How To Make A Christmas Cactus Bloom Again – Get Your Cactus To Bloom A 2nd Time: If your Christmas Cactus doesn’t flower on its own, read this. It may take some work to get your Christmas Cactus to bloom, but it’s well worth it when it’s full of flowers.
How To Make A Christmas Cactus Bloom Again – Get Your Cactus To Bloom A 2nd Time
Since I was a little girl, I’ve grown Christmas Cacti. In Connecticut, we had a greenhouse with a lot of them. They opened on their own over the holidays. Then I put them in pots and grew them in my yard in Santa Barbara, where the weather was mild all year.
I’d love my plants even if they didn’t bloom because of their interesting, pretty leaves and somewhat strange way of growing. They are easy to take care of and last a long time as pets.
In the world of botany, this epiphytic tropical cactus is known as Schlumbergia x buckleya or Schlumbergia bridsii. The history of their name is a bit confusing. There’s also a Thanksgiving Cactus, Schlumbergia truncate.
As long as yours blooms before Christmas (mid- to late-November), it’s probably not a Christmas Cactus. A lot of them were sold as Christmas cacti, but most of mine were Thanksgiving cacti. From a business point of view, it makes sense because we start to prepare for Christmas right after Thanksgiving and buy our poinsettias at this time.
These two plants are sometimes sold together as Holiday Cacti. No matter which one you choose, they all bloom the same way, though they start at different times. Most people know them as Christmas Cacti, so that’s what I call them and mine.
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Here I am with 1 of my Christmas Cactus in my side garden, giving you some blooming tips. Warning: this is an old video!
A few things I want to say about Christmas Cactus flowers and things that are connected to them before I talk about the flowers. If this famous holiday houseplant is new to you, here are some things that might help.
- They flower at the very end of the leaves, which are really stems. I think they grow a lot,
- especially as they get older. Flower blooms can cover older plants all over.
- Depending on how warm your home is, each bloom lasts between 5 and 7 days. The flowers will fade faster if your home is hot.
- They bloom in steps, so the show should last between 3 and 6 weeks.
- Their flowers used to be red, but now hybrids are bred and sold that are white, pink, magenta, purple, peach, salmon, and yellow.
- Flower petals can be taken off as they die. Just take a pinch and cut them off.
- Don’t rush to repot them every year; they bloom best when they are close together in their pots.
- One reason yours might not flower the first year is that it might just be getting used to the dryer air in your home. In the end, they were grown in containers with a lot of humidity.
- Do not forget that this is a tropical cactus and not a desert cactus. Dry places aren’t good for Christmas Cactus plants to grow.
Do you love Christmas Cactus? We have more guides for you!
I didn’t do much to the ones I had growing in the yard to get them to bloom. They did get a little more water than my other plants. I never let them dry out all the way because the leaves turn red and shrink up if I do.
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As you can see in the film above, the one that was getting more sun that summer is red. It turned back to green as late fall came around and got much less sun. The color changed again when it got cooler in the evenings in the winter.
The color change is because of stress in the surroundings. All over, my ex-client’s Christmas cactus turned orange. It was on her front porch and didn’t get much water. Read the post to find out how tough these pretty succulents are.
Your Christmas Cactus (or Holiday Cactus in general) might flower by itself if the circumstances are right.
