I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks
~K~

At this time of year, Christmas cacti are reluctant to flower if given too
much evening light. Move your plant to a room in the house that is
preferably unoccupied and not too warm, a spare bedroom perhaps. Once the
flower buds start to show, make sure that you keep the pot in the same
position facing a window as turning it will encourage the flower buds to
twist off.

D.D.
---
"MallowKat" wrote in message:
I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks
~K~

There are many websites with info on how to flower a Christmas cactus.

Try doing a Google search.


"Double Digger" wrote in message
...
At this time of year, Christmas cacti are reluctant to flower if given too
much evening light. Move your plant to a room in the house that is
preferably unoccupied and not too warm, a spare bedroom perhaps. Once the
flower buds start to show, make sure that you keep the pot in the same
position facing a window as turning it will encourage the flower buds to
twist off.

D.D.
---
"MallowKat" wrote in message:
I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on
the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks
~K~

Double Digger wrote:
At this time of year, Christmas cacti are reluctant to flower if
given too much evening light. Move your plant to a room in the
house
that is preferably unoccupied and not too warm, a spare bedroom
perhaps. Once the flower buds start to show, make sure that you
keep
the pot in the same position facing a window as turning it will
encourage the flower buds to twist off.

D.D.
---
"MallowKat" wrote in message:
I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It
lives
on the mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?


It wants an annual outdoor holiday: leave it outside, unwatered, (and
keep the slugs off) under a north wall or somewhere shady from June
to September, then bring it in. I don't think the mantelpiece is
likely to be light enough for it; but it may be OK as it's a
south-facing room. But a south windowsill is bad.

Yours probably wants a slightly bigger pot by now.

Mike.

MallowKat wrote:

I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks
~K~

Try stressing it. If you let it almost wilt you might shock it into
flowering.

In the summer I keep mine very dry and in a greenhouse that gets very hot,
only watering when the leaves look dehidrated.

When the flower buds emerge I water more regularly. I eventually bring
them in the house a few weeks before I want them to flower. I think that
by keeping them in the greehouse which is much cooler now, the buds growth
is much slower - when brought in the buds swell up and flower quite
quickly. Actually managed to get it to flower at Xmas last year.

good luck!

"MallowKat" wrote in message
...
I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

After some experimenting, we have found the best way is to stick the cactus
outdoors as soon as the last frost of the Spring has gone, and bring it in
again before the first frost of the Autumn. We've tried it in a shady
north-facing spot , but results were poor. The best results by far have
consistently been when it was left out in a pretty warm spot with sun much
of the day, and as soon as we bring it back indoors the flower buds appear
within a few days. We don't bother to water it when it's outside - it just
takes whatever the weather throws at it, rain or shine.

Rick

On 11/4/04 5:53 AM, in article ,
"MallowKat" wrote:

I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks
~K~
There are many good posts on this topic. You could also check this out...
http://www.upbeetcommunications.com
Then look for "Friday (Nov 12). Why your Christmas cactus refuses to bloom".
Click on Friday (Nov 12).
Marion (The Upbeet Gardener) sends out a fun and informative newsletter. You
can subscribe on the site and also check out some of her past letters
there...
Cheers.
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

We have several Christmas cactus plants and they seem to like the west
window and will bloom two to three times a year, always right around
Christmas. Don't over water or over fertilize. Good Luck!

Terri


"Richard Sterry" wrote in message ...
"MallowKat" wrote in message
...
I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

After some experimenting, we have found the best way is to stick the cactus
outdoors as soon as the last frost of the Spring has gone, and bring it in
again before the first frost of the Autumn. We've tried it in a shady
north-facing spot , but results were poor. The best results by far have
consistently been when it was left out in a pretty warm spot with sun much
of the day, and as soon as we bring it back indoors the flower buds appear
within a few days. We don't bother to water it when it's outside - it just
takes whatever the weather throws at it, rain or shine.

Rick

In article ,
tlg wrote:
We have several Christmas cactus plants and they seem to like the west
window and will bloom two to three times a year, always right around
Christmas. Don't over water or over fertilize. Good Luck!

That may be the key. We neglected ours, not liking its colour much,
and it went from strength to strength. We eventually had a visitor
who praised it, so we went over all Arab: you are our guest, it is
yours! So everyone was happy :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"tlg" wrote in message
om...
We have several Christmas cactus plants and they seem to like the west
window and will bloom two to three times a year, always right around
Christmas. Don't over water or over fertilize. Good Luck!

Terri



I've got the same scenario, west facing windows, and the plants flower 2-3
times a year. All are in various states of flower at the moment, and I've
just come back from India to find that the first one has fully bloomed. I
water and feed them moderately, but never starve or stress them.

Here's a pic of the first one for this year:

http://www.kevin.coward.btinternet.co.uk/Flowers/

"Gary" wrote in message
...
On 11/4/04 5:53 AM, in article
,
"MallowKat" wrote:

I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on
the
mantelpiece of a south facing lounge. Any ideas anyone?

Many thanks
~K~
There are many good posts on this topic. You could also check this out...
http://www.upbeetcommunications.com
Then look for "Friday (Nov 12). Why your Christmas cactus refuses to
bloom".
Click on Friday (Nov 12).
Marion (The Upbeet Gardener) sends out a fun and informative newsletter.
You
can subscribe on the site and also check out some of her past letters
there...
Cheers.
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

Put it somewhere cooler. As long as it's healthy it will bud immediately. I
have them in several rooms of the house. As soon as the cold weather
arrives, and before we put the heating on they bud. Interestingly I have one
where some leaves touch a window. The leaves touching the window (and so
subjected to slightly colder temperature) are flowering first, the rest of
the plant just starting to bud!
I expect most people who have them flower twice a yaer, have that second
flower after they turn off the winter heating, and after a cold night. They
really do respond to the temperature drop!!! Ours usually get a second bloom
if we have some cold nights in spring as our house is badly insulated (old
victorian terrace) so is very affected by the outside temperature.

A lot of plants flower when shocked - cold or drought.
Matt

When the flower buds emerge I water more regularly. I eventually bring
them in the house a few weeks before I want them to flower. The best results by far have consistently been when it was left out in a pretty warm spot with sun much of the day, and as soon as we bring it back indoors the flower buds appear within a few days. I've had it for several years and it is perfectly healthy. It lives on the mantelpiece of a south facing lounge.

It seems that are a lots of ways to get one to flower, some of them contradictory.

Mine live in an E facing window in the downstairs toilet, which probably stays around 60 deg F, on a wet gravel tray to give a moist atmosphere because otherwise they shed stems. And they flower every year.