit. The flowers are pretty much an all or nothing affair.
Unfertilised flowers will drop off spontaneously you need do nothing.

If the plant is a bit cold (and mine usually are) then the white
flowered ones go a bit pink and the yellow ones go orange.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/sierratses/page9.html

Was the first page I spotted with a selection of them on.

The fruit and seeds are worth a try if it is a cross between interesting
forms.

Regards,
Martin Brown

When they get older and a bit past their best it is very easy to take
cuttings in the early summer and produce a nice batch of young plants.
I usually break off a couple of segments and let them dry out for a day
or two and then pot them up with with one segment below the soil and
one above. They root and start growing pretty quickly.

David
http://www.usedbookseller.co.uk

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 21:42:34 +0000, Martin Brown wrote:

William wrote:
Hello all. I've inherited a Christmas cactus, and for the second year running
it's come into a lovely pink blossom during this month. To keep it blossoming
for as long as possible, will I need to dead-head the dying blossoms similar to
dahlias?

No. It won't make a jot of difference. If you have two different clones
you might like to try cross pollenating them. Then you will get a small
fruit. The flowers are pretty much an all or nothing affair.
Unfertilised flowers will drop off spontaneously you need do nothing.

If the plant is a bit cold (and mine usually are) then the white
flowered ones go a bit pink and the yellow ones go orange.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/sierratses/page9.html

Was the first page I spotted with a selection of them on.

The fruit and seeds are worth a try if it is a cross between interesting
forms.

Regards,
Martin Brown

I'll leave the blossoms to fall off by themselves then. I haven't got two of
them yet, but I will have next summer after following 'Supavit's (David)
advice. When they've matured a bit I'll try some of that cross-pollenating
to see what fruits they bear. Should be interesting; I've never tried that
before. Thanks for the link. It seems that one of the most important
points to remember is to leave the plant where it is when blossoming
rather than move it into the living room like I've done in the past. Small
wonder why the blossoms fell off so quickly last year.

On 2 Dec 2005 14:33:40 -0800, "Supavit" wrote:

When they get older and a bit past their best it is very easy to take
cuttings in the early summer and produce a nice batch of young plants.
I usually break off a couple of segments and let them dry out for a day
or two and then pot them up with with one segment below the soil and
one above. They root and start growing pretty quickly.

David
http://www.usedbookseller.co.uk

'Taking cuttings' was going to be my next question because the whole
family wants one now they've seen mine. When I've got some clones
from the cuttings I make early next summer per your instructions I'm
going to have a bit of fun trying to cross-pollinate a few of them to see
what fruits appear. Cheers for that.

Just to add that I keep them on a sunny window ledge while the cuttings
are rooting. They develop pretty quickly in a standard potting compost
with a bit of added vermiculite.

Good luck
David
http://www.usedbookseller.co.uk/Gardening.html

On 3 Dec 2005 05:34:41 -0800, "Supavit" wrote:

Just to add that I keep them on a sunny window ledge while the cuttings
are rooting. They develop pretty quickly in a standard potting compost
with a bit of added vermiculite.

Good luck
David
http://www.usedbookseller.co.uk/Gardening.html

Thanks Dave. I'm looking forward to having another dozen by
this time next year. They certainly brighten up the place and
they're the first in the house to exhibit anything close to what
I would call Christmas spirit. Mine kicks in at around the 23rd
these days.

On 3/12/05 14:17, in article ,
"William" wrote:

On 3 Dec 2005 05:34:41 -0800, "Supavit" wrote:

Just to add that I keep them on a sunny window ledge while the cuttings
are rooting. They develop pretty quickly in a standard potting compost
with a bit of added vermiculite.

Good luck
David
http://www.usedbookseller.co.uk/Gardening.html

Thanks Dave. I'm looking forward to having another dozen by
this time next year. They certainly brighten up the place and
they're the first in the house to exhibit anything close to what
I would call Christmas spirit. Mine kicks in at around the 23rd
these days.

I know very little about these plants but your sounds lovely and from what I
found when I had one, it's doing its thing bang on time. Mine always
flowered after Christmas and a bit reluctantly at that.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

The usual varieties that you come across are 'Easter Cactus' and
'Christmas Cactus'. I am not exactly sure of their botanical names; I
think they are either Rhipsalidopsis, Schlumbergera or Zygocactus.
Names change from time to time. Anyway, hybrids are available and the
flowers range from pink to scarlet and also some orangey tones. I
believe they are all rain forest type cacti - living in nooks in tree
trunks etc. - so they are generally happy having their roots confined.