Blue Candle Crest 101 Care
How to Care for Myrtillocactus Geometrizans Cristata
This is the Blue Candle Crested Cactus, also known as Myrtillocactus Geometrizans Cristata, or blue flame cactus. This funky, fan-like cactus twists and turns in all kinds of waves, and is a great addition to any low maintenance and lazy garden. In this guide we’re going to go over basic care needs for this cactus, as well as how to deal with common issues, propagation, and more!
Crested vs Columnar Growth
The crested blue candle is a different growth form of the blue candle cactus, which normally appears as a columnar blue-green beauty. The crested blue candle also has a few different shapes that have thicker or thinner crests, or more or less bends and folds! The most commonly available is referred to as the elite, with thinner stems and more folds, while the less common type is referred to as cockscomb, which has thicker stems with fewer folds. A hybrid variety meets them in the middle with medium thickness and folding.
Best Lighting and Placement
When it comes to lighting, our motto is: “bright light and in sight!” Place your blue candle crest in a location that you view often that gets lots of bright light every day to keep that tight, crested growth and good blue color. Not enough light can lead to a more green color and etiolation, which is long, non-crested columnar growth.
Ideal Potting Mix for Blue Candle Crests
This cactus needs a well-draining potting soil so that it doesn’t sit around in too much moisture for too long. When you grab your potting soil, make sure to add in a few healthy handfuls of an inorganic material like perlite or pumice to help with drainage and aeration.
How to Repot a Blue Candle Crest
We recommend putting on a pair of gloves to keep your hands safe from the blue candles spines before repotting. Grab your pot that has drainage holes and fill it about halfway with your well-draining soil, pressing down firmly and creating a space in the center. Take your cactus and remove it from its old pot and gently break up the soil to free up the roots for new growth. Then, place your cactus inside the new pot making sure it’s high enough to not push up against the sides, and fill in the empty space with more soil.
As a final finishing touch we’ve added white bean pebbles to complete our arrangement and add extra stability, tucking them in firmly. You can find these pots, top dressings, and more over at our online store!
How/When to Water
Err on the side of underwatering with the blue candle crest. Before you water your cactus, first check that the soil is completely dry, then look to see if the cactus looks shriveled or wrinkled. Check with your finger or with a tool like a wooden skewer to make sure no damp soil sticks. You should also notice that the pot will feel much lighter with dry soil.
When it’s time to water, do several rounds of watering to make sure that the soil is completely saturated, doing your best to avoid water sitting on top of the cactus, and checking that any excess water is draining out of the bottom of the pot. Once you’ve done this enough, give the soil time to completely dry out before watering again. You should be regularly watering in the warmer growing season, and reducing watering in the colder months.
Health & Common Problems
A healthy blue candle crest will have a powdery blue skin, and compact fan-like waves.
A common problem is etiolation and reversion, which looks like stretched out, skinny growth. Reversion is pretty normal and can happen sometimes, and the cactus can even revert back to crested growth, but this can also mean that the cactus isn’t getting enough light - so try to slowly introduce it to more.
Another common problem for this plant is fungal spots, which look like small white or brown spots on the skin of the cactus. Treat this with a fungicide. Overwatering will cause the cactus to become brown and mushy at the base from the plant sitting in too much water for too long, inadequate drainage, or too frequent watering. You can save your cactus by cutting out a healthy portion and replanting in well-draining soil.
Common Blue Candle Crest Pests
Crested cacti are more prone to pests, like mealybugs and scale, that may hide in the bends and folds of this cactus. Pests can be very sneaky so it’s good to do a more thorough check every now and then. 70% Isopropyl alcohol is our preferred method for pest removal and prevention.
Ideal Temperature & Humidity
The blue candle crest’s growing season is from the spring to early fall, and its growing zone is 10a/10b. It prefers warmer temperatures between around 60-85 degrees F, and prefers a lower humidity. It does poorly in temperatures lower than about 40°F, so we recommend bringing them inside if possible to protect them from frost if growing outdoors or on a patio. A shade cloth in the high summer heat will also help greatly.
How to Propagate Blue Candle Crests
Propagating a blue candle crest is a bit trickier than other cacti. With crested cacti you need to take sections from larger, more developed plants. Take a sterile cutting tool and cut out a healthy section of your cactus. Try to leave a whole crested section of the original plant intact as well so it may keep growing this way. Give the removed section time to form a callus at the end, then plant it into soil. After a few weeks you can start to slowly introduce more and more water.
Are Blue Candle Crests Toxic?
This cactus is considered non-toxic to humans and pets, though we recommend caution when handling it due to its many small spines. We would keep this away from any curious kids or animals if you can.
Blue Candle Crest Blooms
The blue candle crest blooms small off-white flowers. Flowering is followed by small bluish berry-like fruits, called whortleberry or bilberry! These blueberries are actually edible and delicious, and contain seeds that can be planted to produce the occasional crest. They’re even self-fertile meaning they can pollinate themselves!
