Blooming cactus: 2 strategies. How to achieve flowering cacti?
Content:
For connoisseurs of cacti, strategies are considered to achieve flowering cactus. It can be "cold" wintering and just a kind of plant. Methods to stimulate the flowering of cacti - further.
Cactus bloom: an easy way to care
Flowering cactus: photo
It is known that cacti rarely bloom. Despite the fact that almost every home has a cactus, rarely has anyone seen it bloom. The cactus blooms with very beautiful flowers that appear on the plant.
Recommended 2 ways to achieve flowering of a cactus, namely: a method associated with the observance of the rules of caring for a cactus, and specifically during its dormancy. And also there is another way.
The blooming of cacti greatly decorates the interior and becomes a pride for the hosts and an object of surprise for guests. And the point is not even that the cactus has a beautiful flower. Their flowers are quite ordinary. Flowers are so mesmerizing because it is very rarely achieved. Only to the most skilled growers.
So, there are two methods, following which, you can achieve flowering:
- Organization of a "cold" environment during the period when the plant is at the dormant stage. This process is very time consuming.
- And the second method is simplified. When you get a special kind of cactus that blooms well indoors and without any maintenance.
Naturally, the second option is more suitable for people who do not have enough free time, and also there is no way to organize a low temperature around the plant in winter. And the first way is, of course, for painstaking owners. And here it's not even a matter of seeing the cherished flowers, but more fascinates, motivates, motivates the process itself.
These cultures are grown under normal conditions and under normal temperature and light. The only thing that in order to stimulate the flowering of a cactus, you should change the strategy of caring for the plant without preparation, namely:
- less watering. From November and throughout the winter, plants need to be watered less, eventually striving to stop watering altogether, accustoming the plant to grow in dry soil. Crops are watered once a month with very little water to preserve the appearance of the cactus;
- stop feeding cacti;
- protect from sudden changes in temperature, put away from the battery;
- it is necessary to put the plant closer to the window;
- night temperature, if possible, should be lowered.
Method of creating "cold" resting conditions
Flowering cactus: photo
Popular varieties of cacti that do not need a "cold" environment in winter to bloom include:
- Melocactus. It blooms with pink flowers, reminiscent of chrysanthemum flowers.
- Aporocactus... It blooms with pink flowers of a slightly different shape.
- Gymnocalycium. It can have a different color of flowers, both white and pink with a light cream shade.
- Parody. This species has very bright yellow flowers on a long peduncle.
Method of creating "cold" resting conditions
All other cacti need special conditions during the dormant period, thanks to this, they will bloom well. Popular ones are: - Mammillaria. They are shaped like balls and bloom with huge orange flowers.
- Rebution. It also blooms with very large flowers, which, during flowering, cover the cactus itself. The color is bright red.
In order to organize a cold regime, it is necessary to prepare in advance, namely, to stop watering the plants, waiting for the earth to become completely dry. After that, it is necessary to move the plant to completely different conditions.If such preparation is not carried out, then the plants may die.
For the same Mammillaria and Rebutia, their dormancy begins at the end of autumn. So, at this time they must be kept in a good, well-lit place. However, the temperature should not exceed 15 degrees, and it is better if it is about 8 or 10 degrees. In addition, it is necessary not to allow the temperature to drop below 5 degrees. The lower the temperature in which the cactus is in dormancy mode, the faster the dormant period for it will end, and then the plant will bloom. It is forbidden to feed and water the plants until this period.
The transition from cold to normal conditions should also be gradual. It takes about a month to transfer the irrigation regime from light spraying to the usual one, which was before the dormant period.
Non-flowering cacti
Flowering cactus: photo
If, observing all the conditions and rules, you still could not make your cactus bloom, then you should not despair. Perhaps this type of plant is, in principle, incapable of flowering. There are also those types of cacti, among which only very mature plants bloom. Most often, cacti that do not bloom have golden spines or white fluff, such as Cereus. And Cleistocactus generally blooms only after it grows more than 30 cm in height.
Summing up, we should conclude: for a home cactus to bloom, there are two ways, the choice of which depends on your own capabilities and preferences. And also it is necessary to choose the right type of plant.
Flowering cactus: photo
