How to Grow Epiphyllum Orchid Cactus, Tips & Tutorial to Increase Flowering 

I am in Honduras and i get them in the wild. I have a piece that fell from a giant Ceiba tree in the Copan Ruins. I believe it is an ancient soul. It gives me lots of flowers and it is a very personal experience.

I have a red one, that’s fifty years old this September (2023). Right now she’s in full blooming, w/ 50-60 flowers! I am amazed!

The heirloom plant has definitely gone down to someone who will do complete justice to it. The plant looks gorgeous!

I've had my plant 12 years this is the first year it bloomed at night. I love it

You did a GREAT job with this video! You are encouraging as well as informative with your advice. Thanks, Devin!

That plant is gorgeous. I have 9 epiphyllum hybrids. I just love them

My "knarly" Epi came from a cutting from a cafe in Oklahoma. It was bought in the 40s. I got my cutting in 2001. It bloomed one flower in 2008 and not again until this year. I got 3 blooms on different leaves earlier but now have 3 blooms on one leaf.👍👍👍👍👍👍

I bought my first one ! Tryin to figure out how to grow it haha just find out this video:) I remember my granny had a huge one in her house when I was a kid. when summer comes this flower blooms at night we would invite our neighbor to appreciate them and my granny would pick one put under my pillow. :”-(

I am super new to this species. My friend gave me a cutting of her almost 8 ft plant and gave me long strands so I definitely had to do a little bit of research before I potted them up. Thanks for all the tips and care guide! It's definitely all I need to know in one video :)

Am amazed that your QUEEN blooms at day time.

This is the most gorgeous cactus orchid I've ever seen! Thanks for the tips ✌🏼

Congratulations! That's a majestic beauty. I love the royal blue pot!

Yes, this is the one I have and it is Hookeri. Such beautiful plants and so little you need to do... The more I ignore the better they do. I have to say yours is among the nicest I’ve seen !

Amazing! I’ve never seen one with so many blooms! I got a cutting from a neighbor and had no idea what it was. I saw it about to bloom and missed it because I didn’t know it was just overnight. Hoping this summer will see some good blooms

I wanted to grow this Queen of nightie also known as Brahma Kamalan in India.(Meaning Lord Brahma’s lotus)Your tips were very useful. Thanks for sharing.

I just came from Instagram after you helped me with the name of this plant. Great channel, your personality makes this content catching.

I just bought one today and I came across your excellent video! I am also from PA. Please post more videos.

What a great informative video! I have my grandmothers Cactus! She would wake us up to see the blooms at night when I was a child. I just love it! Mine has been indoors for a year because I moved. I am also in zone 6b so I will put it out this June and hope for some blooms. I used to put it out under a maple tree and it was very happy there and did bloom. Thank you again!

Finally!!! Thank you! I’m taking it outside this summer. Hopefully it will bloom.🙏🏾 it’s growing very well just no blooms. I’m gonna amp up the phosphorus and let’s see what happens. Thanks again your vid was the most i informative and helpful.

I just got one of these from a friend today. Great information and I hope mine is as prolific as yours. I’ve never seen these until today.

I love this plant, my grandma who passed away 10 years ago had this in our ancestral home... And everytime I see this flower I feel like crying...

Hello, Thanks for the nice video. Btw, this is not Queen Of the Night. This is an epiphyllum variety called Hookeri .

Just had my first seed sprout, I have a long journey ahead but thats the fun :) Thanks for the informative video.

Hi Devin wow so beautiful flowers i like so much this plants, a lot of greetings from Serbia - Europe !

Thank you for this video! I also have an heirloom plant that is roughly 15 years old. It has never bloomed! I also live in PA and have pruned, fed, taken outside, kept contained, brought back indoors and nothing! I will follow your advise and keep it under canopy and watered every 5-7 days, I am also interested in the stress factor. I am praying this will be the year! Mine is gorgeous, big, green and healthy but not a bloomer :( Yours looks amazing! congrats!

Great Video! Learned a lot. Thank you Devin.

Great video! Mine will be getting a new pot & fresh soil. It’s very woody so I’m gonna take cuttings from it. I’m sure it will be way happier. Thanks!

Such a helpful video!

