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About The Redmond spokesman. (Redmond, Crook County, Or.) 1910-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 2021)
P2 THE SPOKESMAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2021 GARDENING CORNER ANNIVERSARY Holiday cactus can be coaxed to bloom BY LIZ DOUVILLE For The Bulletin I have to admit to an extreme case of plant envy at view- ing an e-mail from a neigh- bor of her holiday cactus cov- ered in blooms. It was worse than envy. It was a plain and simple case of plant jealousy. What have I done or not done to cause my Christmas cactus to sit there like a bump on a log month after month? Or, maybe it’s not a Christmas cactus but a Thanksgiving cac- tus or maybe an Easter cactus. To add to the mystery, Thanks- giving cacti are often sold as “Christmas cacti.” Both fall into the genus Schlumbergera, have the same color scheme and require the same care. There are two main differ- ences between the Thanksgiv- ing cactus and the Christmas cactus. The flowering sea- son and the segment shape. Thanksgiving cactus bloom in the fall and Christmas cactus a month or so later. The second difference is the shape of the leaf segments or “cladodes”. The Thanksgiving cactus has pointy, jagged edges and a toothy cladode with three or four pointed teeth. The clado- des grow upward and then will arch down. The Christmas cactus has flattened cladodes with smooth, scalloped edges and hang down like a pendant. A second, more diagnostic look at my neighbor’s picture determined that the cladodes were pointy and jagged with four teeth and did grow more upright before arching down- ward. I felt a renewed hope for my bedraggled looking specimen. My cactus has smooth rounded edges confirming what I had believed to be a Christmas cactus so there is still time for some therapy. What’s next will be a more thorough study of how to re- vive the plant. Both Thanks- giving and Christmas cactus 123RF photos A Schlumbergera cactus blooms with some attention to room temperature, need cool temperatures to spur flower buds. Night tempera- tures between 55 to 60 de- grees are ideal along with long periods of darkness of 13 to 16 hours each night. Flowering should begin 8 weeks after this treatment. Although the room my plant was kept in is not heated, the tem- perature may not have been low enough to trig- ger the flowering cycle. One tip I did read to help kick start flowering is to expose the plant to temperatures of about 45 de- grees F for several nights in a row. Sounds like some garage time for the plant. I admit to being lax with a fertilizing program. Advice is to feed monthly during the fall and winter. From spring through early fall, feed every two weeks with a balanced house plant fertilizer. Christ- mas cactus moisture is import- ant. The plant requires fre- quent watering during spring and summer keeping the soil slightly moist. Never allow soil to become waterlogged as that CROSSWORD will cause root rot problems. Plants can be pruned in the late spring to encourage branching and more flowers. Cut off a few sections of cla- dode, the plant will branch from the wound. Cut pieces can be rooted in lightly moist potting soil. Roots will form af- ter several weeks. Wood ash and gardens I am starting to hear grum- bles from my mid-west family over snow flurries. The realiza- tion that we won’t be far behind is just a weather report away. A revisit to my 2020 garden jour- nal indicated that on Nov. 4 the temperature was 65 de- grees. On Nov. 5 we had snow flurries — welcome to Central Oregon. Although wood-burning stoves and fireplaces aren’t as popular as they once were, I feel the need to continue giving disposal of wood ashes advice that is appropriate for our Cen- tral Oregon soil. Disposing of wood ashes in your garden is detrimental to the soil in Cen- tral Oregon. It is a practice not endorsed or encouraged by long-time gardeners who have studied the composition of our native soil. Our soil is volcanic based. Wood ashes would only compound the imbalance that already exists. I am aware that in many ar- eas with a different native soil composition, the ashes are considered a valued soil ad- ditive. Please remember that does not hold true for Central Oregon soils. Jim and Phyllis Hinton, of Redmond, will cel- ebrate their 50th wedding anniversary Nov. 27 at Wild Ride Brew Co. from 6-9 p.m., 332 SW 5th St. Redmond. Friends are welcome. They were married Nov. 26, 1971, at the Powell Butte Christian Church. They have three children Brian (and Kati) of Powell Butte, Chad (and Lauren) of Redmond & Amber (and James) Derrick of Terrebonne. Jim and Phyl- lis owned many local businesses including Ladybug Florist, Redmond Hotel & Snow Cap. Phyllis re- cently worked at Mid Oregon Credit Union and Jim continues to sell real estate with Keller Williams Re- alty. They enjoy camping, fishing and spending time with friends, grandchildren and family. 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FORECAST Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday LAST WEEK HIGH LOW 50 59 56 61 61 58 57 32 39 38 40 38 42 43 HIGH LOW Partly Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Cloudy PRECIP Monday, Nov. 15 68 38 0 Tuesday, Nov. 16 45 23 0 Wednesday, Nov. 17 47 16 0 Thursday, Nov. 18 58 32 0 Friday, Nov. 19 52 25 0.02 Saturday, Nov. 20 49 22 0 Sunday, Nov. 21 59 19 0 Precipitation to date this year: 5.54 inches * = daily record National Weather Service broadcasts are on 162.50 mhz. Answers on Page 6 Mailing Address: P.O. 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