How do you make a Night Blooming Cereus bloom?

Ems - Beautiful bloom. I think you're right about being root bound. I planted a shoot last fall that I had knocked off in getting it through the door to the sunroom. The only pot I had at the time was a really small one. Thought I would repot it if it got bigger, however, failed to do so and the darned thng shot up several more long shoots this summer, and actually had a bloom on it. This year, for sure I will repot it, just so it won't keep falling off the table in the sunroom from being so top-heavy!

Podster -- keep watching and post your beauty when she finally blooms!

You know, I don't know about rootbound. I'll have to find the post but a gal from south TX had one in a flower bed that was loaded with blooms. How could it be rootbound.... It was pretty! I think these plants are truly a mystery ~ LOL

Congratulations on your bloom. It's fun watching and waiting for them to open. Now you've made me miss my "ugly" plant.

Diana

Pod -- I think I know the picture you mean. This gal was standing by it and it seemed to be climbing up a tree with blooms galore. I could hardly believe the size of it and the number of blooms. People who don't have really cold weather are lucky that they can have them outside year round.

Thanks, Diana. I was concerned when I heard of people who had these plants for 30 years and they had never bloomed. Maybe my grandmother is watching over her plant and coaxing her to bloom for me!

Jean

Hi all, currently I've one single bud of NBC that will more likely to open the next couple of days. I did have a first flush of 8 blooms last month. I too have found that this flower bud will drop easily with any little changes in temperature.

Hi Lily: Beautiful! Because I watched it so often, I noticed that my bud hung straight down as it was growing, then began its upward turn a couple of days before it bloomed. We are so fortunate that we have all this wonderful technology so we can share these lovely things with each other.

Absolutely, JeanK, with the technology available to us. DG's website is one of the best there is for all of us to gather here and enjoy our gardening together.

Hey Podster, how is your bud coming along? Should have either bloomed by now or getting close to it. I found another bud last week and if it finally opens, that will be the first one on the plants here in AR. DH will have to endure both chiggers AND mosquitoes to get pix of this one. There have been five blooms here counting this one, and this will be the first one to make it to the photo album. I'm watching it really close this time. From the one in FL, I noticed the bud begins to turn upward about 3 or 4 days before it opens -- sort an alert if you will, "Hey folks, I'm getting ready for the big show! Don't miss it!" Hope to see your bloom soon.

...camping out here waiting. :)

Lily -- Better take lots of supplies -- it will be a couple of weeks probably. I will alert you and everyone else for that matter!

It is soooo slow! LOL I am watching it like a hawk. Before long, the bloom and stalk it is on will be bigger than the meager ugly little plant. I have a hunch the dose of rainwater IKE gave it did more to make it bloom than all the banana peels I have been force feeding it.

I don't know which is worse, a meager ugly little plant or a leggy, sprawling all over the place huge ugly plant! I have decided on trying to tame the beast and have purchased one of those wire trellises from Lowe's and will plant it all the way to the bottom of a large pot and plant the three sprawling things I have in the pot, tying as many of the branches to the trellis that I can. One of the pots is only about 4" and you wouldn't believe the size of the long floppy leaves that have grown out of it. Hopefully I will have one pot with three plants in it, and perhaps they won't take up so much room in the sunroom, otherwise I will have to think of something else to do with them.

I think Picabo on the MSG forum has hers in a large pot on a trellis. If I recall, she either had a dolly under it to move it in each winter or she used a dolly to move it, one. She is the one that I learned the banana peel trick from...

Podster: Did you know that banana peels are good for roses, too? I have a climber which my cousin gave me several years ago. It languished for several years doing nothing. When I started feeding it banana peels it took off like crazy and now covers the whole arbor and had blooms galore last spring. My DH always says when we buy bananas, "three for you and one for the garden," as if they get past the eating point, I just chop the whole thing up and put it on the plants!

