Flowers on Fire

Rhipsalidopsis is commonly known as an Easter or spring cactus. It originally comes from Brazil, where its natural habitat is the mountainous regions of the rainforest. It blooms from January to April or May and is characterised by starshaped flowers and succulent leaves without serration.

Location
Tolerate both sunny and shady spots. After having enjoyed the beautiful flowers, you can remove the withered flowers and place the plant at a dark and cool place.

Watering
Every 8 - 10 day. Do not over-water; the roots should be kept dry.

Temperature
Summer 15 - 20° C. Winter 10 - 20° C .

Fertilizer
Regularly during the growing period.

NEWBORN

In nature, it’s the birds and the bees, but at Gartneriet PKM A/S, Christian Hald is responsible
for product development and breeding. Here is his story about his work from pollination to launch of an entirely new Rhipsalidopsis variety.

	BREEDING Pollination and hybridisation require pollen to be taken from one flower and placed on the stigma of another flower. This is done gently using a small brush.
	GROWING PAINS Not until six months later will the small Rhipsalidopsis plants have grown into the size pictured.
	FROM 1000 TO 3 Shown here are the individual seed plants multiplied from small sets of 20 plants - approx. 30 months after pollination. Out of 1000 hybrids, three or four varieties are selected for further test production.
	TESTS The selected clones are then tested in a normal production setting. The testing involves the flowers’ durability and colour, disease and pest resistance as well as growth and quality.
	ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE To pass through the eye of the needle, a new variety is required to exhibit unique new characteristics. If the variety is selected, another two years will be spent on multiplying mother plants before starting actual production.
	LAUNCH A total of five or six years pass from pollination to launch - and with this in mind, drop by GASA ’s stand in Hall 5 at the IPM fair, where we display and launch the Easter Cactus in an entirely new way.

Learn more about Rhipsalidosis