- To grow a new plant, save one of the Christmas cactus’ segments and place it in potting soil. Before planting the segment, gently extract the blossom from it by pinching it between your fingers.
- To stop the spread of plant diseases, sterilize your pruning equipment both before and after pruning.
- When deadheading a Christmas cactus, wear gloves to prevent cutting your hands on its delicate spines.
Should you take the Christmas cactus’ dead blossoms off?
Christmas is typically not a time when desert-dwelling flora are highlighted because the holiday generally honors brisk pine tree forests, chilly temperatures, and snowfall. The Christmas Cactus is an exception, though, as it is indigenous to Brazil’s rainforests. It’s difficult to miss this plant during the season with its long flat stems and beautifully colored flowers. The Christmas Cactus will offer you tons of flowers in pinks, reds, purples, and white while it’s tough to get your other cactus to bloom. Possibly not always the colors of the season, but nonetheless lovely.
Perhaps you saw one at the florist or your neighbor decided to give you a Christmas Cactus as a gift in appreciation for your assistance in setting up the lights (well done!). You’re unsure of what to do with it as it sits in your living room, however it got there. You could be a little confused by the fact that it’s a cactus because they are frequently associated with moodiness around water. But unlike its relatives, this cactus is not terrified of water and has very few sharp parts, so it won’t bite. Discover how to take care of your Christmas cactus by reading on.
No life jacket requiredWatering your Christmas Cactus
The Christmas Cactus adores the water, contrary to what you might be used to (swimming, water polo, and perhaps even a little skinny dipping!) It prefers to have regular waterings that thoroughly wet the soil. Despite the fact that you should let the soil dry up a little bit in between your planned waterings, you should never let it become fully dry. This may impede the growth of your plant and lead it to lose all of the carefully tended flowers!
Warm hugsDon’t give your cacti the cold shoulder
The ideal temperature range for your Christmas Cactus should be between 15 and 21 degrees Celsius, despite the fact that hugging cacti is generally not advised. Like any warm-blooded plant, try to keep it away from drafts and vents. For these guys, a constant temperature is optimal. Although bright light is preferred, excessive amounts of direct sunlight can burn the stems.
A life after ChristmasWhat to do with your Christmas Cactus after the season
Deadhead all the wasted blooms to keep your cacti looking their best during and after the Christmas season. Additionally, this stimulates the plant to keep on blooming. You can continue to enjoy your cacti after Christmas until it eventually stops blooming. But once it does, don’t get rid of it! Whether or not they bloom, these cacti make stunning houseplants. And chances are it will blossom for you once more the next year, and occasionally even in the midst of the year. (Bonus!)
You can prune it at the start of the summer by cutting back a few of the stems’ lankier portions. Similar to getting a haircut, this fosters further growth and allows it to blossom once more.
Whether or not it is the holiday season, your Christmas Cactus will stand out from the rest of your houseplants thanks to its tall stalks and vivid blossoms! Enjoy its distinctive design in your house.
How can a Christmas cactus be made to bloom again?
Understanding the Christmas cactus bloom cycle—little water, dormancy, light, and temperature—will help you force a Christmas cactus to bloom.
Start by minimizing how much water the plant gets. This often occurs sometime in the fall, usually in or around October or the beginning of November (in most places).
Just enough irrigation should be reduced to keep the soil moist. Only water until the top 1 inch (2.5 cm) or so of soil feels dry to the touch. The plant will be able to go into dormancy as a result. A Christmas cactus needs to be dormant in order to blossom.
You must relocate a Christmas cactus such that it will experience 12 to 14 hours of darkness in order to further force the plant to bloom. While Christmas cactus can tolerate bright, indirect light during the day, it needs at least 12 hours of complete darkness at night to promote bud formation.
In addition to dark surroundings, your Christmas cactus needs cool temps. It should be between 50 and 55 degrees F on average (10-13 C.). As a result, confirm that the location can satisfy the needs for both light and temperature.
