#ROOTING ZIGZAG PLANT WINDOWS#

By slowly increasing the intensity of light, you will acclimatise the plant + this will be more likely to trigger those magnificent blooms, but more on that later! This will gradually fade over a few days. I’ve been experimenting with doing this to one of my Rhipsalis plants at the moment + I’ll show you the progress in my jungle cacti post in a few weeks, but lets just say, it’s working well so far! These plants can get sunburn if they are quickly moved from a shady position to somewhere too bright which is shown by a reddish tinge to the leaves (see in photo below left, the newer growth at the tips will sometimes look like this if the sunlight is a bit strong). If blooms are what you are looking for, you’ll need to carry out a bit of training to help your plant adapt to a brighter environment - this can sometimes be tricky to achieve indoors.

#ROOTING ZIGZAG PLANT WINDOWS#

It’s important to also remember that windows can be pretty different in size + if you live in a built up area, with other buildings close by, or if there are obstacles like trees outside, this all has an impact on the intensity of light. Bear in mind that these are the conditions that are personal to my current environment + are used as a guide for you to compare with your own home. East-facing windows are particularly good for jungle cacti because they can handle the morning light as the sun rises, but are more protected from the stronger afternoon rays in this position. My fishbone cactus lives a metre or two away from a window - in my previous apartment, it was 2 metres from a southern exposure bay window (I’m in the Northern hemisphere FYI) + in my current temporary place, it’s sitting on my work desk, a metre or so away from my South-East facing window. It likes to have bright but indirect light to really thrive but is quite adaptable really + can tolerate slightly less light - growth will be slower + watch out for especially thin, stretched out stems which indicates the plant is reaching out for brighter conditions.

I have experimented quite a bit with positioning my fishbone cactus + I’ve personally found this plant to be quite adaptable. Because they didn’t need to focus on storing water, the flattened stems allow them to catch the light more effectively (you can see this even more clearly on selenicereus chrysocardium + their beautifully flat stems). These leaf-like stems of many jungle cacti(called cladodes) actually evolved in response to a lack of sunlight in their more tropical conditions than their desert-dwelling cacti comrades. In this post, I will be covering the topics of:

You can sign up via email to get a notification when I post if you’d like. I’m currently putting together a larger post on my jungle cacti collection so look out for that if you like these types of plants. I shared a photo of my plant over on instagram this week + received quite a lot of requests to share my care routine, so I do hope you find this post helpful. When the plants are smaller, they can make great coffee table plants but as they mature, their growth will start to hang over the pot so is best with more room to spread out. In terms of plant styling, it’s structural presence makes it a versatile choice for hanging in a planter, or adding personality to a plant shelf. Whether you choose to call this plant an epiphyllum anguliger, it’s newer reclassified name of disocactus anguliger, ric-rac cactus, orchid cactus, fishbone cactus or a zig-zag plant, we can all agree this houseplant is pretty cheerful to have around! Native to Mexico, this epiphytic cactus has a distinctive zig-zag stem shape + an easy going growth habit, which makes it one of my favourite succulents in my collection.

Rooting zigzag plant