This is really interesting, I learned something - saw TCs exactly like the one in your first pic in the store and thought it was some fancy new cross...
Just the other day actually bought a "white" TC with that rosy hue to it, really loved it that way. Now, if i want to get that same hue the next time it blooms, I will have to expose it to cool temps:)
Your plants are gorgeous, true to the expected color or not!

Beautiful blooms though Mike, even though its not a true yellow!
Certainly loaded with blooms, very pretty color!

Yes,, you are right! I learned this a few years ago...my yellow that I purchased was cream or very light yellow when I first purchased it... but a few months later when it had its second set of buds I made sure it was not exposed to temps below 68 degrees and I got my true yellow... But, because I live in FL finding a place to put my yellow TC that is above 68 degrees at night is never an issue,lol...

This post was edited by puglvr1 on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 20:55

First Mike your plants are Beautiful! whether they are the right color or not. You can grow things beautifully!

But I cant read most of the writing because the ads are taking the place over top the writing. Anyone else seeing this? I can't read it entirely! Im gonna email GW and try to figure out the problem. I've tried closing them out, and nope doesn't work.

So, hope to read about this soon!

teisa

I don't see any ads over Mike's text?

Mike

They are beautiful anyway, as everybody says.
I wonder if they would turn to pure color once kept in warmer temps (I guess that would be for the next/following sets of buds).

Rina

Does the entire plant have to stay warm? Just curious if anyone has experimented.

If keeping just the root zone warmer would work, I would suggest placing the pot on a heating pad (obviously one with which the temp can be regulated .. ie. one hooked up to a rheostat). Besides the standard type for people use, there are types used in the herp (reptile) trade. (Howard is using a couple of mine to try and see if it will help some of his seeds/seedlings root. Don't know if he has investigated what the resulting soil temp is. You might query him.)

If the above ground portion needs to be kept warmer, then I would suggest trying a heat bulb like those made for nocturnal reptiles. There is a link at the bottom to start you on your research if you desire to investigate.

If the entire plant needs be kept warmer, try a small space heater.

Here is a link that might be useful: light heater for nocturnal reptiles

Thanks for the info! I did not realize the temperature made a difference in the color.

I was at the grocery store earlier today and they had salmon, red & yellow - 3/$9.99. I picked up the yellow and was so excited! This price is much better than the nursery. Paid $3.53 with tax...WOOHOO!

I'll have to move it to a warmer room somewhere. We don't keep our house at 68 degrees or warmer.

Will the plant revert back to yellow if you can put it in a room with the right temps?

I am excited to see mine that I purchased last year. Much to my husband's dismay, our house is kept close to 74 degrees (rarely falling below 70). Here was mine last year fresh from Walmart. I believe it is Limelight Dancer. It lost most of the buds after bringing it home and moving it about. Right now the buds are still small but it is not getting moved.

Mike - Yours look so beautiful! I just purchased a Christmas Flame hoping to get the pink and yellow combo.

Puglvr1 - As I said before, I love the color of your yellow.

Camellia - Congratulations on finding a yellow and for such a good price. From what I understand, the temperature when the buds are forming is what makes the color difference.

This post was edited by val1 on Mon, Nov 25, 13 at 22:06

Thanks Val, yours is very pretty as well...

Paul, from what I've read during bud formation (as soon as you see pin size buds emerging) you need to keep the plant at 68 degrees and above. That is the critical stage while the buds are forming and growing once the buds are mostly formed you can place it in a cooler climate. At least this is what I've done to get mine yellow...

GW is working on my problem. I still can't read 1/2 of his post because of ads!

I've been searching the internet about the temps affecting blooming color and can't find ANYTHING about it. I wonder why no one has stumbled upon this problem before?

Only thing I've found is that the yellow grows slower and some think it is infererior (does't live as long) as other dominant colors.

This post was edited by teisa on Tue, Nov 26, 13 at 8:00

Mike-- that looks like Christmas Flame! I actually love that coloration. I wish I had one :) I like the clear yellow as well, but something about that yellow-pink is really attractive to me.

