CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How can Christmas cactus bloom multiple times a year?

1. How can Christmas cactus bloom multiple times a year?

Christmas cactus usually blooms in October and November every year. Most flower lovers' Christmas cactus blooms once a year, but in fact, if it is well cared for, it can bloom four times from November to May of the following year.

Every year in late autumn, when the weather turns cooler, we start to apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizers to Christmas cactus. The recommended fertilizers are Huaduoduo No. 2 and Bikaihua, followed by potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

You can irrigate the roots and spray the stems at a concentration of 1:800 - 1:1000 to promote budding and flowering of the Christmas cactus. In the meantime, you can use balanced fertilizers such as Biwang and Huaduoduo No. 1 several times to promote the fullness of the stems and store enough nutrients for the Christmas cactus to bloom.

After flowering, the stems of Schlumbergera wilt. Prune the severely wilted stems, apply a balanced fertilizer such as Biwang and Huaduoduo No. 1, and continue to apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizers to continue budding. If the light is too strong, shade can be applied in the morning and evening to meet the requirements of Schlumbergera for short-day budding.

There is no such thing as hibernation in winter for Christmas cactus, but there may be a short recovery process after flowering. The premise is that the room temperature is about 20 degrees in winter and various fertilizers can keep up.

Christmas cactus maintained in this way can bloom several times, and the flowers are particularly bright.

2. How to grow crab claw flower?

Christmas cactus is native to Brazil in South America.

It is an epiphytic cactus. In the natural environment, it often grows on trees or wet valleys. Therefore, the cultivation environment requires semi-shade and humidity. Avoid scorching sun and rain in summer, and require warmth and sufficient light in winter. The soil needs to be a mixture of fertile leaf humus, peat, and coarse sand, with a pH of 5.5-6.5. The suitable temperature for the growth period of Christmas cactus is 18-23℃, and the flowering temperature is preferably 10-15℃, not exceeding 25℃, and it is best to maintain 15℃. The temperature in winter is not lower than 10℃. Christmas cactus is a short-day plant, so it can only bud and bloom under short-day conditions. Christmas cactus is pollinated by birds in its place of origin, and artificial pollination is required for normal fruiting when cultivated indoors.

Maintenance precautions

Schlumbergera

1. Christmas cactus is a plant with strong phototropism. If its phototropism position is changed during its growth, its growth will be affected, especially during the bud formation period, changing its phototropism position may cause bud muteness and bud drop. Therefore, during the maintenance of Christmas cactus, do not frequently change its phototropism position.

2. Christmas cactus is a plant that adapts to weakly acidic soil. The pH value of the soil it adapts to is 6.5-6.8. Too high or too low will affect its growth and the brightness and color of the flowers. Generally speaking, tap water is neutral or above neutral. Therefore, if you use tap water to water flowers for a long time, the soil will inevitably become alkaline. Therefore, ferrous sulfate should be used to adjust the soil every half year.

The method is: use 2-3g of ferrous sulfate, add 200-300ml of clean water, shake well to make it fully dissolved, and pour it into the flowers when they need watering. If you have a pH test paper, you can use 200-300ml of clean water, add an appropriate amount of ferrous sulfate, adjust to 6.5, and pour it in when there is a lack of water.

3. In order to make the Christmas cactus bloom luxuriantly and brightly, fertilizer should be added in time after the dormant period in midsummer. The soil can use a 1:1:1 compound fertilizer. The leaves can be sprayed with potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution.

3. How to grow crab claw flower

The breeding methods include cutting, grafting and sowing.

Cuttings can be made in spring and autumn by cutting well-growing modified stems. They will easily take root, but after cutting the stem nodes, they must be placed in a cool place for 1 to 2 days. Wait until the incision is slightly dry before inserting it into the sand bed. The humidity should not be too high after insertion to avoid rot of the incision. It will take root after 3 weeks.

