Gardening Questions: christmas cactus

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morg708 McDonald, PA (Zone 6a) November 2, 2008 3:39 PM	when is the best time to transplant a christmas cactus? Where is the best place to keep it at this time? This message was edited Nov 2, 2008 3:40 PM
paulgrow Allen Park, MI (Zone 6a) November 2, 2008 7:55 PM	Over the past several months I’ve received several inquires regarding Christmas cactus. The most often asked question was how I can get them to bloom. Here are a few tips on how to ensure that you Christmas cactus will provide blooms for the holidays. • Use a sterilized potting soil that contains sand. They like well drained soil. • Don’t over water, too much water causes the roots to rot. The most common mistake with houseplants is over watering. • This plant is native to Brazil, it prefers warm temperatures. Keep the plant between 70 and 80 degrees away from drafts. • Shorten the daylight period to between 9 and 10 hours daily. It needs between 14-15 hours of UNINTERUPPTEDF darkness at a temperature between 55 and 60 degrees. A fruit cellar or closet on an outside wall should provide this environment. The ideal time to begin this is the first day of autumn. If you begin now you should be ok and see blooms around New Years. • Move the plant to a sunny location after 10-12 weeks of this treatment and wait for the blooms to appear.
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) November 2, 2008 11:26 PM	I take mine outside in late spring and keep them out all summer and just bring them inside away from a window the first of September for a month than put them in a sunny window. Mine are just starting to put out buds. Vickie
morg708 McDonald, PA (Zone 6a) November 3, 2008 12:25 AM	Mine is starting to bud now too, but I think it needs to be put in a larger pot. Can I transplant it now?
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) November 3, 2008 12:41 AM	I'd wait untill they quit blooming. I've repotted and separated mine in the spring and they've done well.
morg708 McDonald, PA (Zone 6a) November 3, 2008 12:59 AM	Cando 1 Thanks so much for your help
camankin Garfield, AR November 3, 2008 6:35 AM	I've just been given 5 cactus. They are all blooming. One has limbs that are about 4 feet long! Do you think I should cut these off or let that keep growing? The man that gave them to me said he had the for about 22 years!
dipsydoodle Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom) November 3, 2008 7:24 AM	I agree with above, repot it once it has finished flowering, you may loose all of the flowers before hand. We keep the one we have indoors, it sits on a North(ish) facing windowsil all year round. We are in Zones 8 or 9...but I wouldn't trust putting it outside since it is pretty cold at times, but other people do all the time. The first one we had must have been about 25 years old, and then it eventually died, it's my mams plant and she has replaced it since but the replacements don't seem to do so well :-(
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) November 15, 2008 12:52 AM	camakin, Think i'd just about kill to see a fourfoot long christmas cactus.LOL It must be truely beautiful. What color is it?
camankin Garfield, AR November 15, 2008 6:35 AM	Red! It's blooming now in his basement. I've got to move them in the next few week because he is moving. I'll try to take a picture before I do.
JeanK Deland, FL & Hot Springs Village, AR, AR November 15, 2008 1:40 PM	Here are my Christmas cactus -- they always bloom about this time of the year. They stay in our sunroom year round and begin to set their buds in October. View Larger
JeanK Deland, FL & Hot Springs Village, AR, AR November 15, 2008 1:44 PM	The white one. When we lived in Illinois, they were taken outside in the summer and brought in the house after setting buds. They opened around Christmas there. View Larger
JulieQ Cullman, AL (Zone 7b) November 15, 2008 3:34 PM	Mine wasn't blooming, so I googled around and found this site: [HYPERLINK@www.ext.nodak.edu]
rentman Frankfort, KY (Zone 6a) November 15, 2008 3:56 PM	I copied this some years ago. Propagation Shady conditions or filtered light are necessary for Christmas cactus to thrive. You can force bloom by setting the plant in a coolish (60 to 65 degrees F) location, where the light is low but not absent during the day. Do this soon for Christmas bloom. Do not let the soil dry completely, but water infrequently to keep the soil just moist. Watch for signs of buds at the ends of the leaves, and increase humidity and light when they appear. If buds appear too soon, hold them back by reducing the temperature. The Christmas Cactus is easily propagated by taking short Y-shaped cuttings of the stem tips. A well-tended cactus will reach unmanageable size in time. To root cuttings for new plants, cut back shoots from the tips, cut at the second joint of each tip. Place cuttings in a moist peat and perlite, or peat and sand mixture. Water sparingly at first to prevent rotting of cuttings. After two or three weeks, water as you would any other cutting. When cuttings are rooted, pot them in a very loose mixture of good potting soil. Re-potting Plants should be re-potted every two or three years, or whenever pot is filled with roots and the soil appears to be depleted of nutrients. Christmas cactus usually is re-potted in the spring, but a plant which is unhealthy because of the root system can be re-potted at any time of the year. I'm getting a few buds. View Larger
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) November 17, 2008 4:22 AM	JulieQ, Thanks for the link. A great site for info. I was amazed at how old a lot of these plants get. Talk about a lifetime gift.

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