OK, here's another christmas cactus "wrinkle". My Mother has a beautiful large plant. But we are wondering why it often only blooms one half at a time. First one half. Then the other. It blooms at all different times; for example, it bloomed last fall, one half at a time and is blooming again right now, with little rest in between. each half that blooms is covered in beautiful flowers. It is sitting in a northeast window, in a warm apartment building. She does fertilize it every 3 to 4 weeks. It looks like it's thriving. Oh, and she gave me a baby start and it is also blooming now. Any ideas?
Interesting. Do you mean the plant only blooms on one side at time or that it puts out half its flowers and then more after a short break? If the first, I wonder if possibly there might actually be two plants in the pot.
It is blooming first on the left side, then on the right - full bloom on each. Perhaps it is 2 plants in a pot.
My giant and ancient C.c. (18" pot; over 20 years old) bloomed around the holidays...and now has decided to bloom again. This latest crop seems to be located on the side nearest the window. Perhaps your blooming has something to do with light exposure and duration thereof. Fortunately, mine sits on a heavy-duty lazy susan, so I can rotate the non-blooming side around to the window, and be able to view the blossoms from the living-room side.
Mother does turn her blossoming side toward the room! Yes, it is in a window. Since it didn't always bloom half at a time, just since she moved to a new apartment, you could be right about the change in light. Her previous location wasn't nearly as bright, and the cactus - just a little younger than yours - used to bloom uniformly.
