Christmas Cactus 2017

I seem to never learn from my mistakes.  Replanting plants that seem to be outgrowing their pots has always been risky business.  Generally speaking, if I can keep a plant alive for 6 months, it'll last 6 years.  That is, until I transplant it. Then, the difference in soil kills the plant.

This happened to my venus flytrap a few years back.  It died within a few weeks of getting moved to some new peat moss.

And now it's starting to happen to my Christmas Cactus, which I transplanted for the first time this past summer.  It budded, but only five flowers emerged.  Leaf/branch segments on one side of the plant began dropping off.  I wonder if this is the beginning of the end, or if it's just focusing it's new growth on a different part of the plant for the coming year.

I couldn't bring myself to pose the pitiful little plant for it's annual portrait. But a rare December sunlight illuminated the last flower on the plant, and out of respect for tradition, I needed to capture it's brief beauty.

Snowfall...and Christmas cactus in bloom

One has to wonder what evolutionary reason there is for a Christmas cactus to bloom during the coldest season of the year. They are native to Brazil, where there aren't really seasonal changes in light, yet the blooming is triggered by the changes in light. Last night, we had our first snowfall of the season, and last week, the Christmas cactus opened its first blooms.  According to Wikipedia, they are also known as Thanksgiving cactus, which seems more accurate for those who live in the United States.

 

About four blooms have already fallen off, but it looks like it is roughly on par with what he displayed last year (which shows a diminishing trend, as far as blooms go).

As with previous years, any bud that isn't an inch long by the time the others bloom will probably fall off in the next week or so.

Other observations:
- the timing for this year is the second earliest, compared with prior years of sitting in the same spot
- it is rarely the same branch that hosts a flower, year after year.
- a few leaves have dropped since last year, but they've been replaced by new ones.

Christmas cactus, a month earlier than normal

With the extraordinarily bright October we had, I would've expected a late blooming of our cactus this year.  In fact, this is the earliest it's ever bloomed, three weeks earlier than last year.  Two flowers are already about to fall off.


 

No new leaves this year.  Compare it with the 2012 photo.

Being the rebel that he is, this little guy (his gender should be clear to anybody who sees the pollen that he's dropped all over the floor) likes being dormant during the summer, and is most active in the winter.

As per tradition:

2012

2011

2010

2009

Maybe his lack of growth is his way of communicating to me that he needs a new pot.  Without any new growth, his existing leaves will continue to droop.  This year, two of his flowers are already growing right on the floor.

Splish splash

The blossoms are peaking more appropriately this year in December (the flowers probably started opening last year in early-November).  I tried to photograph from the same angle.  For the first time, the Christmas Cactus is being attacked by those pesky/pesty sap-sucking aphids.  Having secured a stronghold in a neighbouring plant, they've killed a basil, and are now moving on to more colourful treats.  I tried a mild detergent spray, but that only slows down their advance and is short of full elimination.

By this weekend, these fuchsian blossoms will be overtaken by the decorations on our first sap-dripping Christmas conifer.