A case of mistaken identity

[prairiegarden]

In April at a seed saver swap meet a cactus looking plant was on offer but nobody seemed to know for sure what it was, some sort of Christmas cactus, I was told. Brought it home and stuck it under lights for lack of a better place at the time. The plant is turning into Godzilla. As far as I can tell it's an epiphyllum hookeri but I can't find out how big it will get, already thinking it needs more room than I can spare. The leaves or pads are leaping into space in all directions, the thing is now at least two feet tall and three feet wide with no sign  of slowing down. Also no sign of flowering, although that's possibly a result of too long light. It's ok as something different but I don't really want more of them. Anyone have any idea how big this thing might get? Thinking I may have to try to flog it to an office or something.

[philagardener]

I have seen them in pots growing to 8 ft +. You can prune them back hard if needed. VERY pretty when they bloom.

[prairiegarden]

Good god. Guess I better start looking for a new home for it, I certainly don't have room for anything that size especially something that's strictly ornamental. Maybe the local nursing home would like it. Thank you.

[steev]

I've had a few Epiphyllums; occasionally they fruit; once one produced a fruit that tasted oddly "meaty".

[prairiegarden]

Is there any sort of indication it might be thinking about flowering instead of just growing into all available space? It's about doubled in size in the last two months and it wasn't exactly small to start out with. It would be nice to see what it could do before I have to find it a new home. The new growth isn't consistent, sometimes it's a long pad, sometimes a long fairly rigid stem which then sprouts another pad on the end, sometimes a cluster of pads coming out of the tip of a pad. The occasional one is triangular instead of flat.
The stemmy bits look knobbly so I was wondering if they are nodes for flowers or just for potential new pads

[steev]

Your description doesn't sound quite like my understanding of an Epiphyllum; in my experience, they grow long, flat, scallop-edged "pads", which sometimes produce large, trumpet-shaped flowers (I think largely moth-pollinated; the ones near me are past blooming, now.

While it may be interesting to see what it does (I'm certainly curious!), you might want to start looking for adoptive parents, in case it starts wanting to get you, in your sleep.

[paquebot]

Whatever you have, I also have it. It was in a large pot outside when I bought this house in 1963. Technically I do not have the original but started over again about 25 years ago. At the time, another person had a big one growing in a tub. I have some smaller ones in normal pots but main one is in a 10-gallon pot. Has big red blossoms. So far, nobody has come up with a name.

Martin

[reed]

I have had one of those since I was a little kid. It used to get giant, I don't know how big it can but branches can get ten feet at least. I have re-cloned it many times as the older one got too big.

Under no circumstances should you feed it or give it a bigger pot. When you bring it in for winter don't water it, at all. The one I have now is sort of like a bonsai I guess. It is in a six inch pot and has been for years. It is all stunted and ugly but it still gets the same giant white flowers that open in the evening and die the next morning. You can pick and refrigerate and they last several days. Mine has long smooth leaves up to three feet long. Leaves grow off stems and stems grow off leaves, we always called it the weirdness plant.

I have another one that acts similar but doesn't have much of a stem, just leaves off of leaves. It has more narrow saw tooth looking leaves with small spines. I'v had this one probably ten years but it has never bloomed.

Exception to the feeding, a little orchid bloom builder when you seed buds doesn't hurt. It has never made a fruit.