How can a Christmas cactus be pruned without destroying it?
After the Christmas Cactus flowers, it goes through a growth phase where new foliage is produced. Pruning encourages the growth of the plant to move outward rather than upward, which results in a bushier plant.
Use a sharp, sterile pruning knife or clippers
To avoid injuring the delicate plant tissues, the pruning knife you use should be extremely sharp. It should also have been sanitized in either a store-bought solution created specifically for gardening instruments or a home-made solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. Prior to pruning, you should wash your hands properly to help stop the spread of plant diseases.
Prune at the gap between segments
Always cut down your Christmas cactus where the leaf segments meet. Given that these are the plant’s most vulnerable areas, this ought to be simple. Some individuals choose to twist at the segment rather than cut it with a knife to remove foliage, however this method seems to work best on fresher growth.
It’s not a good idea to remove more than one-third of your Christmas cactus’ current leaves. You simply need to cut around an inch if the plant is still young and you just bought it. Each stem should be around the same length in the end.
In addition, pruning is a great time to thoroughly inspect your Christmas cactus for any potential pests or pathogens so you may treat the plant and prevent future harm.
Use cutting for more plants
Never let the clipped plant material sit in the container because as it decomposes, it will attract a number of pests and illnesses.
How long do Christmas cactus blossoms last?
When do you want flowers for Thanksgiving or Christmas? To find the autumnal starting date for the plant’s reblooming preparations, go back eight weeks. When buds start to emerge, up the frequency of watering but not the amount of water utilized. Moving the pot around or adding too much water may both cause the buds to fall. The Christmas cactus will have four to six weeks of flowering, with each blossom lasting between six and nine days. After the plant has flowered, pinch off enough pieces from each stem to create a uniform habit. When new growth starts to form, start watering and fertilizing normally again.
Direct sunshine is necessary for Christmas cacti, but take steps to avoid the scorching midday summer sun: If you decide to keep your plant inside during the warm months, move it away from the window by a few feet to prevent the stems from becoming burned. Even if the plant is put outside, it still requires protection during the height of the sun’s rays.
Do I need to remove the dead cactus flowers?
Other withered flowers cling to the shrub and can rot after a downpour. You’ll become aware of which to observe in this scenario after witnessing this occur several times. Should you deadhead cactus blooms? Yes, it is advisable to get rid of flowers right away in this case when the bloom has faded.
Cut off dead flowers, do you?
Throughout the growing season, deadheading is a crucial duty to keep up in the garden. Most flowers lose their allure as they age, ruining a garden’s or a particular plant’s beauty in general. Energy is devoted to the growth of the seeds rather than the blooms as they shed their petals and start to form seed heads. However, routine deadheading concentrates the energy on the flowers, leading to healthier plants and ongoing blooms. Many perennials can produce more flowers when dead flower heads are removed or snapped.
The fresh flowers that result from deadheading can make the extra work well worth it if you’re like most gardeners and find it to be a boring, never-ending outdoor duty.
The following more widely cultivated plants will reward your efforts with a second bloom:
When my Christmas cactus blooms, should I water it?
Maintain a comfortable temperature of 65 degrees. Watering: Mist your plant frequently when it is in bloom to keep the soil equally moist.
Why are my Christmas cactus’ buds dropping off?
I bought a Christmas cactus with lots of buds. A day or two later, it began losing three to four buds per day. By Christmas, everything will be gone at this pace! What should I do?
A: It appears like your new Christmas cactus is responding to an alteration in its surroundings. Overwatering, significant temperature changes, or a lack of light can all cause buds to fall off plants. Your plant received extra care to blossom around Christmas and was given the ideal growing environment at this time. It met less than optimal circumstances somewhere during travel, possibly within your house. The plant’s response to the challenging conditions is the bud drop that follows.
You can aid its recovery by giving it the necessities. A tropical plant known as the Christmas cactus needs a soil mixture that is highly organic, plenty of moisture, bright light, and normal indoor temperatures.
