Shlumbergera life expectancy

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stefan m.
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Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

I ve read somewhere that shlumbergera live up to 15 years. But ive seen plants that look ancient(30 years+).
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by ElieEstephane »

Here in Lebanon it was very trendy back in the 70s. Old people have many 30 and 40 year old plants. However, they are not like the hybrids we have now and they don't flower as profusely.
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

I have and old breed and a new pointy hybrid......
So we know for certain that the old breed lives very long.
That leaves with the new ones. So, we need somebody that has some of the oldest hybrid schlumbergeras of the new generations. :-k
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by ElieEstephane »

I've seen some grafted on opuntia so maybe that can be used to extend their life if they are short lived.
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

But we dont know long/short live they are in the first place ](*,)
We dont even know how necesary that even is :-k
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by ElieEstephane »

Well it helps speed up the growth even more and it will be awesome looking!
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There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

While it is cool looking, doesnt grafting lower the life expectancy, if not re grafted on a regular basis?
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by ElieEstephane »

Not on opuntia. Opuntias are permenant grafts and you can eventually bury them slowly.
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

Good to know. But not sure how that answers the question. I was kind hoping the veteran growers measured the lifespan of the hybrids though,
Edit i can only verify that they live longer than 5 years.
DaveW
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by DaveW »

Plants are like humans, different individuals (or clones in the case of plants) will live longer than others. It depends what you mean by Schlumbergera's since there are a few true species and many hybrids, which will obviously have different life spans. The original species were also hybridised from their first introduction to cultivation, but generally it was the hybrids that out survived the species in the early growing conditions.

With true S. truncata and S. russeliana they are usually clones of one or two original individuals, plus the odd modern collection. Also they, as with their hybrids, like the original "Christmas Cactus" = S. X buckleyi, were always propagated by vegetative means, therefore are clones of the original cross. Also Schlumbergera truncata hybrids with the toothed stems get confused with Christmas cactus which has the S. russeliana type rounded ended joints.

https://laidbackgardener.blog/tag/diffe ... ng-cactus/

http://thecitrusguy.blogspot.co.uk/2010 ... aster.html

Certainly the pictures I have seen of Schlumbergera's in the wild they don't seem to get as large as in cultivation, so probably like animals in zoo's many plants may live longer in "captivity" than they would in habitat, even cacti with a normally longer lifespan than humans. The problem is also we cannot always verify the claimed age of the plant. See:-

https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/n ... 9c0dd.html

http://www.themountaineagle.com/news/20 ... s_adv.html

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2016 ... 161229624/

The question how long plants live on average can only really be guessed at since nobody really knows. We can only say some species seem to be longer lived than others. Or that a person has grown a certain plant for so many years. Unlike the documented human life span (and even that is getting longer) by taking and re-rooting cuttings a plant can go on forever, but seem to have a limited life span on it's original roots.

For instance, one of the shortest lived cacti may be Mammillaria louisae, which seems to only last for a few years in cultivation and probably in habitat too where it constantly regenerates from seed, therefore you often need to have a replacement coming along in your collection.
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

Ok, so i got a grip on the species, and data sugest that buckley is the 40 y old type.
So , to rephrase the question, how long does truncata group live?(at least on average.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by ElieEstephane »

So apparently our new hybrids can cross the 20 years threshold. See: http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 44#p339444
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

Ill ask.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by esp_imaging »

I can't see why the age of an individual Schlumbergera plant would be limited - they don't have a reputation for dying for no particular reason once they are a few years old (as, for example, Fraileas do). So I'd assume that given suitable conditions, they can be expected to keep growing indefinitely. Even if very old branches die back, the plant will regenerate new growth continually. So perhaps after 40 years, there may be no individual segments that have been alive for 40 years, but the plant as a whole can still be thriving. Having said this, it wouldnt surprise me if the oldest individual stems can stay alive for many decades .
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stefan m.
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Re: Shlumbergera life expectancy

Post by stefan m. »

So to those who want an update, no, the truncata from earlier is likely NOT 20 years old, but several clones in order.
And in case you are wondering why, its because ive seen several sites state the life expectancy, which seems to not apply for all cultivars. Any way, any frailea youd reccomend?
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