I've a couple unknown Epi's buds. I'll share the blooms when they open as well. I've this in a hanging basket, and so far they're working out pretty well.

JeanK, I've tried banana peels on some of my epi and others plants. But, if you simply chop the whole banana, doesn't that attract ants and other insects? Hmmm, I'm just wondering.

Lily -- do show us your pics. Sharing others' pics is almost as rewarding as seeing our own plants bloom. When I have the whole banana, most of the time I just throw it in the compost, but once in awhile, I really chop it up until it is mush, then scrape up some dirt around the plant, and bury it, then I put some leaf mold on top of that. Probably both of them help. Haven't had any problems so far. Only put the chopped up peels on the potted plants.

I've forgotten these flush of blooms last month to share. These were on the QOTN epi. oxypelatum (?).

Thanks JeanK for the tips. I'll post more pictures as others bloom soon.

Kim those blooms are elegant! I had my first epi growing in a hanging basket. It became a monster. I would leave it hanging under the front porch roof and when it would freeze, I would wrap it in a blanket. One frosty night was windy and blew the blanket off. That plant was history and I was relieved.

These days it is getting dark early and we get home late and this one snuck up on me!
This morning, I did a walk thru on my plants and was startled to find this bloom. It was winding down but was able to catch this photo. And I need to rethink my comment about rootbound. The roots are sticking out the drainholes and have even split the pot!

Pod, that's gorgeous a bloom! Is it fragrant like the QOTN? I think Betty (picabo) has given me a cutting of those that had two buds as I posted above. These are so precious, I would try my best to move them in the makeshift gh comes winter.

I've read somewhere, some epi. doesn't set flower as long as 5-7 years of age. I was lucky I purchased a pot that promptly gave me bloom this summer. (The epiphyllum oxypelatum above).

You are all so lucky.....silly story that I have....I always wanted one of these, I found a small cutting on ebay and potted it up, then I found a lady selling a huge pot full on ebay, so I purchased that, then she put another even bigger pot full on ebay, so I purchased that, then she put the mother plant which was over 30 years old, so I got that (can you tell how much I wanted this plant!) Anyway I gave my next door neighbor the first little cutting I had since I had the other 3 huge plants. Last month she had a bloom on it.....that little cutting had a bloom! However my 3 HUGE plants have nothing....it's so sad, I keep wishing and hoping. I read so many forums, I tried the banana peels, I tried the beer formula (much to the weird looks of my neighbors), I know they are pot bound and I try to hold off on the watering until they beg.....I want blooms!!! It's been a year now....oh well fingers are still crossed.

Love your pictures. When my plant at my neighbors bloomed we had a little get together with all the neighbors to watch it bloom, it was really amazing.

Astcgirl: Do your plants get enough sun? I notice your neighbor's came from an old leaf. I have heard that they only bloom on old growth, however, one of my blooms this year seemed to be on a rather "new" leaf. These things seem to have a mind of their own. Mine are outside and get watered frequetly on a drip system. They sit on gravel or in the instance of one of them, in a pot where they can drain. (The reason for the pot within a pot, I have three small pots sitting within a large pot so they won't fall over.) The one in FL bloomed for the first time since I have had it -- old plant (real old) -- and the only thing I did this year was move it to another position in the yard where it got more sun. It has to find its happy place. Good luck with yours. It is frustraing to wait and wait with no results! I will be looking for you to post a photo of your own plant blooming away next year!

Ditto to what JeanK has stated. I've my NBC facing South, under a rose trellis. Most of the leaves and growth seem to favor the morning and noon sun, and it gave me 8 blooms the first round back in July, then repeated a lone bloom this month. Good lucks, Astcgirl. I called neighbors to come and celebrate with us when the blooms opened. I also gave them some cuttings after the blooms spent, and their have taken roots.

