rainbow cactus

roseycheeks · Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:38 pm

My rainbow cactus did not bloom at all this last summer and now the top is bright green, does that mean it is growing? The light went out and I will take a pic tomorrow to show you.

Asica · Sat Oct 29, 2016 1:03 am

In my experience the light color green on any cactus is the growth.

roseycheeks · Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:53 pm

Here is the picture. I noticed the green last night, it is also going down the sides too.

baileysup · Mon Oct 31, 2016 7:40 pm

What a nice green that is! Looks good enough to eat, lol. Smashing cactus you have there.

roseycheeks · Fri Nov 25, 2016 2:32 pm

I noticed on the top of the cactus where the new growth is, on the white parts, you can see little spines starting to grow!!!! Maybe I will have blooms next spring!

Gary350 · Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:05 pm

If you keep the plant in the house the plant does not know if it is, fall, winter, spring, or summer. You need to keep it outside so it can experience climate change. Water and food once a week. It will make flowers in spring about April.

ButterflyLady29 · Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:53 pm

Don't leave it outside in the winter! They are not hardy in Ohio. Supposedly they can take a light freeze but I don't know if I would risk it.

This site has good info on caring for them:
https://www.infobarrel.com/Rainbow_Cactus_Plant_Care
Supposedly a good tomato fertilizer can help get it to bloom. But it still might need to have some chill time to produce flowers. If you have a cool room or window to put it in that might be a good substitute for outdoor chilling time.

Gary350 · Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:31 pm

Cactus that grows at high elevation 7000 ft in the mountains does good in 5 feet of snow, ice, zero deg weather, blizzard conditions. Cactus that grown at low elevation where it gets 115 degrees and seldom rains does good down to about 20 degrees for 2 to 3 weeks each time in snow and ice too. Cactus can tolerate extreme weather but some can not deal with too much water. High elevation does very well with water, low elevation usually is often very sensitive to too much water. Put the cactus outside don't worry about 25 to 30 degree weather. Even San Pedro does good at 20 degrees. Liquid inside cactus is like antifreeze in your car radiator it does ok in cold weather, I don't have any cactus that will freeze it was 18 degrees here Sunday night cactus is doing good. There are some cactus in the mountains that stay covered in 10 feet of ice and snow 8 months every year and it does not kill it. YOU need to read about your cactus see if you can learn what climate it likes that way you know how cold it can get and not hurt your cactus. Cactus will tolerate full sun all day too but it does much better with about 4 hours of sun early morning before it gets hot then full shade until dark.

ButterflyLady29 · Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:11 pm

Ohio is typically very wet and soggy in the winter. We've had a good bit of rain this month. Then temps are supposed to get into single digits later this week. And our late winter temps frequently get below 0 F. Soggy cold soil is usually a death sentence for any cactus.

I have seen some prickly pear cacti planted in soil in raised beds in a couple places in Ohio but the underlying clay soil stays wet all winter long. Then the spring rains come along, often before the ground thaws, and the soil ends up with puddles on top.

If the op has a sun room or enclosed porch this particular cactus would do fine there. Next best would be a windowsill with no heat vent under it.