For example, in order to cultivate an umbrella-shaped hanging plant shape and increase its ornamental value, grafting is generally used for propagation. Compared with cuttings, grafting has a strong growth potential and blooms early. Grafting is best in spring and autumn. Because the temperature is suitable, the survival rate is high. Grafting in the hot and humid summer season is prone to infection and rot, and the survival rate is low. All cactus plants can be used as rootstocks, but the cycads and tiger thorns are better. When grafting, choose a strong and thick plant with a height of 30 cm as the rootstock, cut off the top 10 cm, leaving 20 cm, and cut it into a wedge-shaped mouth, and then cut the full Christmas cactus scion (3 to 5 nodes are suitable), cut the lower end into a duckbill shape, and immediately insert it into the wedge-shaped crack after cutting. The insertion depth is more suitable to be deep to the woody part in the center of the rootstock. To prevent the scion from slipping, it can be fixed with a pin or a cactus thorn. Some rootstocks can be grafted with 2 to 3 scions. If you use a leaf cactus as a rootstock, cut a slit in the top of the rootstock, then insert the scion that has been cut at the bottom, tie it with thin strips of plastic film, or fix it with the long thorns of the cactus. After grafting, place it in a cool place with high air humidity. After about 10 days, if the scion remains stiff and fresh green, it has healed and survived, and needs careful maintenance. After one month, you can set up a wire ring rack to evenly place the scion on the rack, and gradually put it in a sunny place for normal management.

Christmas cactus prefers semi-shady and humid environment. The soil for potting requires fertile field soil with good drainage, looseness and air permeability. In summer, it is necessary to shade and avoid rain. It is best to place it under a well-ventilated window, balcony or eaves. Dry, hot air and poor ventilation are the most unfavorable for the growth of Christmas cactus, which often lead to the spread of red spider mites, poor growth of affected plants, and atrophy and fall off from the base of the abnormal stems. To prevent the damage of red spider mites, the ventilation conditions should be improved. After the disease occurs, 0.8be of lime sulfur mixture can be used to kill it. Thin liquid fertilizer can be applied during the growth period, and fertilizer and water should be applied continuously from autumn to before flowering. After the cool autumn, it can be moved to a sunny place indoors. At the same time, the plants should be pruned. For those with dense stems, thinning should be done and too many weak flower buds should be removed. The room temperature in winter should not be too high or too low, and it is better to maintain 15°C.

Christmas cactus is a short-day plant. Under short-day conditions (8 to 10 hours a day), it can bloom in 2 to 3 months. If you want it to bloom in October, you can use a light-proof shade in July to treat the plant with short-day light, so that it only sees light for 8 hours a day, so that it can bloom in late September. After the buds appear on the Christmas cactus, the pot soil should not be too dry, otherwise the buds will fall off easily. When the buds are first formed, watering should be reduced as appropriate. Too much watering will also make the buds fall off easily. When it blooms, it is advisable to place it in a relatively cool room (12c to 15c), so that the flowering time can be extended. Christmas cactus has a short period of dormancy after flowering. At this time, the pot soil should be kept a little dry. After the dormancy period, when new buds grow on the top of the modified stem, normal watering and fertilization can be carried out.

In cultivation, it is often seen that some Christmas cacti grow well, but do not bloom or bloom very little. In this case, you should check whether the placement location is appropriate, because it is a short-day plant, and the plant can only form flower buds if the light is less than 10 to 12 hours a day. If there is sufficient light during the day, and the place where it is placed happens to have strong lighting after dark, under such long-light conditions, the plant is often difficult to form flower buds. In addition, excessive shade or excessive fertilizer and water will also affect flowering.

For plants that have been cultivated for more than 3 to 5 years, the crown width can often reach more than 50 cm. In order to control the plant shape, the internodes can be shortened after the flowers fall, and some of the weaker or too dense internodes can be thinned out. After thinning and shortening, the new stems that grow will be green and strong.