Hi all....and Hi to you Mike..... very nice flowers on those plants...my old fastion CC is budding up, but my thanksgiving cactus is doing nothing :( I will post my CC when it starts to open....
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.........linda

I found articles about this at Clemson and a more detailed report at Auburn. More good-looking links came up with this search though I didn't read any more. I can only do what I'm already doing for these plants. The thing about the black cloth in Auburn article was interesting though. That would be fun to play with in the spring/summer!

Hey everyone...Thanks for all your beautiful and kind comments... I appreciate it..
I just wish when buying a plant with a certain liking in mind, it was explained better that the color can be affected by things before putting out money for them..You know?
Not a one of the sellers even mentioned that cold and heat affect the color of the blooms..
I have bought over four of them thinking it was the plants fault prior to each one until I realized it was temps that were crucial...lol

Nancy, WOW as always...I'll bet if you were to send me a piece of that one, it would still turn out the colors I have...I wish I could provide lot's of warm air while bud development...I like Paul's idea...

Purple..Thanks for those links..I have yet to read them. I'll get back to you..

Paul, thanks again as always...Great idea's.

Hi LInda! I remember your CC"s being most beautiful! All at once to boot.

Teisa..You will find one..Thank you

Camellia//Yes, Congrats! Hopefully you learned that you can affect what color you get on yours next year..It is sort of interesting that we can form colors on these plants if we want too..

It's definitely not a 'Christmas Flame' although pretty close to it....When I bought a couple of them, they were true to yellow already in flower..Hard to find around these parts.

Here is an example of a cutting I took from the same plant I posted above, the mother plant..It was left near a space heater in warmer conditions..Does it look more yellow to you all?

{{gwi:703774}}

Here is the second plant I have..It to does not have much yellow..

{{gwi:703776}}

Here is a plant..One plant throwing off different colors..Strange

{{gwi:703778}}

Here is another throwing off different colors and it is the same said plant of it'w own..None of these TC's were mixed together when rooted..I have never had a pink one before.

{{gwi:703780}}

{{gwi:703784}}

{{gwi:703780}}

Juliana. if you want some cuttings, E-mail me...

Val....That's beautiful!

Rina, you are so sweet...Thank you as well as yours..

Mike-- those are gorgeous! I think they look stunning. But I know what you mean. I feel the same way about things that, say, need a greenhouse versus have the ability to live inside or whatever. Drives me nuts when something is sold without a word and it really needs a greenhouse to live or rebloom or whatever. I'm sending you an e-mail!

Purple-- I'm going to check out those articles!

Mike-- I just looked and it's not an option on your page for me to e-mail you. If you could message me and include your e-mail, I can reply! Thank you!

I just came from looking at the Clemson information on growing Christmas & Thanksgiving Cactus. That is the best all round easy to understand instructions that I have seen so far. I did know about the temperature issue with the yellow blooms, but had not known that it also affects the white blooms. Also I have hesitated trimming my plants very much unless I was sharing with others. Guess it's time to just jump in and "shape" them and increase the number of starts in each pot. An older friend plants hers in Miracle Grow potting mix with super results. So I basically repoted most of mine over the summer and they seem to like it.

This post was edited by vtstar on Mon, Dec 9, 13 at 15:58

I just can't get over it-- second picture down in Mike's most recent post is the prettiest TC I have ever seen!

Purple-- those are good articles! I actually liked the Auburn one because it spoke about the conditions the plants came from, which is always how I try to figure out what plants want. I actually had the one I gave you cuttings of bloom in the spring-- remember when it suddenly got all dark and cloudy in like March? Apparently the decrease in light levels must have triggered the bloom.

Hiya Purp,

Great articles, thanks for the links, I'd not seen these 2 before.

Mike - Love the blooms on all of your TCs! I did not know about the cold affecting the blooms when I bought mine last year. I almost bought a light pink until I discovered that it was really a white that had been exposed to colder temps. Although the place where I keep my TCs is warm, I have a different problem. They do not always get the right photoperiod to induce blooming. I keep them on the kitchen table and the kitchen light stays on until late in the evening. Mine are not full of blooms like yours. They have a few blooms that form closer to the window where the artificial light is not as strong. Luckily, I can turn them (when the buds are bigger) and enjoy the blooms. Then the other side will start to form blooms and I turn it again. I get fewer blooms as once but I get them for a few months that way.

