Some plants adorn themselves with pretty foliage, others with colorful flowers. The relatively easy-care Christ Thorn is one of those with pretty flowers, mostly in the colors white, red and pink in different shades.
The Christ's thorn needs a dry period in order to bloom
If this flowering does not occur, then the Christ's thorn loses its attractiveness slightly, especially since it is also one of the poisonous indoor plants. In households with small children or small animals, the thorn should not be placed, at most out of the reach of the children and animals.
What makes the thorn of Christ bloom?
As you may know, the Christ's thorn originates from Madagascar, where the seasons are not summer and winter but dry season and rainy season. Accordingly, your Christ thorn does not tolerate extreme temperature fluctuations and does not need them to stimulate flowering. This happens through the so-called dry dorm, a period with little water and little light.
How can I help my thorn to blossom?
The Christ thorn also needs this dry rest in your household, in which you hardly water it. In addition, during this period the plant should not receive more than ten hours of light. The room temperature can also be lowered, but not necessarily below 15 °C. If there is no flowering, then your Christ's thorn probably missed the dry period.
Theoretically, you can immediately start reducing the amount of water and cover your thorn with a cardboard after a maximum of ten hours of light to initiate the dry dormancy. In midsummer, however, this does not necessarily make sense.
Better to wait until fall or winter, when the days are getting shorter on their own so you don't have to go dark. Water your Christ Thorn very little and don't fertilize it at all. When the first new shoots form, then slowly increase the amount of water again. Now you can look forward to the flowering period soon.
The essentials in brief:
- needs short exposure days and little water to form flowers
- Flower colors: white, pink, red
- Flowering time can be influenced by or time of exposure
tips
Make sure that your Christ's thorn gets its drought rest every year, then it will also bloom reliably in the future.