Garden Q&A: Night Blooming Cereus prefers little water

My daughter gave me a cutting from a plant she has that climbed her palm tree and blooms at night. Mine hasn't bloomed and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Your plant is a Night Blooming Cereus, a member of the cactus family. As a cactus, it needs very little water and can easily be killed by overwatering. 

You are keeping your plant indoors in a pot, which is fine. Like all cacti, it needs a soil mix that drains exceptionally well. It would probably be happier if it summered outdoors in the heat and humidity. Temperatures over 100 are not a problem for cereus. The key to helping them flower is to reduce their watering sharply in fall and winter and discontinue application of fertilizer. Putting it in a back bedroom where it will get some sunlight every day would be ideal. In the spring, increase water, move it to a sunnier location and apply a small amount of fertilizer. This kind of mimics our natural conditions outdoors. It's fine with dappled sunlight or morning sun and afternoon shade. Too much of the intense summer sun will cause it to scorch.

This isn't a pretty plant (some will disagree, I know). The succulent, leafless stems are about 8 inches long each and, as they grow, they can easily climb 40 feet. They will probe out in all directions. The plant is not cold hardy, and should not survive here in a cold winter. That said, mine has reached the top of the second story and has done quite well for the last 10 years on a south-facing brick wall.

The flowering is such a dramatic event that people actually have parties to observe it. Sometime in the next month or so, small buds will appear on some of the stems. They will progress until they are ready, and then, one night about 9 p.m., they will begin to open. They open so rapidly you can watch them unfold. They are extremely fragrant. If they attract the moth that pollinates them, they will develop a red fruit during the fall. The flowers only last one day.

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Flowering does not begin until the plant is mature, at about 4 or 5 years old. So you only have a couple of more years to wait.

A friend of mine gave me a rooted cutting of a scuppernong grape. I've had it for several years and it keeps dropping its fruit. Does it need a special fertilizer?

This is a keepsake plant and I know it is important to you. You have good pollinators, and you water appropriately, so I can understand why you are puzzled.

Make sure you are not over fertilizing the grape vines. Fruiting plants with too much nitrogen usually drop their fruit in response to the stimulus to grow. Unfortunately, many people think if some is good, more is better. Or that fertilizer will cure most of what's wrong with a plant.

Also, next year, make sure your grape vine is blooming when your neighbor's vines are blooming - the pollen has to be present when your flowers are open. All scuppernongs are female and must have a pollinator.

It's impossible to figure out what variety you have, but it could be a "Summit" or a "Sweet Jenny."

Two varieties that are supposed to be good pollinators are "Pollyanna" and "Tara." I would look for one of these and see if it provides the missing link for your plant.

I have a great type of geranium. It gets leggy at about this time of the year, so I usually take cuttings and put them in water. I took long cuttings this year, but they just rotted in the water.

We all know it's a germy world, but we often don't think about it when it comes to plants. Cuttings are very susceptible to bacteria and other microbes. They've lost the roots that pull in water for them and you've cut through their outer layer, which functions as a protective surface like our skin.

When taking a cutting, it's usually advisable to take a 3- to 4-inch cutting. Longer is not better.

If you then dip the cutting in a 1 part bleach, 9 parts water solution, you will kill most of the pathogens that might kill your cuttings.

Rather than root in water, you will probably have better results if you root in a sterile rooting medium (soil). You can find it at any of the nurseries. Just moisten it, dip your cuttings in the sterilizing solution and then in your rooting hormone. Only the bottom ¼ inch needs to have some rooting solution.

Put the pot with the cuttings into a plastic bag so that they have the humidity they need. Keep it out of direct sunlight. Keep the soil moist.

Check your cuttings in 2 or 3 weeks to see if they have rooted. 

Becky Wern is a master gardener with the Duval County Extension Service and the University of Florida/IFAS.