My Christmas cactus moves

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Posted by Radishrain Radishrain
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Every once in a while (days to weeks or so), one of my Christmas cactuses moves. When it does, it seems to do it all at once. It starts out flopped on the north side of its pot. Then, it spreads out across the pot nicely, with part of the plant north, part in the center, and part south. Then, it flops completely over to the south side of the pot. Then, it flops back entirely over to the north side, and the cycle repeats. The room only has a south window, some distance away, and I don't move the pot.

I had another plant (the same kind; they both originate from the same plant, and so should be genetically the same) which did the same thing, except it only flopped back and forth (no phase in the middle), and I think it did it more often; eventually, it stopped doing it (maybe it will again). It would be one direction, then the next day, it would be another direction. The plant I first mentioned used to only have two phases (north and south), until it got somewhat bigger.

I wonder if they move with the moon cycle, or something. Today is one of those days when my plant flopped over. It had been spread out across the pot, but now the whole plant is facing south. I've never actually seen the plants move; I've only seen the complete change in position after it already happened.

For the record, the current moon cycle is 67.7% waxing gibbous.

I used to think the plant flopped south when it needed water, but that proved to be wrong, as I made sure it had water when it was spread out across the pot, this time.

Anyway, I don't see this as a problem. I see this as something that is very interesting (plant motion that isn't just following the sun like a sunflower does). The plant seems to be healthy.

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Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: My Christmas cactus moves

This post was updated on .
On 17 Feb (yesterday), my plant flopped over to the north again. The moon was waning gibbous, 99% illumination (the moon was 15.52 days old; it was about 9.08 days old last time).

My plant showed signs of being about to move on the 16th.
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: My Christmas cactus moves

It moved again, on Tuesday, 22 Feb 2022 (I believe it moved to sprawl across the pot in the morning, and I know it flopped to the south by the evening). The moon phase was waning gibbous; the moon was 21.1 days old.

I'm not really seeing a rhyme or a reason behind when it moves, yet (it might take at least a couple months from when I started to see if there are any moon-related patterns), but the plant most decidedly moves--that much is sure.
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
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