The orchid cactus has beautiful flowers. These flowers will emerge at the top of the stems during spring time. There may be 4 to 6 flowers in a stem. Each of the flower is about 10 to 15 cm wide. They are pretty big for the cactus size and that what makes them so visibly beautiful. However, there are more verities to orchid cactus nowadays as there has been growing interest to the plant these last few years. The colors of the hybrid cactus flowers may be white, red, pink, orange, purple, yellow or even a mix of two colors.
To be able to enjoy the stunning flowers of the orchid flowers, you need to water the plant as well as pruning it. To get the best pruning result, a gardener should use the clean and sharp pruning shears. These would prevent the shears to create unwanted tearing of the stems. Simply prune the stem in the area between the segments. Do the pruning regularly in order to stimulate the plant to create branches out of the stem that was cut. This way, you will create a fuller cactus plant and thus there would be more flowers. The best time to prune the spring is during the spring as the cactus is beginning to grow actively again. And you should not toss the orchid cactus cuttings.
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To make the orchid cactus plant flower, you need to do a few things below:
Give the cactus a rest during the winter. The cactus needs a cool rest in the winter when it can still be dry. It should be about 8 to 10 weeks so that it will have time to set buds. During the rest, water the cactus sparingly and do not give it any fertilizers.
Shed it with some light. The orchid cactus love bright light that does not shine directly all through the year. If you keep the cactus outside during the summer, then you should keep it away from direct sunlight, otherwise it may die.
Feed the cactus potash. It needs high potassium fertilizer so that it has the right encouragement to have more flowers. Start to give the potassium during the early spring and then do not stop until late of fall.
Leave the cactus alone. Once its buds start appearing, keep it in the same location because it does not need any changes of light and temperature as it is starting to flower.