Enjoyed your video. Thanks for the tutorial.

Very informative video. Thank you for sharing.

They are so Beautiful.

Beautiful flowers

Beautiful I got one in a pot and is big but no flowers hopefully i got flower this year

Great information! I have a very old cereus that has gotten gangly over the years.. I'm going to cut mine back and repot it and try to cultivate it to be more compact like yours. I am in Virginia and I move mine outside around mid-May and it loves the warmth and humidity through the summer months... I start to see buds forming in September... but I've never had a flush of bloom like yours. I shall continue to try :)

Great info. We'd you have a video if how to prune these? Thank you. Tacoma, WA!

I use these hanging by a green house roof for about 20 years.I add a very light Bloom Buster, once a week or two.They hang about 6 too 8 feet.Up and down. A very exotic tropical look.Roots form by roof glass.The people love how much flowers I get.

Beautiful plant

Thanks for the info God bless you I'm from south Africa your plant is beautiful

Devin, you genius, you are impressing us all greatly with that plant, it's amazing. I just order a "Queen of the Night" cutting off of Ebay for my sister as a birthday present, who also loves plants. BTW, I grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania and left in 1980 for Europe. Let me know if you want me to come back and help with watering or general maintenance?

Excellent video and info.

Great video and advice. I started four new Epiphyllum plants in October and have some recent videos of their progress. They should be very nice plants in a few years time :)

stunning. I've just planted one myself.

Oh you sound so in love with that plant :D I was searching for information cos im trying to propagate a leaf and found out is this plant :D I hope it grows happy

I live in PA also, s.western side! This is my 1st cutting and I've read so many different ways to care for, like keeping a dish of water under them for humidity? I'm glad I watched your video, especially since we live in the same climatic state! Lol I just wish I could share a pic of mine to ask why the top looks wrinkled! Maybe needs watered weekly, like you mentioned! Thanks again for advice. Btw, your Epiphyllum is Georgous! 😍

❤your presentation thx

Thank you ..will try to propagate my queen of the nigth..

Excellent video

Thank you for sharing sir

Beautiful plant Congratulations 👍🙏 I hope mine gets like your's

I have had this plant for five years and some stems have reached the ceiling. I had a previous plant that did bloom indoors but it was near a plant light and west window. You are correct-it should be outdoors in summer. Also correct-not in direct sunlight. I know this video is two years old so assuming you are still growing it. Your plant is lovely!

Just got some cuttings with no instructions...this is very helpful....

It is such a beautiful plant and yours looks incredible!! I also have a old plant that was passed down to me and I would look to spruce it up. Mine has a lot of woody parts like you said but most of the woody parts on mine are towards the root, while still having healthy green growths towards the end, so I'm reluctant to trim it back and take off all the magic! Any suggestions?!

Great video! You answered most of my questions except one, do these plants like to be sort of root bound? I have my plant on my lanai here in SW Florida and it's in a very large pot, which it had no problem overgrowing within a few years. Should I take a cutting and put it in a smaller pot to hopefully get it to bloom? I've given away cuttings that people have had bloom but mine never has. Theirs is in a small pot and seems to bloom regularly for them. Regularly being maybe once every 9 months or so. Keep up the great work!

Thank you!!

Lindas Muito lindas

I live in TX...lost my 25 yr old plant froze in Feb 2021. I have been photographing incredible blooms at 3-4 in the morning for 25 years. I'm starting over...I've purchased some new cuttings...can you recommend a particular soil. My plant was in regular old potting soil that I changed out every few years. Thank you for the awesome video!

Hey I have an orchid cactus about 3 years now. Every spring I get 2 beautiful flowers tops! Wondering if I should put in a bigger pot or does it like to be root bound. I just loosened the soil some as it was densely packed.

I live in Connecticut and have one! I got it 3 years ago from a clientclient who’s had the mother plant for over 20 years!! And I’ve only ever had one bloom so far 😢 I’m going to put it outside June 1st and see what happens tho! Wish me luck!

