Christmas Cacti for Holiday Cheer

All the festive indoor plants associated with the colder months of the year are a fun and easy way to bring your garden wishes inside when the light gets...

  • Topic: Succulents and Cacti
  • Keywords: cacti, succulent, Christmas cactus, holiday, cactus, cactuses, succulents
  • Date: December 2000

© All articles are copyrighted by High Country Gardens. Republication is prohibited without Permission.

All the festive indoor plants associated with the colder months of the year are a fun and easy way to bring your garden wishes inside when the light gets shorter. One of the most popular plants finding its way to windowsills and centerpieces at this time of year is the Christmas cactus. If you purchase or are given one in bloom, it can be daunting to think about how to reproduce its beauty next year, but with the proper care this little plant can shower its stems with winter joy year after year.

The Christmas cactus, called either zygocactus or Schlumbergera bridgesii, is an epiphytic cactus originating in the tropical jungles of Brazil. By definition, an epiphyte is a plant that relies on another plant for support but not for nutrients. The ancestors of the Christmas cactus hybrids so abundant today can be found high in the canopies of jungle trees, but their descendants are (luckily) quite happy in pots.

Christmas cacti come in a variety of different bud colors ranging from pale pink to red, purple, orange, magenta and white. The leaf shapes vary from smooth oval to serrated or boxy along the edges.

Many people think that because it is a cactus in common parlance, it doesn’t require much water, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Quite often the questions people have about care for different plants can be answered by looking to the natural habitat of the plants in question. In general, think about the moisture these plants would have received in a tropical environment, and water or mist accordingly.

For a growing medium, use a cactus medium or amend your favorite potting soil with sand to enable good drainage. Once again, remember that in the canopies the roots would not have been left sitting in water. Good drainage is essential for all epiphytic cacti.

The best way to get your cactus to re-bloom is to think about it as having two different seasons, with different needs. From April to mid-September, the room should be warmish with bright indirect light. Water when the soil is dry to the touch but still a little moist under the surface. Fertilize at least once a month with a natural or all-purpose plant fertilizer. This is the green growing season.

To get the plant to bloom in time for Christmas, you’ll need to change its care beginning in September. Start by providing cooler temperatures (60-65 degrees), discontinue all fertilizing and allow the soil to become drier between waterings. If possible, you should also provide 12 hours of darkness every night until mid-October. What you’re doing is providing a little stress, making the plant put all its energy into reproduction (via bud creation). As soon as the flower buds form, you can return to your normal watering, fertilizing and light schedule.

The general rule of thumb is to keep it warm while it’s growing, and cooler while it’s setting buds. Christmas cacti may not bloom at all if kept too warm. Appliances that generate heat, even refrigerators and televisions, can make a difference in the ease or longevity of the bloom.

To propagate Christmas cacti, remember that most are hybrids, so reproduction from seed may not prove true. Take stem cuttings in the spring or early summer and plant them directly into the growing medium. When you take a cutting, remove it from a leaf joint where the segmented leaves taper together.

All this said I have to confess that the Christmas cactus in my mother’s house was never shown much care beyond proper soil selection and healthy watering. It stayed in a bright spot for the entire year and rewarded us with prompt Christmas blooms seemingly without effort. I’m aware that others have not been so lucky, and I couldn’t possibly isolate the variable that granted us blossom without fuss. Perhaps it was just an extraordinarily generous plant. Maybe it just succumbed to the holiday spirit.