How to Grow Night-Blooming Cereus So It Flowers: A Full Guide to Winter Care Points

Night-blooming cereus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) is an ornamental flower with a beautiful flower shape and a bright, pure white color. Because its blooming time is extremely short, only about four hours, you must seize the right moment if you want to admire it. Night-blooming cereus is planted in all parts of our country; besides growing in the open ground, it can also be grown in pots. Let's take a look below at how to grow night-blooming cereus so that it flowers? What care points are there in winter?

1. How to grow night-blooming cereus so it flowers?

1. Potting soil

Night-blooming cereus prefers a slightly acidic sandy soil rich in humus, well-drained, loose and fertile. The usual potting soil mixing ratio is: leaf mold : garden soil : sand = 4:4:2. After mixing the soil, it is best to sterilize it by drying it in the sun. When planting, put a layer of broken tiles or brick pieces at the bottom of the pot to increase air permeability and drainage.

2. Watering

Night-blooming cereus likes moist soil and relatively high air humidity, and fears waterlogging. When temperatures are low in late autumn, winter and early spring, night-blooming cereus is in a semi-dormant state, so watering must be strictly controlled, keeping the potting soil on the dry side; once it has dried out completely, just water it lightly. After temperatures rise in spring, night-blooming cereus begins to resume growth, and the amount of watering can be gradually increased to keep the soil moist. During vigorous growth, besides watering, water should also be sprinkled around the plant to increase air humidity, and ventilation should be strengthened.

3. Fertilizing

Night-blooming cereus is fairly fond of fertilizer and also has relatively high fertilizer requirements. Well-rotted organic fertilizer is best, plus a small amount of bone meal or superphosphate. Add it when preparing the soil and mix it evenly with the potting soil; the application amount is 1/20 to 1/30 of the potting soil. After new stems grow in spring, begin topdressing; during the growth period, if the leaves turn yellow, apply a 500-fold ferrous sulfate solution once, after flower buds appear apply a 1000-fold monopotassium phosphate once, and after the flowers fade apply a phosphorus and potassium fertilizer once about every 20 days; fertilizing should stop in late autumn.

4. Support and shelter

Because the modified stems of potted night-blooming cereus are weak, they should be tied up or given supports in time. Night-blooming cereus is a shade-loving plant; in summer, potted night-blooming cereus can be placed in tree shade or under the eaves, but it should be kept away from dripping rainwater, so as to avoid the plant's roots being exposed and the plant toppling, which would affect growth. In winter it must be moved indoors to overwinter.

5. Flowering period

In order to change the habit of night-blooming cereus flowering at night, the method of “reversing day and night” can be used to make it bloom during the day. When the flower buds of night-blooming cereus swell, move it during the day into a dark room or cover it with a black light-blocking cover made of black plastic film, without letting any light through, while at night from 8 o'clock to 6 o'clock the next morning, use lamplight to illuminate it. After treating it this way for 7 to 8 days, night-blooming cereus can bloom during the day according to people's wishes.

6. Repotting

Young night-blooming cereus plants are repotted once a year, while established plants are generally repotted once every 2 to 3 years. Repotting is done in spring when the temperature is above 12°C, and can also be done in September. Before repotting, watering should be stopped so that the potting soil dries and the plant can be removed from the pot; when removing it, handle it gently to avoid bumping the plant. After removing it from the pot, remove the old soil outside the roots, prune away dead roots and broken roots, then after planting place it in a semi-shady spot and do not water for the time being; after 2 days water lightly, keeping the potting soil on the dry side.

2. What care points are there for night-blooming cereus in winter?

1. Do not water too much

In the process of growing night-blooming cereus, it needs to be watered in time, but when grown at home waterlogging is taboo, so by no means water too much and cause water to accumulate in the pot, which would lead to root rot; usually it can be watered once every 3 to 5 days, and if water accumulates in the pot, the soil must be replaced immediately.

2. Do not seal off the space just to keep it warm

In fact, there are many taboos in growing night-blooming cereus at home; ordinarily it is also unsuitable to place night-blooming cereus in a study, computer room or other unventilated, closed-off room, otherwise night-blooming cereus will suffer from pests and diseases, and it will also fill the home with an ominous atmosphere; living in such an environment for a long time can easily make people irritable and also affect people's sleep.

3. Pay attention to temperature

Night-blooming cereus by nature likes a moist and warm environment and fears cold, so in winter attention must be paid to keeping it warm, and the temperature must be kept above 5°C. Generally it needs to be moved indoors, and a temperature kept at around 10°C is enough for it to overwinter safely.