Thank you for the excellent video. I just inherited a huge lanky Epiphyllum that has long woody stems. Can I cut the woody stems back to the base to encourage more compact growth? Thanks again for all your wonderful videos. Yay plant lovers :)

Great video! Just got one of these and am excited to see it grow! Do you find that the “leaves” feel soft while you are propagating them? I have one propagation that was pretty firm when I cut it and it feels pretty limp right now. I let it callous over and just recently put it into soil so I’m sure it’s probably dehydrated while it is growing roots.

The first time I ever saw this plant was probably seven years ago in Ontario Canada went to visit some friends and they were so excited because it was blooming when we first got there takes six hours to open up and then closes for six hours and that was it I got a piece brought it home threw it in some dirt then left the country for six weeks. Figuring this will be dead and today it is a monster but my friends in Canada never bring it in outside. Actually it’s the indoor plant all year.

I just love you. Ur the best

Great video! Can you tell its what type of plant scissors you're using?

These are beautiful blooms. I have on! But the one in this video actually isn’t the oxypetalum species. Oxypetalums have wider blooms that are more protea looking but white in how it looks. It’s stems and leaves are also not as jagged on the edges! But not entirely. Thankyou so much for the video!

Thanks may be mine will flower one day!

Thank you for your video. I have been gifted an orchid cactus that was my great Aunties so older then 35 years. Not sure of the species just yet but the information you have provided is very useful.

Thank you so much for this wonderful video! It was just what I was looking for! I am new to this species of plant and I just got gifted three starts that have already been rooted! I planted each one in their own small pot! I was wondering if I should have planted all three of them in one larger pot? Thanks for any help you can give me!

Thank you 🙏

Could be different where I am. Got one of these as a gift. Knew nothing about it. I put it outside on my east facing front porch steps. The porch is covered. It gets maybe 4 hours of morning sun. Tripled in size this year. Last winter I moved it inside the same porch as before, maybe three feet from where it lives outside. Still facing east behind a glass door. We keep porch temps around 65 through winter. It continues to grow. The only thing I do differently than most I see, is fertilize with water from my 300 gal goldfish/ koi pond. I clean the filter, which is a tidy cat litter bucket, every three months except winter and water everything I can with it. I have had zero issues with plants since. Don't know if it's because the nutrients are digested? But I couldn't be happier with the results. This is my second year with it and it is currently blooming. Also not sure if it's the variety, but mine had much wider/ thicker, green leaves and doesn't have any purpling. Is that expected? My other cacti do that with too much sun exposure, but again, ours look different so it could be solely location. I'm on the east coast (US) Great video and thanks for the propagation tips!

I have a big pot in front door just bloom few big purple flowers - so beautiful….. 2 pots (Quỳnh Sen) just bloom some small flowers too - flowers last few days - to 1 week. I water every day.

Beautiful Epiphillum hookeri (strictum), which is what this is. I have several epiphillum oxypetalums.

Красиво !!!

Hi. What a gorgeous plant ! I took my Mom's plant after she passed away in June and Im trying to learn all I can about them. I dont know which cultivar this one is. Its very big and in a very small pot and Im thinking it hasnt been repotted in many many years if ever. Its lopsided and very heavy to one side so I would love to be able to correct it if possible but Im afraid to do anything with it out of fear of breaking off any pieces. I wish I could send a picture and get some advice on what to do with this very old special plant. ?Also, there are brown circular spots on the leaves - I dont know whats causing them but it doesnt look like theyre from bugs.

Chito's journey

Hey great video. What do I do with the long talons that are coming from it. I got this from my mom and dad when they passed away.

Good to know I’m in Washington and it seemed like it was craving sunlight so I just put it on the porch to catch some sun.

I have also my Queen of d Nigh ( dama de n0che ) but tnx watching ur videos

Wow I learned something new.. I have a huge plant as well and a few branches are quite woody.. I will try that.. the branch sticks up about 2 inches and has 2 Huge leaves. If I cut the branch down to soil level will new leaves grow off of it?

Great video! Question - I have a cutting in a mason jar filled with water for 4 weeks now and it grew a lot of white roots. I am considering relocating the cutting into a pot with dirt but I'm worried the roots will go into shock and die. Do you have any recommendations?

