Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

I have a fairly mature Christmas Cactus in my office and it had lots of
flower buds appearing on the ends of each 'frond' (for want of a better
word). However, all the flower buds stopped growing and dried up when they
were no more than about 5mm long. The plant appears to be healthy and is
watered reasonably regularly, although sparingly at this time of the year.

Anyone know of any reasons for the plant to change its mind about
flowering? Another plant in the office (from which the 'failing' plant was
taken as a cutting a couple of years back) flowered fairly prolifically in
late November and has much the same care regime.


--
Andy Clews University of Sussex Computing Service
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Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

The message
from Andy Clews contains these words:

I have a fairly mature Christmas Cactus in my office and it had lots of
flower buds appearing on the ends of each 'frond' (for want of a better
word). However, all the flower buds stopped growing and dried up when they
were no more than about 5mm long. The plant appears to be healthy and is
watered reasonably regularly, although sparingly at this time of the year.

Anyone know of any reasons for the plant to change its mind about
flowering? Another plant in the office (from which the 'failing' plant was
taken as a cutting a couple of years back) flowered fairly prolifically in
late November and has much the same care regime.

Once the flowerbuds have started to form, they hate being moved and
will often drop all the buds in protest. Could that be the cause?

Janet

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

"Andy Clews" wrote in message
...
I have a fairly mature Christmas Cactus in my office and it had lots of
flower buds appearing on the ends of each 'frond' (for want of a better
word). However, all the flower buds stopped growing and dried up when
they
were no more than about 5mm long. The plant appears to be healthy and is
watered reasonably regularly, although sparingly at this time of the year.

Anyone know of any reasons for the plant to change its mind about
flowering? Another plant in the office (from which the 'failing' plant was
taken as a cutting a couple of years back) flowered fairly prolifically in
late November and has much the same care regime.


--
Andy Clews University of Sussex Computing Service
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Did you move the plant ? You should leave it facing the same direction
before and during the budding and flowering period.
If you must lift it up to clean underneath the pot, replace it as soon as
possible and point it in exactly the same alignment as it was previously. If
you rotate the plant, the buds try to rotate towards the light and then drop
off.

Water and provide fertiliser if necessary during the flowering period. After
flowering, water sparingly. If the plant is getting old and leggy, I suggest
you take cuttings. Detach a 2 or 3 -leaf segment from the plant and put the
lower end in soil. Mine root very easily and develop into new flowering
plants within 1 to 2 years, although some are out of synchronisation with
the season and only flower in spring.

Bevan

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

Thus spake Bevan Price unto the assembled multitudes:
Did you move the plant ? You should leave it facing the same direction
before and during the budding and flowering period.

I may have jolted the pot during watering but I haven't knowingly changed
its orientation. It's possible someone else has, though.

If you must lift it up to clean underneath the pot, replace it as soon as
possible and point it in exactly the same alignment as it was previously. If
you rotate the plant, the buds try to rotate towards the light and then drop
off.

Water and provide fertiliser if necessary during the flowering period. After
flowering, water sparingly. If the plant is getting old and leggy, I suggest
you take cuttings. Detach a 2 or 3 -leaf segment from the plant and put the
lower end in soil. Mine root very easily and develop into new flowering
plants within 1 to 2 years, although some are out of synchronisation with
the season and only flower in spring.

The 'failed' plant is a cutting from an older plant, taken in the manner you
suggest. However I took just a single-leaf segment.

Many thanks for the advice and suggestions.




--
Andy Clews University of Sussex Computing Service
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Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

On Mon, 13 Jan 2003 15:38:29 +0000 (UTC), Andy Clews
wrote:

I have a fairly mature Christmas Cactus in my office and it had lots of
flower buds appearing on the ends of each 'frond' (for want of a better
word). However, all the flower buds stopped growing and dried up when they
were no more than about 5mm long. The plant appears to be healthy and is
watered reasonably regularly, although sparingly at this time of the year.

Anyone know of any reasons for the plant to change its mind about
flowering? Another plant in the office (from which the 'failing' plant was
taken as a cutting a couple of years back) flowered fairly prolifically in
late November and has much the same care regime.

I have a few Christmas and Easter cacti and whenever they start to bud
I increase watering and start to feed, for the Christmas ones this
happens around the end of October, for the Easter ones around
Feb/March. I keep them pretty dry the rest of the year.

I've heard that moving them will cause them to drop buds but it's
never happened to mine.

Joan in Bramhall (Cheshire)

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

Ken Riley wrote in message ...
I've heard that moving them will cause them to drop buds but it's
never happened to mine.


I wonder if it's ever happened to anyone! Or could it possibly be one of
those things that, once written by a single author, gets trotted out
time and time again every time this subject comes up. Mine usually
flower OK, if not prolifically, but I wouldn't give much thought to
whether I turned them round or not. Yes - they _do_ drop flower buds
sometimes. I'd just imagine it was because the cultivation conditions
didn't bear the slightest resemblance to their native habitat.

--
Clarke Brunt

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

"Clarke Brunt" wrote in message
...
: Ken Riley wrote in message ...
: I've heard that moving them will cause them to drop buds but it's
: never happened to mine.
:
:
: I wonder if it's ever happened to anyone! Or could it possibly be one of
: those things that, once written by a single author, gets trotted out
: time and time again every time this subject comes up. Mine usually
: flower OK, if not prolifically, but I wouldn't give much thought to
: whether I turned them round or not. Yes - they _do_ drop flower buds
: sometimes. I'd just imagine it was because the cultivation conditions
: didn't bear the slightest resemblance to their native habitat.
:
: --
: Clarke Brunt
:
Mine seem to drop a few initially but then are OK.

K

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

Hallo there,

Mine these year flowered profusely beginning just before Xmas. About 2 weeks
after the flowers had all died a whole lot of new buds appeared, but these
have all dropped off. Needless to say I haven't moved the pot as I alsways
thought this was the wORST thing to do to Xmas cactusses ;-)

Margaret



"Clarke Brunt" schreef in bericht
...
Ken Riley wrote in message ...
I've heard that moving them will cause them to drop buds but it's
never happened to mine.


I wonder if it's ever happened to anyone! Or could it possibly be one of
those things that, once written by a single author, gets trotted out
time and time again every time this subject comes up. Mine usually
flower OK, if not prolifically, but I wouldn't give much thought to
whether I turned them round or not. Yes - they _do_ drop flower buds
sometimes. I'd just imagine it was because the cultivation conditions
didn't bear the slightest resemblance to their native habitat.

--
Clarke Brunt

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

Presumably if it is the change in light direction that is causing buds to
drop, the problem could be caused by changes in positions of large nearby
items ( the christmas tree appearing and the disappearing spring to mind).
These would block previous light sources and change the direction of the
strongest light.

Martin

Christmas Cactus flowering failure
 

Thus spake Martin Sykes unto the assembled multitudes:
Presumably if it is the change in light direction that is causing buds to
drop, the problem could be caused by changes in positions of large nearby
items ( the christmas tree appearing and the disappearing spring to mind).
These would block previous light sources and change the direction of the
strongest light.

I wouldn't have expected a plant which is (presumably) adapted to living in
harsh conditions to be of such a nervous disposition! :-)





--
Andy Clews University of Sussex Computing Service
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