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Queen Of The Night Epiphyllum Hookeri Rooted Cuttings
Packet containing 3x rooted cuttings of this beautiful hardy cactus!
I grow two forms of this species and this is the larger leaved form.
Initially they look pretty much the same but on maturity it’s leaves grow much larger like a big lump of bull kelp and it produces a lot more flowers per clump than the other smaller leaved form.
I am told that Epiphyllum hookeri is a synonum of the now invalid name Epiphyllum strictum and they are botanically exactly the same plant as are the following names including Cereus hookeri, Cereus hookerii, Epiphyllum hookerii, Epiphyllum hookeri subspecies columbiense, Epiphyllum hookeri subspecies guatemalense, Epiphyllum hookeri subspecies pittieri, Epiphyllum phyllanthus, Epiphyllum phyllanthus subspecies hookeri, Epiphyllum phyllanthus var hookeri, Epiphyllum ruestii, Epiphyllum stenopetalum, Epiphyllum strictum, Phyllocactus hookeri, Phyllocactus hookerii, Phyllocactus stenopetalus and Phyllocactus strictus.
I sometimes see it called climbing cactus, night blooming cacti, orchid cactus, Hooker’s orchid cactus, and here in Australia it is most often called Queen of the night. That’s a very commonly used common name which is shared by at least two dozen other Cactus Species.
It’s a night blooming cactus but it lacks the spines, spikes and irritating glochids of more common cactus, and the blooms open just on dark generally staying open all the way until about lunchtime the following day. Heaps of pollen and absolutely covered in native bees.
Super easy to grow in its natural habitat it handles temperatures all the way down to -3c. Here I don’t get that cold weather but it lived through a couple 45c+ days here in hot dry Queensland Australia without any dramas.
I didn’t have any spare water at the time so it just had to sit there and take it which meant the tips all got scorched and it looked pretty sad, but they all lived unlike many other Epi or Epiphyllum varieties that just didn’t make it through those hard times.
Ideally it likes partial shade, a well draining soil mix and a regular watering once every week or two, but like everything else at my place it will get a water when I get around to it, and it will spend most of its life in full blazing sun, absolutely neglected.
Even with my complete lack of TLC it pumps out a heap of flowers every few months and I have been using the pollen in dragonfruit hybridisation experiments. In my experience it will pollinate many varieties of self-sterile dragonfruit causing them to fruit, but the pollen from those same varieties never produce fruit when crossed back onto it. Not sure exactly why but I have a couple theories I won’t go into at this stage of the game.
Super easy to grow from well rooted cuttings and once started the hard part is done.
My trials show they don’t have the same risk of failure as when freshly taken and shipped unrooted. Like that the fresh open wound packed sweating in a sealed package is the ideal conditions for rot to kill them in transit.
By buying my fancy already rooted cuttings you avoid this issue entirely.
When they rock up just give them a wash and plant them root down in a nice quite dry sandy well draining soil mix and place in a sheltered shady position for a couple weeks to recover.
Don’t worry about any rot or transit damage to the leaf, they will bounce back fine sending up new leaves from the base sometimes even dehydrating and absorbing the original leaf entirely. The only real way to kill them is by over-watering or cooking them in the sun before they get decent roots. Provided you don’t do that, trust me, they will be fine.
Once established you can keep them in hanging pots, plant them out directly into bare patches of your garden or even just shove them into hollows and cracks in your trees. Looks cool like that and the growth cascades downward instead of climbing up.
This beautiful dainty looking fella is as tough as old boots!
If you have other varieties of Epiphyllum especially large fruiting types feel free to hit me up for a swap via the FairDinkumSeeds Contact form, same deal if you have any other interesting plants, especially drought tolerant hardy cactus species.
Grown by me and the Mrs organically, no chems, no nasties, no problems!
