Queen of the night is an ornamental horticulture plant that can easily be grown from cuttings. This plant has exotic flowers and they are rare in today’s world. The popularity of this plant is because of the uniqueness of its flowers.
This queen of night plant is famous for its sweet and pleasant fragrance. This plant has white lily flowers.
About
Epiphyllum oxypetalum is the scientific name used for the Queen of the Night plant. It’s a cactus plant name and has a family name Cactaceae.
Hardiness zone for the queen of the night
Its hardiness zone is 10 and 11. It’s a juicy and fleshy type of plant and can give support to other plants. This plant originated from Mexico and also from the jungle of cacti in South America.
Size of the queen of night plant
If you are going to plant this indoors, then keep in mind that it will grow 6 feet tall in a container. While planting outdoors, this plant can go up to10 feet high.
Blooming time:
This is a night-blooming plant that usually blooms before dawn. This queen of night plant blooms in late spring and to some extent in summer.
How rare is the queen of night plants?
The queen of the night plant is also called a rare plant because this plant has a specialty. It blooms only one night after a year. You can enjoy this rare scene before dawn because it wilts before dawn.
Best-known queen of the night plants:
Cereus is the best-known queen of night plants. It’s the best and ideal plant to grow indoors. Some other varieties illustrated as Cereus plants are
- Carnegie gigantea
- Stenocereus Thurber
Types of the queen of the night flower
Some famous types of this plant are as follows
Red Orchid Night flower
This plant gives deep red flowers and enhances the beauty of your pot.
Vanilla Night flower
It gives pink lily flowers
Peruvian Apple Night flower
This plant has pink and red flowers and is tall. The other concentration of this plant is that it will develop into edible fruit.
Hooker’s Orchid Night flower
This plant has thin petals and it’s also a cactus with flowers.
How To Plant Queen Of The Night Cuttings
Queen of night plants blooms easily. You can effortlessly plant more queens of the night from a single night bloom.
These roots of night bloom will grow quickly and they inaugurate new plants in such a short span.
Tip: Take the cutting during the growing season as discussed above that the growing season for this plant is from spring through summer.
During the spring season, the plant cells of the queen of the night are in a more active state so you can easily induce the cuttings to grow more roots than leaf cells.
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Propagate The Queen Of The Night
- Firstly you have to use clean and a sharp tool to get cuttings from your plant.
- Cutting should be 5 to 9 inches vertically
- Cut the plant from a terminal growth point
- Place the cutting on a dry place
- Allow the growth of callus
- Sow the plant in aerated soil
- Then at last water your plant after 10 to 12 days.
Root cells will form from this callus so this step is of great importance while waiting for the rooting of the plant.
Start planting the cutting
After getting your callus, all you have to do is to prepare the medium in which you want to grow this plant.
Soil for the queen of the night cutting
The queen of the night needs aerated soil as we know that this plant develops in jungle treetops. So, the soil should be airy and well-drained.
Try to modify your soil with sand or perlite.
Container for the queen of the night cutting
This plant doesn’t have a complex root system so you can use a small pot for this plant. But don’t compromise on the material of the container. Try to find the best container for this rare plant.
The clay pot is the best option for this plant. A six to seven-inch pot is good for the queen of the night plant to grow.
Watering to the queen of night cuttings
Cacti do not require a lot of water. So you don’t need to give more water to it often, wait until the soil gets dried up completely.
Cacti or queens of the night can store water in their fleshy stems. Extra water will spoil the root system and cause root rot.
In spring: watering your plant once a week is enough.
In winter: water your plant after every five or six weeks.
Ideal temperature:
Try to provide an optimum temperature. Temperature between 55 °F to 90 °F is the optimum temperature range for the queen of the night cutting to grow.
Fertilizer
This plant needs less nitrogen so try to find a fertilizer that has a low amount of nitrogen. Although it will grow more, in the case of high nitrogen, the plant will not bloom properly.
Organic compost is also another best option for the queen of night cuttings to propagate in the container.
The reason behind the bloom of the queen of the night flower
You can get a proper bloom of the night plant by giving your plant proper lighting. Provide light at an optimum level because too much light also causes damage to your flowers.
In harsh light, they will not bloom properly and in some cases, the leaves of your plant will burn.
In the beginning, try to feed your plant in January, then feed through October every month to get a better yield of blooms.
FAQs
Can we plant queen of the night from seed?
Yes, you can plant a cactus or queen of night plant from seed. Although planting this plant through cutting is much easier. Germinating through the seed will take more time, so you should have enough patience to wait for the seed to germinate.
How to prune the queen of the night plant?
This plant does not need extensive cutting so you can prune this plant but not too much.
You can simply remove some damaged flowers and branches so that your plant will grow properly and get the proper amount of nutrients.
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