Thank you JeanK and Lily_love, I have them all in different locations, although when I had 1 of my pots in full sun it turned yellow, I think it was too extreme in the Florida heat. So it is back on the lanai with just morning sun. One is in shade and one has afternoon sun. The next door neighbors is in shade all day. Maybe I'll move them again to get a little more sun.

The key is 'Filtered, but bright spot' for most of these beauty. Note; I've a rose arbor overhead. :-) It does get pretty intense heat during the summer here. This year we're blessed with relatively mild heat index. Last year? I may have moved mine around, watching the intensity of the heat daily. :-)

Lily: Beautiful blooms! It's amazing what a spell these plants cast over us. If plants have thoughts, they are probably laughing at all of us fussing over them so much but the thrill of seeing one of these things develop from a tiny bud to this georgeous, fragrant bloom is worth the "fussing" and the watching!

Ha haa, too true JeanK! I recall my grandmother's plant bloomed with ALL the family watching it. She lived about 100 miles from us and the rest of the family lived in the next state! Truly a cause for the fussing and the watching!

Nanbernier: Love it! I remember being allowed to stay up past my bedtime in order to watch my grandmother's open. My brother had friends over when the same plant bloomed a few years ago. Our daughter from Arizona happened to be visiting us in FL when our heirloom plant (yes this is my grandmother's) bloomed. She took pix back to show her husband and friends, boasting that she saw something that they probably would never see. When ours opens here in AR, we will invite several of our neighbors -- don't think we will do the dinner thing, but will have refreshments -- probably some strong coffee to keep everyone awake!

Ah, luckily, I didn't have to stay up late to watch this bloom. Early this morning was my first time noticing it. I wasn't even aware that it was there, 'til the brilliant flower caught my peripheral vision.

Very pretty Kim. Mine surprised me in the same manner. I noticed this bloom has a delicate fragrance too. Fun, fun, fun!

SO! Are you all saying that this plant blooms only ONCE in the growing season? Then, does it bloom again the following year?

Gita

Gita: One of my plants has had two blooms at two different times, and now I am watching a third bud. The first two I missed because of being out of town however, this one gets watched multiple times each day! I'm going to see this one! I think next year I might have multiple blooms, as when my brother had this plant he had 7 blooms that opened at the same time. Next year they will go outside in their same spot, as they seem to like ti there.

Jean,

Do you put it in direct sun? What do you feed yours? How often?

I have been keeping mine under my very high Patio roof. Good light--and it catches the last rays of the afternoon sun....
Maybe it needs more.....

Gita, if they are put in the direct sun, the leaves will be sunburned. Probably where yours are placed is fine. Believe it or not, several times a year, I chop up a banana peel very fine and spread it around the plant. Don't know if this helps, but apparently it hasn't hurt! I don't follow any specific schedule for feeding. They do get watered by a timed watering drip system during the summer because we travel a lot during that time and temperatures can reach 100 for long periods of time. I think sometimes because they are part of the cactus family, people regard them as desert plants and do not give them sufficient water. After they are brought back inside in the winter, the watering is cut back, because we leave the sunroom cool (about 55 degrees). My last bud will be opening within the next couple of days. Watch for a picture!

Jean

After watching this bud all week, thinking it would open, I almost missed it AGAIN last night. I had checked it several times in the evening, but it didn't seem that it was going to open, however, on a hunch, I went out at 9:45 and it was almost open! Had to wake DH to set up his camera, but the results were worth it!

Another one at 10:07

Taken at 11:27

She is finally open at 11:45 and we are going to bed!

It was still open this morning at 8:30!

Good-bye until next year! (11:00 a.m. this morning.)

Congratulations JeanK! Whistles, musics, hand clapping, the whole works!!! Wooohoooo, and the beauties remained a long time. Ooooh besides the prestine white petals, the intricate filaments and colorful anthers. I bet the fragrant was wonderful too. It's was sort of sweet and spicey like "Musk oil" or something similiar. Thank you, for sharing those pictures.