Purple - Thanks for the articles. I have wondered about putting a black cloth over mine to keep out the artificial light. Glad to know it works. I will have to try it on a couple of mine.

Had to come back and look at these pink-yellows again. Gah! Love!

Ok, here is my address....lol

mikerno_1@yahoo.com

Val, that makes sense! Thank you so much;-0)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

MIke

They're still beautiful. But I know what you mean. It's not often possible over here to get a true yellow, and that's unfortunate and frustrating, but the yellow-pink still thrills. I count myself lucky to have found a yellow in any form, I guess. But I have a long ways to go to get a large plant. :)

This post was edited by teatree on Thu, Nov 28, 13 at 14:21

So I've seen deep-raspberry-pink buds open up to a red flower with white inside, and similarly-toned buds on another plant opened to all red inside. Is this the low-temps thing being discussed here, or just what some plants always do? The outside of the buds have a diff color than the inside. If they had not been exposed to cooler temps during bud formation, would the inside match the outside more closely?

This made me NOT buy the one plant with purple-looking buds at WM yesterday. Some of these plants came from trades, but I know I didn't buy a plant with red buds on it - though red is great I know I bought all plants with pink & purple looking buds - which all but one (that did open pink last winter) promptly fell off after coming home so I never got to see the flowers on most of several plants. None of them have gone to that great potting bench in the sky, so these may be my 'purple' plants? There's definitely pink elsewhere with pink buds. Can you see what I mean in this pic? Guess I'm asking is if it's necessary to see the open flowers to know what color they will be?

I always feel like yes, to an extent, you need to see them open. Like obviously you can tell it's not going to be white or yellow with such strong coloration, but there are other ranges that it could be. The temps thing enhances coloration and will add pink tones, but won't radically change the colors from purple to red as far as I know.

I'd say yes it is Purp.

Lol...I hear ya Purple....I have wondered the same thing..

In fact, I have bought a plant with pure white buds on them just about to open just to have them open mostly pink..

I thought it was going to be a pure white one...I question whether anyone on this forum has ever posted a pure white one?

I agree though that even if the flowers don't turn out the way we want, at least I myself can at least make the flower..lol

I wished I had treated my TC I used to have as nicely and all my other a few years ago..It use to flower pure orange when I had no interest in it back then and with neglect, I lost it to frost...It was from Sweden I think"-(

Mike

Purple - I saw one today that looked just like the last picture you posted. It had the raspberry-pink buds that opened to a red with a white center. It was labeled Exotic Dancer.

Mike - I also have a bright pink TC that you would think was white or light pink from the buds. It has buds now that are half an inch and are almost pure white. Here is a photo from last year. {{gwi:703787}}

Val, that's an awesome pic! I have that one.

So the general consensus is that temps too cold can affect the color of (supposed to be) white or yellow blooms. That's fascinating. So one could take cuttings from a same plant, give them different conditions & end up with 2 diff flower colors? That's unusual. I can't think of any other plants, in or out, that do that (though some that vary due to PH issues come to mind.)

And 'we' seem to agree some flowers just naturally have different colored buds from the inside of the flowers?

So it looks like I've got a bunch of red & pink plants but no purple. That's cool, I like to have goals & now know what to seek when it's time for some trades in a few months.

So who has one with purple flowers? What color are the buds - orange - LOL!?

This one I got at WM a few weeks ago had a white flower on it, before this discussion so didn't realize it was potentially unusual. By the time I took its' pic, it was turning pink. By the time it shriveled, it was all very pink. Just checked, doesn't look like it's going to make new buds, the definitely white unopened ones in the pic all fell off.

I don't think there really is a purple-purple. Magenta, or some kind of purple pink is about the closest (I am thinking real purple.. like purple foliage on a Zebrina). BUT I did see some of the closest purple colors being stocked at Lowes. Buds were pink-purple. It was in the range that people call purple for TC lol.

Mike-- as long as the white ones don't get too cold when forming buds, they will be white and not pale pink. I don't think there are any of the white ones that don't show pink at the cooler temps. Since you've got so much pink in your yellows, I'm guessing when they bud you've got cooler temps where ever they are.

Val-- very pretty!