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My introduction to Orchid Cactus (Epiphyllum, commonly referred to as an "Epi") occurred during a visit to the local botanical gardens. I walked into one of the smaller greenhouse rooms and saw two plants blooming. I immediately said "I've got to have some of those." Little did I know at the time how many I would eventually end up taking care of. I ordered three plants and they arrived in the mail as single leaves with their names written in permanent ink right on the leaves. It seems that since the cut end of the leaves need to callous-over before they are planted, and since the plants are succulents, a little neglect doesn't bother them at all. After a couple of years they had turned into vigorous plants in the hanging pots and the next year they were covered with blooms. Eventually, in May of 2007, I crossed the two plants shown above. Below is the story of my experience hybridizing Epiphyllum.
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The "apples" didn't appear ripe until September of 2007. I then discovered that there were hundreds of seeds inside. I recovered the seeds and let them dry and in February of 2008 I decided to plant them all (to insure that I would get a few plants.) |
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| I scattered the seed in bulk in
two flats based on their parentage in a mix of 1 part pearlite to 2 parts fine peat moss. I moistened the soil before
spreading the seed and then sieved a very thin layer of peat over the
seed. Then moistened the top with an atomizer sprayer. Then the flat was covered with kitchen plastic wrap that overlapped the ends of the flat and weighted by a piece of wood stapled to it at both ends. This kept the plastic taught above the seed but allowed for easy inspection.
The seed was germinated under standard fluorescent lights. In a couple weeks the seedlings began to emerge. That was when I began to realize that I might have gotten in over my head. It looked like a 100% germination rate. The plants were so crowded, I began pricking them out March 1st. It took many sessions with a magnifier lamp and tweezers to transfer them to six-packs.
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