Keeping plants to a manageable size

Most of my plants are in 2 gallon pots and continue to grow rapidly.One is in a 15 gallon pot and is huge. Now they have mostly stopped blooming they are putting out new growth yet again. So they get bigger and bigger.
In the past I have cut back the branches, removed dying or weak branches but still ended up with a good size plant. In addition I cannot throw anything away so I end up with more cuttings.
Early this year I had to take some cutting just prior to blooming time. The result was a strong cute little plant that put out a couple of new branches and produced a bloom on the original branch. Obviously there was root to support the bloom before it opened so I was not worried about stressing the cutting.
So I have a small healthy plant in a 6 inch pot with a full size bloom.
Does anyone have ideas on how to keep the plant at this size. I'm thinking I might let the new branches get about 16 inches and then trim them back to 8inches to stop growth. I'll keep doing this for a couple of years and maybe end up with like a Bonsai Epi, maximum spread 12 inches, compact growth due to continuous trimming and mature enough branches to produce blooms. Almost table top plants for the small apartment instead of these beautiful monster plants that we end up with.
What do other growers do to control growth? Trim and give away cuttings, trim and throw away cuttings,
Just curious.
I'll post a couple of pics when I down load from the camera.

I wish I knew how to keep them smaller too. I just keep expanding and growing fewer and fewer other things that need greenhouse space. Keeping mine in smaller pots hasn't seemed to keep them much smaller, but then I haven't always kept them trimmed either.

It almost makes you want to experiment with a growth hormone like b9 or something doesn't it?

This is the table top bloom I had recently. I love my big plants but I can imagine a row of little epis displaying their blooms. There were two more a couple of weeks ago that I could have put on our dining table, just didn't think

That would be awesome to see. Kind of like the displays of the Christmas cacti when they come in and some well trained florist builds a tree with them. LOL ( I used to have to do that).

2 of the cutting you sent formed buds, but they both fell off. It is a good thing, I know the plants needed more time to root before they bloomed.

I think this may be a good method for bloom display but personally don't like the "look" of the finished product. I really enjoy the natural look and would rather reduce plant numbers rather than do major pruning.

One garden center owner was discussing epies with me and told me to use tall tomato cages and train them to go up the cages like when the epies clime up trees. I could work for tall epies and I've seen five foot tall metal cages too in all colors, coated with plastic. I may try it with those two large plants. They now are four feet across and three feet tall.

That's a great idea. That would stop the branches intertwining and getting all jammed up on the benches. I'll have to check the base diameter. Need something a little bigger than a 2 gallon pot. Are they cylindrical or pyramid shaped? Don't want them to look too bunched up. Will check with local garden stores.
Is it cheaper to buy the wire in bulk and make our own.
Questions to myself.
New greenhouse almost finished. Designed to accommodate some hanging baskets as well as benches. Just have to secure the rafters and then haul the 20ft by 50 ft sheet of plastic over the top. About 300 sq ft of bench space.
Thanks Gourd!

There is a very good U tube on this but I can't link it. Run epiphyllum in cages on google.

Images are mine.

Clamps on post to hold pots are from some orchid supply co.(I think in Maine)

Awesome Ideas. My problem is moving them inside. I too have seen the brightly colored tomato cages and thought about that for my dragon fruit. Although if I kept them trained to a support, they would be easier to cover for the winter and I could use the cages to build a small cold frame around them.

I just love to experiment...........

Thanks larrycook - found the video on Epiphyllum TV on youtube.

Found the Tomato cages on Amazon - $36 for 20 cages and free shipping which is awesome to Hawaii.

Now have to consider the bench space. The top of the cage is wider than the pot base so they would need more bench space. Video also showed how to hang them from a chain, using "S" hooks, turning them into hanging baskets. Have to be careful of the weight on the greenhouse rafters, unless I build a structure in the greenhouse to support hanging baskets.

Have to utilize all that airspace above the benches and under the benches too.

Oh my lord, those are expensive tomato cages! I which I could send you some of mine. I got about fifty of the small metal ones for .25 cents each, some were bent a little. You know that if you solder you can make some out of metal hangers. It might be worth a try.

You know, you probably think I'm really cheap, I am, but, not on everything, I just love to make things out of nothing,. I don't know why. I drive my DH crazy. Lol

I do splurge on plants I really like though. I try to get cuttings too, but am a lousy rooter. Lol. I can't keep a brug cutting alive for very long. I have to buy the plants already established. I've lost most of my EPI cuttings that I've requested, so I'm going to try to nurture what's left and see what happens this coming year.

Plants from my trip to tucson last week.

You are not cheap, you are smart. Function not form is my mantra.

Your climate is not kind. I imagine it must be arid and a dry heat. Our Epis, being tropical jungle cactus, not desert cactus, need the humidity. Your pics give the impression of hot and dry.

I grow Brugs also. Just had to cut one down to make way for the greenhouse. Every little twig, branch piece and root stem on the construction site is now sending up a shoot. But then its rarely stopped raining for the last two weeks.

Keep trying

Oh My what is this coming too. LOL we all grow Brugs too? We have had a lot of rain in the past week and now it is beginning to dry up a little.
Gourd, Try putting your epies on pebble trays with water under the pebbles. That will raise your humidity levels, although it won't last long where you are. I spent about 6 years in the Mojave desert in California as a young girl and although the humidity here is sometimes unbearable, I don't think I could adjust to the desert again.