These Christmas cactus care tips will keep your plant healthy and blooming for years to come.
Carson Downing
The Christmas cactus is a rainforest native named for its festiveflowers that often appear around the holidays.
With proper Christmas cactus care, it can bloom at other times and live for years.
Credit:Carson Downing
The orchid-like flowers blossom in shades of red, pink, purple, orange, and white.
In its natural habitat, it gets plenty of moisture and high humidity.
That means it has different care requirements than other cacti in your indoor garden.
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
Here’s what you should probably know to grow this plant successfully.
Alfred Palomaresis the Vice President of Merchandising and resident plant dad for 1-800-Flowers.com.
Light and Temperature
Bright but indirect light is best for a Christmas cactus.
Credit: Kritsada Panichgul
Christmas cactus thrives in cooler temperatures and will grow best in ranges from 6070oF.
It’s best to keep the plant away from radiators, fireplaces, and other extra warm places.
Just be sure tobring the plant indoorsbefore temperatures get below 50oF.
Credit: Jay Wilde
Water and Humidity
The time of year is critical when determining watering levels and amounts.
While most cacti can thrive in drier climates,Christmas cactus requires weekly wateringin the spring and summer months.
During flowering season, keep it evenly moist at all times.
Christmas cactus care should include higher humidity, so you may want to place a humidifier nearby.
As the water evaporates, it increases humidity around the plant.
Apply this mixture monthly during active growth, but not at the same time youadd fertilizer.
Pruning
Pruning is usually unnecessaryunless you’d like to reduce the size of anovergrown Christmas cactus.
Remove faded flowers to encourage the cactus to continue blooming as long as possible.
Have furry friends at home?
Not to fret,Christmas cactus is not toxic to catsand dogs.
Stem wilting or wrinkling can signify the opposite problem of not enough water.
Bud loss can also happen if the plant doesn’t get enough humidity or has too much water.
Several houseplant pests, such as mealybugs, spider mites, and scale, can attack Christmas cacti.
A strong spray of water can be enough to dislodge most bugs.
Christmas cacti care should include treatingthe plant with neem oilaccording to label directions for more persistent pests.
To initiate it indoors, count back eight weeks from the date you want blossoms.
At this point, place your plants where they’ll get the required amount of uninterrupted darkness.
This means no light of any sort, not even a lamp or streetlight through a window.
However, sometimes, you might see buds appear now again."
It is sometimes called zygocactus or holiday cactus.
Thanksgiving Cactus
Schlumbergera truncatablooms several weeks earlier than Christmas cactus.
It has two to four pointed teeth along the margins of stem segments.
