Orchid cactus flower is famous for their sweet fragrances and beautiful colors. When they grow in the wild, they form on top of the tree surfaces. Orchid cactus blooms are nocturnal.
If you are a patient planter, orchid cactus would be a great pick. They would form the blooms for only three or four days and then they would grow into greenery.
If your orchid cactus does not produce flowers, it could be a problem of the way you look after them or imbalance of the growing conditions.
How often do orchid cactus flowers?
Orchid cactus which blooms during daytime produce flowers during the months in April to June. However, some of them bloom during the nighttime too.
The orchid cactus which blooms in the night usually produce flowers during summer to early fall.
The young orchid cactus bloom in early February too. When they form flower buds, best is to bring them outdoors when there are mild weather conditions.
However best is to not change the environmental conditions during the flower bud’s formation.
Colors of orchid cactus flowers
The prominent colors of the orchid cactus are yellow, orange, purple or even bi colored. Those flowers will arise at the ends of their stems.
If you manage to provide sufficient sunlight levels, it will allow the plants to provide vigorous growth in them.
How long do orchid cactus flowers last?
Orchid cactus flowers will last for three to four days. They produce large flowers that are showy. They are scented too.
Do they die after flowering?
Orchid cactus do not die after flowering as they are not monocarpic.
How to make orchid cactus flowers?
To make them bloom, you should ideally give them a winter rest. Ideally, they need to rest for about 8-10 weeks during winter.
That will be crucial to form buds. During this period, you need to water them less often and skip feeding them too.
To further elaborate on these ,if we consider winter temperature. Orchid cactus prefers to have a significant drop in the winter temperature so that they can produce more vigorous flowers.
This natural phenomenon is quite beneficial for the healthy bud development. They need warmer temperatures to thrive well during most of the time though.
It is critical that you expose the orchid cactus for bright indirect sunlight to produce flowers. Ideally when you grow them as house plants, they should be provided with indirect sunlight all year along.
If you wish to bring them outdoors, you need to keep them in a semi shady place. Refrain in exposing them for direct sunlight.
Besides, you may consider feeding them with a fertilizer which has a high phosphorus level. That would be quite effective in producing more blooms.
Ideally you can resume feeding them during early spring and keep doing it until autumn comes.
Fertilizing is crucial to make the orchid cactus flower. If you fail to feed them plants with the appropriate fertilizer, it is unlikely they will flower.
Ideally you need to feed them with a balanced fertilizer of a ratio of 10-10-10 of Nitrogen, phosphorus and Potassium.
Avoid feeding them with fertilizers which have a higher amount of Nitrogen. If you do so, it will result in leggy growth and the flowering of the activity will also be impacted badly.
Never feed them when they are dormant as it will result in feed burns in the plants.
When they produce buds, you should keep the plants in the same spot. If you expose them to drastic changes in light, temperature it will make the cactus drop their buds as well as the flowers.
In addition to that, never keep them closer to drafty areas also.
Special remarks
You cannot expect the orchid cactus to flower during the first two years. One might think they are not flowering at all, since their blooming lasting time is very short.
It is very unlikely that you will spot the night blooming plants as the blooming takes place during the nighttime.
How to care for orchid cactus flowers?
Sun light requirement
Orchid cactus will be happy to grow in bright indirect sunlight. If you expose them for inadequate sunlight, it will result in spindly growth in the plants. Further, there will be less flowers as well.
Water requirement
You need to water the orchid cactus in such a way where you make the soil moist specially during spring to fall.
You can water them less often during winter so that they can form new growth in spring. Never make their soil bone dry.
If they are shriveled and if you can see limp stems, those are the indications to let you know that they are lacking adequate water levels. On the other hand, if you water them excessively it would result in root rot. Hence, do it in a moderate way.
Humidity requirement
Humidity level of 40 % – 50 % would be beneficial for the optimal growth of the plants and for the flowers as well.
If you wish to enhance the humidity level, you may keep the pot on a dish in which you have filled with wet pebbles. If there is dry humidity around the plants surrounding, you may use a cool mist room humidifier.
Temperature requirement
Orchid cactus prefers to grow in warmer temperature levels. A temperature range of 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit ( 18-24 degrees Celsius) would work well these plants.
Soil requirement
The right soil mix to grow the orchid cactus would be a mix of 1 part of peat moss based potting medium along with 1 part of perlite. Those are optimal conditions for the growth of the plants.
Fertilizer requirement
You need to feed them once every fortnight during early spring to fall. Best would be to use a high phosphorus water soluble fertilizer. Avoid feeding them in winter.
Conclusion
To conclude, I hope this article was helpful for you to improve your knowledge on how to look after the flowers of the orchid cactus and how to make them flower etc. Try these steps and enjoy gardening with orchid cactus.
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