Pencil Cactus Flower | 10 Interesting Facts You Should Know |

Do you know anything about pencil cactus flower? It does not matter if your answer is yes or no. Try to read this article from the beginning. You may find new information here.

Pencil Cactus flower

Do pencil cactus flower?

Pencil cactus do produce flowers. They usually bloom in Spring and in summer. You could spot them blooming at the branches’ edges.

Those branches would be green in color. They do not contain spines which you could spot among other cacti.

Why is pencil cactus flowering?

Pencil cactus would start producing flowers when they get mature enough and when they are strong enough to form flowers for the reproduction process.

It could take some time for the pencil cactus to mature and start flowering

What do pencil cactus flowers look like?

Pencil cactus would usually produce a heavy trunk which would form branches in brown. Those branches would be woody too

On the other hand, their new branchlets would tend to take a cylindrical shape and they would be thick as a pencil. Further they would make clusters at the branches’ edges as well.

If I elaborate further on their flower formation, you could spot them at the branchlets edges and further they would form in stalk-less clusters.

They would further look like large petals like showy bracts. They would further try to hide the inconspicuous small yellow flowers which are inside.

What do pencil cactus flowers smell like?

They do not carry any specific fragrance.

How long do pencil cactus flowers last?

These flowers only would last few days.

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Is Pencil cactus flower toxic?

Pencil cactus plant is toxic. They usually contain a poisonous irritating sap which could be toxic when you get in contact with them.

It would be toxic for both humans and for pets as well. Their sap could be poisonous for many of the animals’ species such as dogs, cats, and horses and for humans as well.

Unfortunately, the entire pencil cactus including their flowers are toxic, and you cannot find any safe part of the plant.

Whenever you interact with the plant, keep in mind that you have the risk of getting allergies due to the sap of the plant.

Those toxins usually form in copious amounts. Further those toxins are diterpene esters.

As such whenever you are dealing with the pencil cactus flower, ensure that you do it with caution and protect yourself by wearing protective gear such as gloves, eye protection etc.

Is the pencil cactus flower lucky?

Unfortunately, we do not have any information to decide whether the pencil cactus flowers are lucky or not. It is something which we are yet to find out.

How to make a pencil cactus flower?

If you are an owner of a pencil cactus and are wondering how to make them flower, you could try a few tactics.

However, you could try to make them flower only when they are matured enough and strong enough only.

Ensure that you check on the pH of the soil first. It is true that pencil cactus would survive in almost all soil mediums which have a wide array of pH.

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Having said that, they would still love to grow in their expected pH of the soil. Best would be to use a soil mix which has a pH range of 5.5- 6, and it would perfectly work on your pencil cactus.

If you find it difficult to adjust the pH, you could try using fertilizers or even organic elements and convert it to a healthy pH of the soil mix.

Secondly, make sure that you provide the pencil cactus with adequate sunlight. As you may already know, it is necessary that you provide them with adequate sunlight so that they can perform well. 

As such, you need to make sure that you provide the pencil cactus with enough sunlight. It should ideally be about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight daily.

In addition to providing adequate sunlight, it is important that you water them properly as well.

However, you do not need to water the cactus regularly. You could do it as often as twice a month.

In case, you forget you may keep a reminder and water them too. In general, you could water them once every couple of weeks.

You could either water them directly on the cactus soil or alternatively, you could spray some water on the cactus soil too.  

Thirdly, you need to provide a cooler period for them to bloom.  You could usually do it in winter where you could put all your cactus inside and let them be in a little cooler place. 

Once you do that, it will stimulate the pencil cactus to bloom. However, ensure that you do not expose them to colder temperatures as that would badly affect the plant.

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If you ensure that you do all of these steps, you would be rewarded with flowers of pencil cactus. You could spot them flowering within a short period like once a year.

Can The Flower Be Used In Flower Arrangements?

Unfortunately it is not possible to utilize the pencil cactus flowers in the flower arrangements due to its insignificant size.

Do pencil cactus die after flowering? 

No, they do not die just after having flowers. Pencil cactus can have few blooms during their lifetime.

Credit to: Fun Gardening
Read Next: Pencil Cactus For Indoor | Care And 5 Place To Keep Them Indoor |
About author

I’m Dr. Chamika, As a hobby love talking about plants and showing you that taking care of indoor plants. My website is knowledge I’ve learned over the years and continue to learn about growing succulents. If you’re a succulent lover, then you have come to the correct place.