Cactus blooming is a real miracle. He is able to cause a storm of emotions in a novice gardener and make him believe in himself. Indeed, in order to see a cactus blooming, you need to make a lot of effort and effort. These outlandish plants may do well in your home but stubbornly refuse to bloom. Let's find out why this is happening and how you can influence the situation.
Flowering cacti: photos and varieties
In their homeland, these plants reach maturity at a certain age. Often by this time the cactus is already quite large. Columnar varieties are easy to grow from seed and are easy to care for at home. But the appearance of buds in them should not be expected. Those cacti that can bloom indoors most often require special light and heat. The cuttings of acclimatized prickly pear brought from the Mediterranean countries can successfully develop into a large plant. But they bloom only with specialfavorable conditions. The same applies to trichocereus - their children can easily adapt to almost any conditions, they grow in whole curtains in the rooms of lovers.
But a flowering cactus of this kind is rarely seen - for this it must reach an impressive size, receive a balanced diet. Rebutia are able to bloom already in the second year, and notocactus and mamillaria - only in the fourth. Trichocereus and ferocactus can please their owner with flowering no earlier than fifteen years after planting. Also, different instances of the same species can behave differently. Poorly flowering individuals willingly throw out lateral shoots (kids). They are convenient to propagate cactus. But in this way, it is rare flowering plants that can spread widely. Often this happens with a cactus like Echinopsis.
Care and grooming
Rebutia, echinopsis, notocactus, mamillaria - all these species bloom profusely in a room. If this does not happen, you should analyze the errors in caring for them. The most common of these is a violation of the dormant period of the plant. A flowering cactus forms buds only in conditions of cool content and almost complete lack of watering in winter. In the spring, noticing the buds of a plant, there is no need to rush to start watering it intensively. Wait until the kidneys are clearly visible. The fact is that rapid vegetative growth due to intensive watering can interfere with the development of buds. They must reachcertain size. After that, moisture can be applied to the soil in sufficient quantities. You also need to feed the cactus.
How long does this plant bloom?
Depends on the species. Instances with a daily form of flowering - about three days. Sometimes from one day to a week. Also, the duration of flowering is affected by illumination. On cloudy days, the buds often remain closed. Cacti that bloom at night do not depend on the presence of light. They can bloom even in total darkness. But such flowers are more short-lived - they are open for no more than two days.
