Genus Epiphyllum: Orchid Cacti

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene

Okay! A wonderful woman from LA sent me some cuttings, which arrived today! :]
The first image shows the cuttings, four of one variety, and a rooted cutting of another (which she included as a surprise!).

I planted these the second I received them and the second, third and fourth pictures show the final results. The species with 4 cuttings is Epiphyllum Crenatum. By potting them together you get a more hearty specimen with stronger root growth, and hopefully, an earlier bloom.
The rooted cutting is a hybrid: E. "Climax"
I'm working on figuring out what the parent species are.

The final picture is of all of my pots together, including my original which I have named Heathcliff.

Nice work! Looking at Heathcliff's new friends, I was struck how they look like Christmas Cactus which we have got as Christmas gifts from time to time. None on hand now as I think the last one was left outside & froze a couple years ago.

Looks like Christmas Cactus go by many names:
Holiday Cactus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Whiski

...Other synonyms[verification needed] include Epiphyllum altensteinii, Schlumbergera truncata var. altensteinii, Zygocactus truncatus var. altensteinii, Epiphyllum bridgesii, Epiphyllum truncatum var. bridgesii, Zygocactus bridgesii, Epiphyllum delicatum, Schlumbergera truncata var. delicata, Zygocactus delicatus, Epiphyllum ruckeri, Epiphyllum ruckerianum, Cactus truncatus, Epiphyllum truncatum.

[Mercedes Benzene]

Christmas Cacti are indeed related to Epies, although I disagree with wikipedia's ideas of "synonyms." None should have the classification of Epiphyllum, since that's a completely different genus.

I do believe however, that Epiphyllum can be hybridized with Schlumbergera, and that's how one gets some of the spectacular varieties of Epies that are seen today.

[Mercedes Benzene]

My plants have safely weathered the trip to Massachusetts, and are situated in their new home (my dorm).
The only problem is that they have a northern exposure, which will definitely affect their growing patterns.
I'm still waiting on some sign of new growth on any of the cuttings, but no such luck.

A Note On: Epiphyllum transitions.
MB

[Mercedes Benzene]

This morning I discovered something fantastic: New growth!
After having my plants for only a couple weeks, I hadn't expected to see any "action" so soon, especially since it's the middle of winter!
Anyway, here's a picture. The growth is on my "Climax" specimen. The most interesting part of this whole thing is that this new growth is coming from an areole on the top of what appears to be a young growth itself! (See picture above for a better view of the whole plant). I would have expected any new growth to come from the main plant body, rather than a younger appendage.


A Note On: Pleasant Epi-growth surprises.
MB

[Ganoderma]

those look great man!!! We have oodles of E. oxy growing around here, if you are wanting any cuttings to try and breed them, just pm me i got a stack of cuttings sitting by my monitor now waiting for pots lol.

they are for sure self sterile. every time i have tried to self them, nothing comes of it Last year i did a bunch of attempts at hybridizing this species with dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) but they did nothing as well, these were just simple pollen swaps though. this year i will try some style grafts and see what comes of that.

the "christmas cactus" we always bought in western canada were almost always of the Zygocactus genus, which is now lumped in with Schlumbergera species.

from cacti guide (a great cacti resource!)

Epiphyllum oxypetalum
Common Name(s): Dutchman's-Pipe Cactus
Synonym(s): Cereus oxypetalus, Phyllocactus oxypetalus, Cereus latifrons, Epiphyllum latifrons, Phyllocactus grandis, Epiphyllum grande, Epiphyllum acuminatum

Dutchman's-Pipe Cactus reminds me of a photo i took a couple years ago of flowers the day before opening...i was thinking pipe as well!




another one that may be fun to try hybridizing with is Rhipsalis sp.

so cool to see other cacti philes here

[Mercedes Benzene]

How old is that plant in the picture Ganoderma?
Was it purposefully planted, or was it just growing "wild" there?

[Ganoderma]

10 years give or take. thats how that species grows when planted in ground and left alone. these do grow "wild" here, once planted. but they are not naturalized cause there are no pollinators here and most localities are all clones of the same plant, so it doesn't matter anyway. people rarely grow them hanging here, generally in the grown as they will grow a couple meters high on their own then bend over as they get top heavy.

any other species you have on the way?

[Mercedes Benzene]

I just received some more rooted cuttings today in the mail. This brings my collection to 11 different Epiphyllum species/hybrids. Here's a pic of them in my dorm window.


The woman who kindly sent me the new Epi cuttings also threw in a couple other succulents.


A Note On: A growing Epiphyllum family.
MB

[Mercedes Benzene]

It's spring! Which means that there is a ton of new growth on my epies!
In addition, I've decided to try out a "beer fertilizer" that veteran Epiphyllum-lovers swear by.

Apparently it makes the plants go wild... and I'm sure that it works equally well for many types of plants, so I thought I'd share it with you all

Here's the formula:
12 oz of beer.
1/2 cup plain household ammonia
1 cup Epsom Salts
2 cups of water

1 Tbsp of this formula is added to a gallon of water, and used once every 2 weeks during the summer.

I ended up using Guinness Stout. Results to follow!

MB

[Mercedes Benzene]

I used the fertilizer for the first time today while watering my plants.

I'm hoping to take some pictures to document any miraculous changes that occur.