Hello All,
I volunteer at a community greenhouse, this is a cactus I haven't been able to identify. Can anyone help? It looks like it would like to climb, but there really isn't an appropriate tree. Can it be grown as a pendant, trailing plant instead? Someone (not me) keeps trying to prop it up, but it outgrows the props and falls over sooner or later. There are several of these, overgrown in small pots. I'm inclined to put them together in a larger pot, and let them hang down instead of try to climb. Is this appropriate?
Any idea what's going on with the brown parts?
How about care suggestions? The greenhouse is very bright, hot in the summer, and generally in the high sixties in winter. It's watered weekly, and in a fast draining pot and soil.
It was quite neglected for a year due to Covid, I'd like to get it tuned up and looking better. Thanks!

Selenicereus/dragonfruit cactus.

Yes, it likes to climb, but it will also hang if there is no other choice. Combining plants into a larger pot should work out for you. I don't know what the brown stuff is, but I wouldn't worry about it unless it spreads rapidly to other parts. You can just cut off the affected stem and forget about it, I think. The care sounds good. These are fun plants and the flowers are splendiferous (nocturnal).

The way it has grown makes me think it started life as a Moon Cactus but the moon part has died.

Thank you-all for answers. The Moon Cactus comment makes sense.
I think I'm going to do some major trimming, and try to start several cuttings together. Do you have any advice on soil? I don't know what it's in now, but it does seem to drain fast.

MsDoe said:Thank you-all for answers. The Moon Cactus comment makes sense.
I think I'm going to do some major trimming, and try to start several cuttings together. Do you have any advice on soil? I don't know what it's in now, but it does seem to drain fast.

I think the soil is OK as long as it drains well and doesn't get too wet. I am growing some myself and they are doing well for me.

Not sure whut a moon cactus is, but it sure looks like my dragonfruit, the first pitcher is a bloom on my plant, 2nd is one in a pot. 3rd is in the top of my oak tree....prolly 40' up.....they do love to climb. Super easy to take care of. Put it in a good sized pot w/good drainage. Build a trellis for it to climb. When it starts climbin be sure to water roots on trellis.

zeta7 said:Not sure whut a moon cactus is, but it sure looks like my dragonfruit, the first pitcher is a bloom on my plant, 2nd is one in a pot. 3rd is in the top of my oak tree....prolly 40' up.....they do love to climb. Super easy to take care of. Put it in a good sized pot w/good drainage. Build a trellis for it to climb. When it starts climbin be sure to water roots on trellis.

Moon cactus is a term for night-blooming cacti like dragonfruit. And yes - this is a dragonfruit.

Moon cactus is apparently used for a few different plants

https://garden.org/plants/sear...

but not Hylocereus, as far as I know. The one Daisy's talking about (I think) is something like this:



which is typically grafted on Hylocereus (the green part in the photo), and the Hylocereus can grow out of this. So if the moon cactus dies, the graft stock may live on.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. As Hylocereus seems to have been partially absorbed into Selenicereus, I thought Gardener2493 knew something I didn't.

DaisyI said:Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. As Hylocereus seems to have been partially absorbed into Selenicereus, I thought Gardener2493 knew something I didn't.

Not partially, it has been fully absorbed. "Two species of Hylocereus formed a clade with two species of Selenicereus, suggesting that the genera were not distinct. This result was confirmed in a larger study in 2017, and all the species of Hylocereus were transferred to Selenicereus."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Gardener2493 said:

Moon cactus is a term for night-blooming cacti like dragonfruit. And yes - this is a dragonfruit.

Wrong. The term "queen of the night" is for night blooming cacti. Another would be plain "night blooming cereus"
Moon cactus is a label for grafted Gymnocalycium cv "HIBOTAN".

skopjecollection said:

Wrong. The term "queen of the night" is for night blooming cacti. Another would be plain "night blooming cereus"
Moon cactus is a label for grafted Gymnocalycium cv "HIBOTAN".

thank you for correcting me. Had a mix-up.

@zeta7 Moon cactus is for Gymnocalycium cacti grafted onto dragonfruit. Sorry, messed up a bit there.

Phil/Zeta,
Thanks for the pictures, especially the dragon fruit in the tree
Now I'm thinking that there's not enough room in the greenhouse to let this REALLY grow upward! A trellis to the ceiling might not be enough.
So, I'm planning to trim up and combine several small plants, then group them in a larger pot and go for the pendant look.
Is is difficult to start the cuttings? Can I just put them in the big pot, or should I start them separately? Do you plant them up-and-down partly buried, or just set them flat on the soil surface?
Thanks everyone for the help and comments.
I'm working to understand the Latin names, common names can be pretty confusing.

It should be pretty easy to start cuttings. I like to start them in a relatively small pot, and then scale up once they are going strong and putting out new growth. That allows me to water more often without being overly concerned about wet feet. Don't bury a huge amount of stem, just an inch or two (or none at all, if you want to lay a stem flat on the soil). Be aware the cuttings will not be able to use the water in the soil until they have a decent set of roots, so it may dry out slower at the beginning.

So Wikipedia is giving the common name for dragon fruit (Selenicereus) as "moonlight" cactus, not "moon".
Tohono Chul garden in Tucson watches for its Queen of the Night to bloom, and has a big party for the occasion. Their Queen of the Night is Peniocereus greggii, an Arizona native.
https://tohonochul.org/bloom-w...

Yes - I had made an error when I said that moon cactus was night-blooming cactus.

Should not be too high, 2 meter is enough, this is how they grow dragon fruit commercially in this part of the world, need a strong 2 to 2.5m concrete pole, with 50 cm buried in the soil + 1 used tire

Kaktus that is awesome! Thank you for sharing those pictures. It always amazes me to see plants I struggle with, just growing so vigorously in the right conditions. Is the fruit popular in the market? I hope it's a good commercial crop, and hasn't gotten loose to become invasive.