Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is a darling plant with a branched growth habit and scalloped dark green foliage that grows in pairs. This beauty also boasts lovely flowers. This is a lush and pretty plant when not blooming, but the flowers elevate Kalanchoe’s good looks. This plant is a succulent, which ensures its low maintenance. Everything about growing Kalanchoe is easy, from watering, propagating, and getting your Kalanchoe to bloom.
Flower Requirements
Some plants only bloom when they are a specific size or age, but that’s not the case for Kalanchoe. New Kalanchoe plants may need a year or so before they set flowers, depending on when the cutting was rooted. Light, or rather lack of light, is the determining factor when trying to get Kalanchoe to bloom.
Kalanchoe can be grown as a houseplant or outdoors. This plant can live as an outdoor perennial in zones 10 through 12. In other areas, you can keep Kalanchoe as a houseplant and move it outside during the warmer months. Plants grown outdoors full-time will bloom seasonally. These tips only apply to Kalanchoe grown as a houseplant.
Kalanchoe Flower
Kalanchoe flowers boom on the ends of branched stems that emerge between the leaves. One stem will have numerous single or double blooms in hues of white, yellow, orange, pink, or red. The individual flowers are dainty and tiny and create an impressive display collectively.
The flower clusters reach out beyond the foliage and can engulf the entire plant. On small plants, the foliage may not be visible when the plant is in bloom. Kalanchoe can bloom for months at a time with proper care. In nature, these beauties bloom for most of the year. The conditions in a home can be controlled to provide excellent care, but houseplants will not typically continuously bloom for as long as plants in nature.
Kalanchoe Bloom Cycle
Most houseplant Kalanchoe bloom in late winter or spring, with flowers dying by late spring or early summer. These plants are easy to manipulate into blooming, which is why they are typically in bloom when available in a store. The initial burst of flowers are tiny and grow in clusters, but subsequent blooms may feature a single, larger flower on the end of the stem.
How to Care for Kalanchoe
Kalanchoe care is simple, which is part of what makes this such a popular houseplant. Key care requirements for Kalanchoe are bright, indirect sunlight, and water when the soil is dry. Otherwise, leave it alone. As a succulent, this plant prefers to be left alone most of the time.
Tips to Get Your Kalanchoe to Bloom
Proper care is necessary for Kalanchoe to bloom. Once you have the care basics down and the plant is happy and thriving, you can focus on getting the plant to flower. There is a process to follow if you want your Kalanchoe to bloom.
- Clean Up
- Give it a Rest
- Control Light and Darkness
- Dry Out
- Break the Fast
Deadhead Kalanchoe
The time to start preparing for flowers is as soon as the current flowers fade. Getting a Kalanchoe to bloom is a long game. Remove the flowers when they first begin to droop and turn brown. Use clean pruning shears to trim the tiny stem back as far as possible without removing any foliage. The plant will continue to support the flowers, even though they are a lost cause. Removing the dying blooms allows the plant to cut its losses and prepare for the next round of flowers.
Downtime
Kalanchoe needs to rest and recoup after blooming to gear up for the next round of flowers. Blooming takes a lot of energy, and the plant needs to build up its resources to get ready to bloom again. If you removed faded flowers in the spring or summer, give the plant the rest of the summer to soak up sunlight and relax.
Simulated Winter
Low light triggers Kalanchoe to set flower buds. Move the plant to an area where it will receive at least 14 hours of darkness daily and 10 hours of bright indirect light. Limited light simulates winter, causing the plant to bloom when it thinks it’s spring. The plant still needs some daylight to sustain itself and conduct photosynthesis.
Make the move to darkness about six to eight weeks before you want the plant to bloom. It’s often easiest to do this in the fall since the days start to get shorter, but as long as you can control the light and provide complete darkness, you can make the plant bloom at any time of year.
Light and Darkness Strategy
The conventional method of regulating light and darkness is to move the plant to a dark area each evening and move it back to a well-lit space during the day. Or keep it in a room that receives bright indirect light and has blackout curtains and open and close the curtains accordingly. This method works if you have a good space and remember to move the plant or adjust the curtains like clockwork. The plant needs complete darkness, so any daylight during the scheduled dark time can upset the plan and prevent the Kalanchoe from blooming. Another option is to always keep the plant in a dark space, like a closet, and use a grow light. Set a timer so the plant gets light and experiences uninterrupted darkness.
Reduce Water
Cut back on watering during the time you’re regulating the light. Kalanchoe already has low water needs and prefers to dry out completely but wait two weeks before watering. Reduced water further helps to trick the plant into thinking it’s winter.
Fertilize Kalanchoe
Flower buds should start to appear in late winter. When this happens, ditch the simulated winter routine and move the plant to an area that receives bright, indirect sunlight. Also, fertilize your Kalanchoe. Use plant food with low or no nitrogen to get the plant focused solely on flowers. A fertilizer with a ratio of 0-10-10 is a good choice.
How to Keep Kalanchoe Blooming
Kalanchoe typically blooms for two months, but if you remove spent flowers and provide plenty of sunlight, you can keep the flowers coming. With proper care, Kalanchoe can bloom for six months. Eventually, the plant will need a break, and it needs a rest period, so it can start preparing for the next bloom cycle.
Enjoy Kalanchoe Blooms
Once you have the process down, getting a Kalanchoe to bloom is easy. The key is providing consistent periods of darkness in the lead-up to setting buds. Kalanchoe is a lovely plant, and it looks absolutely amazing when blooming, so the effort is worth the reward.