Perhaps your hubby is TOO wonderful with them?! LOL

Maybe put an experimental batch in a pot & neglect it? They do bloom when they feel like it! =)

Where is it grown? In a pot on a windowsill, greenhouse...?

Stapeliads will reward you with blooms in the late summer. I find that if you water them well and often when it is hot, they will bloom. Indoors conditions are rarely good, but outdoors in the summer with heat, humidity, and rain is perfect as long as the soil is porous.

x

since stapelias are slightly tropical plants, they appreciate lots of water.
they need a steady watering scedule, very well draining soil, and loads of sun. i find that mine flower MUCH better in full sun. also, when they start to bud, dont stop the watering for anything! they WILL drop their buds. it has happened to me far too often.

Haven't had this plant long but it is in a ton of sun, dries out about every other day. The buds that were on it when I got it a few months ago fell off but these new ones have grown. Just took this pic this evening.

Open all the way today, got rained on this morning.

Purp,
Wow, that's pretty, thanks for sharing!

Planto

Thanks, Planto! This flower on this new-to-me plant seems a good endorsement for putting them in more sun. Hope it helps Kdhb and hubby get some blooms.

It's been outside for some near-frosty nights too, might have had something to do with it. Definitely beyond me at this time. Thankfully MrLike told me it's not a cactus and doesn't want to go bone dry much, if at all. If not for that, it'd probably just be dead by now.

My sister in law gave me a piece of hers. It sat in the back seat of my car for 6 weeks in a plastic bag before I got around to planting it. I wants to flower all the time, but in the winter I keep it indoors and the conditions are not ideal. Buds start, turn yellow and fall off. As soon as the night temp is consistently above 10C I put the plant outside and do not move back in until hits 10C at night again.
This picture was taken after a rain this summer. WOW...however one day when I came home from work and there were a couple of flowers at the same time...I wondered where that stench was coming from. LOL

This post was edited by richarddsmith on Tue, Oct 22, 13 at 19:33

Same boat with kdhp75.

No bloom for me neither. I put them in the hot house in Winter and outdoor under the shade in Summer.

So water and sun? will do it next Spring, hopefully give me some bloom next year/

btw, my sister in laws has never flowered. Mine gets full on sun for part of the day during summer while it is outside. As much as I can find for it inside in winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to facebook pic.

Ooohhhh, I'll have to put this on my want list despite the smell...LOL

Purple and Richard,those are beauties.TFS
Kathi

I've had mine growing for about 3 years now, still no blooms. I have it in partial sun. I'm going to make a cutting of it and put the new plant outside in the summer and see if that works.

When you all say lots of sun, remember that means different things in different zones. For example full sun in east Texas may not be the same as full sun in Houston (noticed this post originates from TX)...
When I lived in Oregon my gigantea never flowered but put on lots of vegetative growth despite lots of sun. The first week I moved to AZ it popped flowers like a mad fiend on a shaded patio (probably heat + seasonality combined)... I have tried many growth locations and even though this is a tough bugger, it definitely appreciate some respite from the high UV index here or the segments start looking ratty despite a healthy watering regime.

-Ming

This post was edited by mingtea on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 10:58