Please help save my old Schlumbergera
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Please help save my old Schlumbergera
About four summers ago I bought an old (30 yrs. or so) true Christmas Cactus, the Schlumbergera x buckleyi. I don't know how it was cared for all that time, but I think it must have been kept indoors all year. I say that because when I began caring for it I let it spend the warm months outdoors in a shady area, but it started dropping leaf segments. I gave it a new pot but didn't disturb the root ball because of its sheer size; I just gave it a slightly larger pot with some new soil around the edges. It continued dropping segments even indoors during the fall and winter. Two autumns ago it was looking very sick with a lot of mealybugs, which I managed to finally eradicate. But it had already lost a lot of the old drooping branches. Then I was happy to see a lot of new bright green growth popping out all over the branches that were remaining. It spent this past summer outdoors in the fresh air in a spot where it got just a bit of morning sun and then was in the shade for the rest of the day. Now that it's again indoors in a relatively cool room in a corner away from direct sun, it keeps dropping more and more segments--almost full branches. Sometimes there are as many as 8 or 10 joined segments I've found on the floor; usually it's a smaller number like 4 or 5. I've saved a lot of them, hoping to root them and start another plant, but it'll never get as large as the old original. What might I be doing wrong? I'm not overwatering it, as I know they like to be on the dry side in the fall. The temperature is quite consistent (+ or - 67F) and it gets some good light but no direct sun. What can be going on and how can I try to save it? The Schlum and I thank you for any suggestions!
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
Maybe it is in too dry an atmosphere or the roots have gone? Afraid I don't grow them as they don't like my dry greenhouse conditions, but these quotes are from the Web:-
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/christmas- ... 90640.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Watering
Like all cacti they can store water inside their thick fleshy leaves (stems), and live off this in emergencies. However if you want a thriving specimen you will need to water as you would a normal house plant, i.e. when the soil becomes dry."
http://www.ourhouseplants.com/plants/christmascactus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Water: Keep the soil moist, but not soggy while plant is growing. After flowering, water sparingly until new growth begins in spring."
"Growing this plant is easy, but there are a few things you should do to make it bloom before the holidays.
•Shorter, cooler days and nights for about 8-10 weeks are needed for the plant to set buds. Moving it outdoors in fall is ideal, just keep it out of direct sun. Bring the plant back inside before the first frost.
•Keep soil barely moist, but not too dry. Shrivelled, limp stems are a sign that it's too dry.
•Once it starts budding, keep the plant in the same location. Changes in light and temperature by moving it around will cause it to drop its buds and flowers. Also keep it away from draughty areas like doorways and heat vents.
Repotting Christmas cactus plant is usually only necessary every 2 to 3 years. It prefers to be slightly pot-bound and blooms best this way. Wait till spring or early summer to repot -- never while it's blooming."
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/christmas- ... 90640.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Watering
Like all cacti they can store water inside their thick fleshy leaves (stems), and live off this in emergencies. However if you want a thriving specimen you will need to water as you would a normal house plant, i.e. when the soil becomes dry."
http://www.ourhouseplants.com/plants/christmascactus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Water: Keep the soil moist, but not soggy while plant is growing. After flowering, water sparingly until new growth begins in spring."
"Growing this plant is easy, but there are a few things you should do to make it bloom before the holidays.
•Shorter, cooler days and nights for about 8-10 weeks are needed for the plant to set buds. Moving it outdoors in fall is ideal, just keep it out of direct sun. Bring the plant back inside before the first frost.
•Keep soil barely moist, but not too dry. Shrivelled, limp stems are a sign that it's too dry.
•Once it starts budding, keep the plant in the same location. Changes in light and temperature by moving it around will cause it to drop its buds and flowers. Also keep it away from draughty areas like doorways and heat vents.
Repotting Christmas cactus plant is usually only necessary every 2 to 3 years. It prefers to be slightly pot-bound and blooms best this way. Wait till spring or early summer to repot -- never while it's blooming."
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
This could be a good start, Dave, so thanks. I'll admit to not keeping it slightly moist all the time, which seems to be what they're talking about in the first link. Not too much water, nor too little. It's a crap shoot. All very subjective. If only a cactus (or any plant) could talk! I'll definitely start with keeping it more evenly moist. If I'm lucky enough to have even one flower this year, I'll post a photo.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
I was given an old one in rather bad shape. Limp stems & very dry. I watered it for a few days with no improvement; the soil was really hard/compacted. Decided to go for broke & repotted from the "concrete" to my loose but rich epi mix. Lost more segments but recovered in about 2 weeks & put out new growth. If it's in junk soil, I'd say you're just wasting your time. Remember they need more organics than the rest of your cactus & more water. Mist, mist, mist until it recovers. Mine is just beginning to set buds in the GH. I call it my Halloween Cactus since that's when it seems to want to start blooming. I don't argue with it's timing, happy to see any flowers in Oct/Nov. Sue
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
Hi, Sue. I know what you're saying, but I'm really afraid of repotting. And I'm not positive the soil is that compacted. I know I emptied a lot of the soil on top and as far down the sides as I could and dumped it and mixed in some looser, rich soil, thinking it (at least the nutrients) would water down through to benefit the roots. Perhaps I can find a thin bamboo or similar stake and see how far down I can push it into the soil before it meets a lot of resistance. Repotting would be a huge undertaking I'd probably need help with, but if I find it's necessary there may be no other way.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
RESCUE OF A SCHLUMBERGERA IN DANGER
^Perhaps this link will prove useful to you^
^Perhaps this link will prove useful to you^
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, tumamoc!! That is the most incredible success story for plants I've ever seen. The photos are wonderful and dramatically show the changes at each step. I think I shall follow these recommendations even though I may lose even more branches in the process. It's interesting that the first steps concerned watering and that the repotting came later. The note early on that says the old original 'Schlumbergera x buckleyi' tend to be much more resilient that the new Zygo hybrids. I've noticed myself how difficult it is to keep modern hybrids successfully for more than one or two seasons, which leads me to believe that the hybridization process must somehow weaken the total plant.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
fanaticactus wrote:THANK YOU, THANK YOU, tumamoc!! That is the most incredible success story for plants I've ever seen. The photos are wonderful and dramatically show the changes at each step. I think I shall follow these recommendations even though I may lose even more branches in the process. It's interesting that the first steps concerned watering and that the repotting came later. The note early on that says the old original 'Schlumbergera x buckleyi' tend to be much more resilient that the new Zygo hybrids. I've noticed myself how difficult it is to keep modern hybrids successfully for more than one or two seasons, which leads me to believe that the hybridization process must somehow weaken the total plant.