Where in PA are you? I live in East Stroudsburg, PA. Our local hardware store has one in his store window. It is huge and it foes bloom, even though it stays inside all year long. One of my neighbor's bought a piece from him and now has a big plant. It also blooms, it too is kept indoors. Thanks, Gerry 😎

Hey Devin, could you explain the proper way to cut off old flower blooms? Thanks

I just received my Queen Night Bloomer! I potted it this week in Cactus soil, is that okay? I live in Coastal NC. For the summer, I have my plant on the south side of my yard under a Windmill Palm; however, it does get direct morning sun. Is that ok? What fertilizer do you recommend? I'm hoping it doesn't take 3-5 years to bloom as some info has indicated! Thank you for your video!

I've been growing mine for about 6 years. I have 2 good sized pants and several medium that grew from cuttings. My question is..I have a5-6' shoot that grew in one of my big plants and now has a big leaf at the end. Do I make support for this stem or let it hang out trying it? I haven't had the flowers yet. They are outside only in warm months. Which here in western KY is about 4-6 months depending on how or cold sitting/fall. BTW- My leaves hang .. they don't stand up like yours

Hello I have this plant for atleast 3-4 years now. It has been in the house until now besides my patio door as I thought it cannot tolerate direct sunlight. So wanted to know if it will be okay if I slowly introduce it to direct sunlight on East-south patio (all day sunlight) in the spring and then bring it back inside in the fall ? I live in zone 6b as well. Any suggestions TIA

My neighbor has one under the sun all day! 🥺 I’m telling her to keep her partial sun partial shade! 🥺

I would love to know what type soil to use. Thanks for your help.

I love this ,but ive been told the blooms only last 1 day, is this true? Thanks for this, ive learned alot!

As trees outside flake off material in warm months no fertilizer is necessary. I treat mine the same as Christmas cacti.

I got free Epiphyllum or different type of orchid cactus it was in pretty bad condition snipped off majority of leaves. How should I nurse it back to health? I'm going to repot it with perlite coconut chips charcoal. Should I leave it in dark for 2 weeks until it roots back? Then give it indirect light?

Pozdrawiam, ja też mam epiphyllum, moje hobby.

My first 8in cutting, can't wait for it to look like yours. But what is the best way for fasting the growth?

Do you let it dry for a few days before propagating it in water? Or do you stick it in the water right after cutting?

I had a huge plant that I moved from south TX (it lived outside year round) to south ID. I lost most of it due to not watching where the sun was hitting it and miscalculations in weather, but I’m trying to baby it back. It’s been indoors, bright light, but still not thriving. I’ve adjusted watering to make up for lack of humidity. Periodically it throws out a growth that turns into a long stick. Not flat like the leaves, but more round and skinny. Very green, very sturdy...what is it doing? I usually just cut them off, but I’ve discovered that I didn’t know much about growing these beautiful plants! 😂. So, what do I do with the “sticks”? And my leaves are about 3 ft long. Should I be trimming those shorter and just try propagating them? How do you make sure you’re not taking bugs in when you move the plant indoors (esp spiders). I’m in your zone, but high desert so it’s drier. Thanks for sharing your beauty with us!! 😀

A quick question. Do u callous before rooting the cutting in water? I tried both & was successful. Still want to make sure.

Hi what a bautifull plant I have one and it got one flower in januari for the first time My question is each leave gets at the end dry carrots I don,t see that by others. Can i remove them without problems so that the plant dies?

I recently visited a nursery that is closing down, I found a QOTN and of course bought it. But it’s only one long leaf. Would I be able to propagate? Id really love to make more.

my question is about propagation: my cereus has for months now put out really leggy stems with no leaves. they are several feet long! they look very healthy. I'm wondering if I can use them to propagate? All the videos I see show only leaf propagation.

I agree these need to go out in the summer, but when you bring them indoors for the winter, you need to deal with the fungus gnats- do you have any tips there or is it just something you need to deal with?

Awwwwww “flowers r the result of stress”...I’m an F’ n Flower seriously it’s going on my totem next to dragonfly✌️❤️ but I hope I don’t kill my one Leaf 🥴

Just got a orchid cactus. My concern is the pot it is in, a plastic hanging one. I feel it may be to wet and want to remove it from the pot it is in but still dont know or understand the dirt. also the leaves on my plant are hanging down not standing up.