I am getting ready to get started. Rather hard to believe (I know - I am the nut that grows any and everything. Well - almost) but I have never had nor grown Epiphyllum. Really. The closest I come is with Christmas cactus. Those are basically my wife's which I help take care of. One of those is over 40 years old now and started from a much older plant from my wife's Aunt. Anyway ...

I am thinking of jumping in and purchasing a couple of plants from Logees. I have had pretty good luck with their plants over the years and they have a couple on sale now, so I will not have to spend a great deal of $$$ to give them a try. These are very small plants, which is ok by me - $ 8 each.

I am looking at:

Orchid Cactus 'San Miguel'
Orchid Cactus 'Conway's Giant'
Epiphyllum ackermannii

Some info here on their sale.

http://campaign.r20.constantco...

Obviously in my Zone they will be indoor/outdoor plants.

For a variety of reasons (mostly shipping cost and transit time this time of year 7-10 days) I (wisely) chose not to purchase these.

What I did purchase was seed for Selenicereus. Now I am trying my little heart out to figure out the differences - I understand they are in the same Tribe.

Hi David,

Good luck with starting your seeds. I have a few Epies, and they don't do much in the winter. Also, I would be concerned about getting cuttings in the mail during winter, they may freeze during transit.

Sending you a tree-mail.

Annette

Thanks Annette

Yeah - when I looked at that up to 10 days for Transit - I said. Nope. I have learned my lesson the hard way on winter delivery of plants & cuttings.

May have worked 10 days ago when upper 60s - not now with teens & single digits.

Aloha David,

Great to see your post to keep our Epi forum going during the winter months.

Here, in Hawaii, we grow Epis all through the year although the blooming season is mainly April to August.

When your weather warms up let us know as many of us have cuttings to share. Its a great way to get a number of different varieties for the cost of postage of less.

Happy growing.

Mike

I'm with Microb, let us know when you are ready and we can send you some cuttings. They don't take long to grow out and you can get some that are known success stories.

Thanks Mike.
Thanks Dee.

Very kind of you.

Happy New Year

Well, this epiphyllum love bug seems to be spreading .Cuttings are quite expensive in Australia, $10 to $29 each.So knowing that the best source for material is often from specialist clubs or societies, I tracked down the Pres. of the now defunct Epi Society inquiring about named cuttings.To my great joy, I was offered cuttings at $2 each.This type of opportunity doesn't come often, so I requested 80!! A couple of weeks before Christmas, a decent size parcel arrived containing 86 named good sized cuttings and here is a picture taken yesterday.

Wow. 2 $ Defunct? Wonder why? Was that an Aussie society?

David- I like Cactiguide.com for seeing various cacti and succulents (re your question about Selenicerus)

Holy cow Paul. Good luck when those all get basket size!

G'day Sally and David
If you could send a splash of your Maryland luck my way Sally, it sure would be appreciated

David, the society was indeed Australian and unfortunately like a lot of garden clubs, members are getting on in age and younger people have other things on their minds.This particular society was interested in hoyas as well as epiphyllums.
Of my 86 cuttings, I think only one has carked it, there was another looking poorly so I cut it about an inch above the soil, then cut the top bit in half, dipped it in metho and replanted.

I only had 2 flowering size plants that had been neglected, but had crossed them 5 years ago and eventually harvested one small seed pod.Two seedlings germinated which I have in small hanging pots, but they are taking their time in growing.I'll find their pics and post them later.In the mean time, here are the parents..the pink is very nice, the red not so nice, but the snails thought they were both very nice .

Wow, That pink is gorgeous. I like the red too, but would love to see what the seedlings will look like.
I will happily share cuttings in the spring, ( or when it gets safe to ship.

vanozzi said:, dipped it in metho and replanted.

Thanks for all that info Paul. What is metho?

And G'day to you too mate.

yes, that pink is gorgeous

Wow Paul! Such a deal! I hope you have lots of growing space!

That is a nice haul. And yes I too think that you'll need lots and lots of growing space.

That pink is a really nice one. As for growing space. I purchased 50 cutting some years ago and they grew beyond my 6ft by 20ft bench. Hurricane Iselle cut short the life of some so their growth slowed. My neighbor purchased 50 cuttings at the same time. His plants are probably taking up twice that space right now. Of course you can control their growth by taking more cuttings

Dose taking cuttings inhibit the original plant from blooming?

Wish I knew the answer to that question as well. Mine are struggling for light, so rather than setting buds, they are putting out more arial roots and a little new growth but not buds. Maybe I am rushing them. I will not start feeding them toward the end of February.

Taking cuttings does not appear to inhibit blooming. I've not seen that on my plants. I've always felt that cutting back the plant just pushes the energy into new growth which will bloom the following year.