If you can only keep them 1-2 seasons then you are growing them wrong... I grow mostly epicactus hybrids but I have expanded into Schlumbergera hybrids over the last few years as well and I know of a number of friends who have fantastic specimens of some of the newer truncata hybrids of about 20 or 30yrs I think the problem lies as others have said with your watering regime one thing I always tell people who are new to growing Schlumbergera and epicactus is to treat them as if they weren't cacti in the summer I water often sometimes as much as once a week and Schlumbergera hate having dry roots even more so when they are in bud!
Carl Bullock - Sunny (mostly) Isle of Wight
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
I'm with Carl - I have happy epis & "holiday" cactus. Rich, well draining soil: water,water, mist,mist. I still give mine the old fashioned fish emulsion fertilizer. I know that's out of style but I'm afraid to change. I use the new formulas for the real cactus. Sue
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
Thank you all who have responded thus far. These all appear to be very good suggestions. If I can put them together into a workable plan of action, I might begin to see some improved success. I still have one question that's always plagued me about these tropical varieties. Have you found it is better to use unglazed clay, glazed clay or plastic pots? I see advantages and disadvantages of both. With unglazed clay, the roots get more air but the soil dries out faster, especially in summer. I haven't had much experience with glazed clay, but since the glaze must fill the tiny pores in the clay, I imagine they're more like plastic pots. And they may not allow roots to breathe as freely but the soil stays more moist for a longer time. Any thoughts and/or personal experience?
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
I grow the vast majority of my plants in plastic and the ones I have in small clay pots are always damp and never dry I suppose as you say glazed pots would be similar to plastic and stay damper.
Carl Bullock - Sunny (mostly) Isle of Wight
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
I, too, have an old Schlumbergera x buckleyi plant. I got it from my grandfather's patio after his passing. It has nice woody stems, but was definitely neglected. Right now, it looks terrible, as it constantly drops it long green segments (sound familiar?). It holds a lot of sentimental value to me, and I am concerned I could lose it. I will probably attempt to rehab my plant using the strategies in the link I posted earlier.
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
I'll post pictures of my rehabilitated Schlumbergera x buckleyi I got lumbered with at the local cactus branch meeting last year I don't have any before photos but it came to me in a very shallow terracotta pan and also dropped quite few branches around December last year it flowered in February...
+++Edit+++
I lied, I found some from about 3-4 weeks after I repotted it, as you can see it's already looking a lot better there was very little top growth most of the old stems were very bare.
+++Edit+++
I lied, I found some from about 3-4 weeks after I repotted it, as you can see it's already looking a lot better there was very little top growth most of the old stems were very bare.
Carl Bullock - Sunny (mostly) Isle of Wight
[NEW! PLANTS WISHLIST]
[Epiphyllum, trade,sell, buy, open for all vendors!|Epiphyllum|Epicactus|Schlumbergera]
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Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
I'm wondering why those in the clay pots don't dry out. Are you using the same soil mix in both clay and plastic? I've always found transpiration through the clay walls is fairly rapid.Carl_B wrote:I grow the vast majority of my plants in plastic and the ones I have in small clay pots are always damp and never dry I suppose as you say glazed pots would be similar to plastic and stay damper.
And your rehab Christmas cactus looks fantastic. I just moved mine gently to mist it this afternoon and three more branches fell off--one simply from the weight of the mist on the leaves. I'd say the word "fragile" applies here.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Re: Please help save my old Schlumbergera
fanaticactus wrote:I'm wondering why those in the clay pots don't dry out. Are you using the same soil mix in both clay and plastic? I've always found transpiration through the clay walls is fairly rapid.Carl_B wrote:I grow the vast majority of my plants in plastic and the ones I have in small clay pots are always damp and never dry I suppose as you say glazed pots would be similar to plastic and stay damper.
And your rehab Christmas cactus looks fantastic. I just moved mine gently to mist it this afternoon and three more branches fell off--one simply from the weight of the mist on the leaves. I'd say the word "fragile" applies here.
Sorry I should of clarified that is the way I keep them not that they don't dry out they do but I am more attentive with them I only grow a select few Hatiora/Schlumbergera species in them for the opposite effect as I have them somewhat buried in damp perlite which is kept constantly damp.
Thank you, you should see the plant now it's huge! I can't wait for this years blooms I'm sure there will be hundreds
Carl Bullock - Sunny (mostly) Isle of Wight
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