The daylight and temperature of cacti and succulents blooming at Christmas
An explanation about this aspect of succulent plants, the daylight and temperature of cacti and succulents blooming at Christmas, the following editor will give you a detailed answer
The formation of flower buds in cacti and crabclaw cacti is influenced by the length of daylight and temperature. A day length less than 12 hours will promote bud formation, and short-day lighting should be combined with low night temperatures (such as 4.5 - 18°C). After the suitable natural or artificial short-day conditions are met, flower buds will appear in about 10 - 20 days. Once the buds appear, the length of daylight has no effect on flowering (of course, excluding the case where weak light causes bud drop), and the length of daylight will affect the possible second wave of flower buds.
Flowering usually occurs 7 - 8 weeks after promoting flowering, which means that if you want the plant to bloom at Christmas, you should promote flowering on the evening of Halloween (October 31st). This can be achieved by artificially reducing the light under normal daylight, for example, a "5-foot candle" is enough, which means using artificial indoor light sources. But based on my experience growing some plants in the living room, most varieties are not as sensitive to brief artificial lighting as plants in the Euphorbia family (such as Poinsettias), so the flowering period is likely from mid-November to March and cannot be very precise.
However, due to the dark daylight during autumn and winter in the UK, the plants may not be able to store enough energy to bloom, so I will increase the light intensity for plants undergoing timed artificial lighting.
Some newly released multicolored hybrid varieties (such as Gold Charm "Golden Magic") have flower colors that are "temperature sensitive." The flowers are pink when the temperature is below 15.5°C, and the lower the temperature, the more significant the color change, which can be very disappointing when you are hoping for brilliant multicolored flowers. The solution is to increase the temperature of the plant's growing environment during bud formation and swelling.
It is recommended to stop fertilizing 3 - 4 weeks before promoting flowering, and then only water with rainwater.
Reasons for bud drop: excessive temperature, harmful gases produced by fuel heating (ethylene), too low daylength, overly dry conditions, and cold currents.
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