KALANCHOE TUBIFLORA
also known as Bryophyllum tubiflorum

John Milligan
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Plant & Photos by the Author









Another rare blooming experience for me with Kalanchoe tubiflora. This easy to grow-and-give-away plant has never bloomed over the last 30 years. This Spring I gave a batch of rooted adventitious leaf-buds to a friend who selected the strongest one and planted it in a peat-based seedling mix in a relatively large pot [10 cm], gave it a slug of hi-phosphate fertilizer and put it in a sunny spot outside for the summer. In September, he repotted it in a 15 cm pot and brought it back to me. It was a single stalk about 1 m high and loaded with hundreds of leaf-buds. I had no space for it inside and finally leaned it against angle between the solarium and the main house facing south-west. I forgot about it until after the first frost in late October. It survived but was kind of brown and most of the buds had fallen off, so I brought it indoors and leaned it against the back wall of the solarium and watered it once. On 01 Dec I noticed it had grown an additional 30 cm and had about 40 flowers in bud at its top. I put it back on the watering schedule and the first bloom was out on 16 Dec. By 30 Dec almost 30 flowers had opened. [see Photos]

K. tubiflora is native to Madagascar where it grows as an annual/biannual and typically grows to about 1 m before blooming in the winter. It is very sensitive to day-length and can withstand light frosts. Plants die back after blooming and new shoots can arise from the roots. I think my plant bloomed this year because my friend and I accidentally met the three crucial requirements :

1. The plant was grown outside over the summer in an oversized pot and grew large quickly with the extra fertilizing.
2. It was repotted for Fall and left outside in a bright but cool and dry location until first frost.
3. It was strongly stimulated by the shorter days at the back of the Solarium where the light levels are relatively low.

I'm checking over ALL of my kalanchoes now and trying to figure out where I can find the space to grow them up fast and big over the summer and a second space where I can keep them until they bloom next winter. I really do need a greenhouse....!

PS. The flowers last about 5 weeks so it is well worthwhile trying to get some.

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