Take your Christmas cactus outside in the summer the following year, and fertilize it every month with diluted houseplant food. At the end of September, bring it back inside and keep it completely dark for 16 hours every day so the plant can develop blossom buds. The simplest way to do this is to leave it in a well-lit area for eight hours, cover it with a box, or store it in a closet for sixteen hours. It requires complete darkness; even a little period of daylight will prevent buds from forming. Keep the temperature between 60 and 70 degrees F throughout this forcing period, and avoid fertilizing the plant. Your Christmas cactus can be placed in regular light in early December and will bloom in a few weeks.
How often does a Christmas cactus bloom each year?
Whichever one you have, it’s possible for them to bloom more than once a year. For Your Reference, Here Are A Few Of Our General Houseplant Guides: Watering Indoor Plants: A Guide. Beginner’s Guide To Plant Repotting.
A node on a Christmas cactus is what?
This popular holiday dish is simple to begin from cuttings. Simply cut off a section of stem at the node, which is the place that was pinched. For optimal results, make the cutting one or two no longer than three sections. Give the cut end a day or two to callus over. Then insert the cut end into a potting or cacti mix that has been extremely well drain. Till the roots develop, keep the young plant in a bright spot but away from direct sunlight. Keep the rooting media slightly damp, but stay away from too much moisture, which can cause rot. For insurance, take more cuttings than are required. You will have plants to give your family and friends if you are very successful.
Should I leave my Christmas cactus outside at night?
Thanksgiving cactus, holiday cactus, and crab cactus are all names for the Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera truncata). The leaf-shaped stem segments with curled, pointy teeth or claws around the margins are known as crabs. The leaf segments of the Easter cactus (Schlumbergera buckleyi) have rounded edges. They all came from wet, dark forests around the southeast coast of Brazil. Because they reside above ground in trees, where branches meet and decaying leaves and moss amass, they are categorized as epiphytes.
Although this plant has the moniker “cactus,” the maintenance it needs has nothing to do with its relatives in the desert. It is regarded as a type of woodland cactus. Its needs can be traced back to its beginnings. It is recommended for Christmas cactus to grow in “Potty trained That entails storing it in a small container for as long as possible before transferring it to a pot that is only marginally larger. They should not be allowed to dry out and like a thick organic potting mix. When the plant is blossoming, increase the watering. They favor direct, bright light. As the plants start to burn in full light, the leaf segments might turn a dark red color.
The “The two factors of light and temperature are the key to getting Christmas cacti to bloom in the years after purchase. These two hold the secret to the realm of flowers. Flowers are produced by Christmas cacti during a chilly, brief day cycle. It takes at least eight days of 16 hours of darkness and 8 hours of light every day for flower buds to begin to form. No matter where the plant is located, avoid using the lights at night, even for a little time. That ends the necessary dark cycle. Around 61 degrees should be the ambient temperature. Place the plant away from drafts of either cold or hot air.
All that is required is to set the Christmas cactus on the window sill in a chilly area without turning on the lights. In a brightly lit space, a plant’s side towards the window will frequently sprout buds, but not the other way around. It usually has to do with either receiving too much or not enough water or with there being insufficient humidity in the air if the plant sets flower buds and then they fall off. The good news is that if their temperature and light needs are met, Christmas cacti are thought to be rather simple to induce to bloom once more.
How should a Christmas cactus be watered—from the top or the bottom?
To ensure that the water reaches the Christmas cactus’ roots, irrigate it from the bottom up. Continue adding water to the soil until it begins to seep through the pot’s openings. It hydrates the ground.
Ensure that there is no standing water beneath the pot once the soil has been thoroughly moistened. Never leave excess water in the planter; you don’t want mold, root rot, or insects laying eggs there. If the water is fully separate from the pot and is in a tray underneath the pot, that’s acceptable.
Mist the Leaves
You can sprinkle the leaves with water in a spray bottle to keep them as healthy as possible. When watering the plant, misting the leaves only once will be sufficient to provide appropriate hydration.