I walked into my lath house to water my shade plants and discovered that one of my three Epiphyllums (aka orchid cacti) had fallen from its pot. All three were mounted in relatively small pots attached to the side of an upper shelf to allow their leaves to dangle freely.
 |
| The other 2 Epiphyllums still sit neatly in their pots |
I've never labeled these plants and I mixed up the order in which they were placed when my husband was renovating the lath house this summer so I'm not absolutely sure which is which but, based on the color of its foliage, I believe the one that lost its perch was 'King Midas'.
 |
| For lack of another place to put the uprooted plant, I dropped it into a shady spot in an empty container nearby |
 |
| This photo shows a sparse root system at its base |
So what made it fall to the ground while the pot remained in place? The photo above suggests that it didn't have a deep root system. We've been getting frequent bouts of high winds so that, along with its very long leaves, may have been enough to carry it aloft without a strong root system to hold it in place. The soil in that pot was also unusually wet, which can't be the result of rain (as we've only had a trace amount) but then perhaps I overwatered it myself during a prior spin through the lath house. The pots do have reservoirs at their base, although that's never been a issue in the five-plus years I've used them. (I checked the other two pots to make sure they were okay, which they were; however, both the other Epiphyllums can probably use pruning too.)
The next question is: what should I do with the plant? It produced lovely, if not prolific, flowers for me in the past.
 |
| I took a photo of this flower in mid-June when the pot was sitting under the Magnolia tree while my husband was busy with his lath house repairs |
I've never propagated an Epiphyllum so I decided to make an experiment of it. First, I pruned the plant with the intention of repotting it once I get another bag of succulent mix.
 |
| Mother plant after pruning |
I watched a couple of videos on propagating Epiphyllums before cutting the best of the pruned pieces to the appropriate size (i.e. no longer than six inches). I intend to let the cuttings callus over before giving two different approaches to growing them a try.
 |
| The most common approach is to plant the callused cuttings in moist but free-draining soil but another video poster advocated rooting the callused stems in water before potting them |
If you've tried either of these approaches with Epiphyllums, let me know.
All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
I have some top heavy Epiphyllums I should be doing the same with. I've only stuck the cuttings in the soil and hoped for the best. Rooting with water is probably faster? Idk, I'll follow along to see how your experiment goes :)
ReplyDeleteIf not faster, the woman who posted a video about rooting them in water implied it was a lazier approach to propagating as she repeatedly mentioned her delays in getting around to potting up the rooted Epiphyllum stems. I'm not being critical - I have a handful of rooted Peperomia stems in the kitchen awaiting planting ;)
DeleteIf that tumble happened here I'd know exactly what was to blame, squirrels. They love to climb up on to/into pots to hide their treasures, often doing damage in the process. I've only ever rooted stems in soil, just cutting them and inserting... they've done just fine. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI've blamed rats for hiding a massive amount of the berries of the cherry laurel shrubs behind the pots on the upper shelves of the lath house but it could be the squirrels...A critter could've been responsible for tumbling the Epiphyllum but I'd have expected the plant to have been broken if that'd happened.
DeleteIDK, I would guess epiphyllums would be one of those "stab and go" plants for propagation. Just stab them into the ground and let them go! Should be easy. I tend to avoid the water method myself unless I don't know what else to do with the cuttings.
ReplyDeleteI have more of the cuttings than I can probably use (even without cuttings of the other 2 Epiphyllums) so I may try both techniques just out of curiosity. It does sound like they're easy to propagate in any case.
DeleteI've rooted stem cuttings in pots of planting mix, but don't remember how long it took them. My epiphyllum phase has been over quite a while.
ReplyDeleteI don't think rats store. Squirrels store. Yet another way to be annoying. Squirrels are masters of that.
I haven't seen much of the squirrels since I drastically reduced the period of time I fill the bird feeders with seed. You're probably right about the squirrels being responsible for storing the berries as I've seen far fewer of those in the lath house this year. The squirrels may have moved on to more promising locations but there never seems to be a shortage of rats.
DeleteDefinitely try both ways, as you have enough cuttings. It would make a fun experiment comparing the two methods and hopefully success with both.
ReplyDeleteWhen they eventually bloom, you'll find out which of your Epiphyllums it is.
Chavli
I will try both methods if mainly out of curiosity. My experience thus far it that the Epiphyllums can take years to mature to the point of flowering. I expect the 2 plants still in their pots will reveal their identities before the cuttings do. One of those is definitely Epiphyllum oxygona 'Queen of the Night', which I'm less fond of as it blooms only at night and I rarely get down to the lath house in the middle of the night to see them in their glory. The Epiphyllum I pruned is either 'King Midas' or 'Monastery Garden'.
Delete