Christmas cactus is a popular, aerial household plant with beautiful blooming flowers in shades of pink, purple, red, or white. They naturally bloom during the winter or fall offering a vivid display of tubular flowers.
People often find it challenging to grow christmas cactus in their households however, if you are determined to give simple and proper care it blooms. In this guide, we have included everything you need to know about the techniques to make your christmas cactus bloom along with potential solutions to fix your problems.
1. Provide Adequate Light
Christmas cactus favors the indirect light for blooming. Similarly, it has been found the length of sunshine day is also another big factor influencing the flowering of Christmas cactus. For the ideal bloom, a shorter sunshine day is preferred.
The flower bud is another thing to look upon. These buds require ideal conditions of bright daylight followed by thirteen hours or more of continuous darkness. The christmas cactus is a peculiar plant that consistently seeks continuous blackout and hesitates to bloom if the darker hours are reduced.
How To Fix:
It has been recommended by many professionals to use light control with blackout technology as many industries do to achieve blooming christmas cactus. However, for a smaller number of home plants, it can be achieved simply by covering the plant with a box or black cloth.
You might as well want them to grow during the initial days of development in the basement or unused room where a controlled lightning environment could be possible. You need to provide night conditions for about six to eight weeks until the flower bud starts to form.
2. Maintain Low Temperature
Christmas cacti thrive in cool temperatures of 50 to 55 degrees F. They don't quite prefer changes in atmospheric temperature. During the bud development stage, you need to take extra care to maintain an adequate temperature without bringing much change.
You might as well want to be conscious during the period of moving the plant into the display location. When bud starts to show up, you should be aware to move them to the new location to prevent the dropping of buds as this bud causes the Christmas cactus to bloom.
How To Fix:
You should keep your plant away from the heat source such as heat-generating machinery or appliances of your house, radiators, and heaters. Try to keep the plant as much as possible in a shaded region with indirect rays of sunshine and continuous darker nights.
The temperature-sensitive christmas cactus may not bloom properly if exposed to an unfavored temperature environment so, try not to keep them in dark places continuously for more than 12 hours where the temperature is other than between 50-60 degrees F.
During the growing season of christmas cactus, they need to feed regularly for healthier growth and vivid bloom, later. The active growth usually occurs in the spring, so this period marks the initiation of fertilizing your plant. Make sure to use balanced fertilizer with the right amount of nutrients.
More specifically, 10-10-10 NPK fertilizer is suggested to use as a feed for your christmas cactus. This fertilizer contains an equal amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Similarly, you need to be aware of reducing the feed during the bud-forming and flowering stages of your plant.
How To Fix:
It is recommended to use the fertilizer properly every month until August during the spring which marks the active growing season. This season should be fully focused on establishing and developing your plant robust and healthy.
When the bud formation and flowering stage of the plant comes nearer, you need to make sure you limit the fertilizer since now is the period to focus your plant towards flowering instead of vegetation growth. You need to strictly cut off the nitrogen feed at this period.
4. Water correctly
Like other home plants, christmas cactus is also sensitive to water. More particularly, it is prone to root rot due to the excessive watering that causes it to waterlog. It doesn't necessarily require moist soil throughout the growing period.
They become more sensitive when bud and flower development starts. Fluctuations in the watering amount and timing may hamper their blooming potential. Remember that under stress your christmas cactus will bloom vigorously.
How To Fix:
Checking your soil dryness is essential before you hydrate your christmas cactus. Make sure the top 2 inches of soil is dry by inserting your finger on it before you assume watering your plant.
In addition to that, you should reduce the frequency of watering during the fall when your plant is forced to bloom. During this period, you might as well consider giving stress to your plant by reducing both water and irrigation so that bud formation starts and christmas cactus blooms majestically.
5. Pruning and Pinching
Pruning helps your christmas cactus develop more branches which will ensure more shoot tips and bud formations. Usually, it is carried out during the summer so that winter may welcome the profound christmas cactus blooms.
You need to slowly pinch back the tip of your plant's stems and over time, it will offer you an increased number of shoots and flower buds. In addition to that, eliminating dead or damaged stems regularly will ensure the good health of your christmas cactus.
How To Fix:
You should try pruning during the summer when the plant still has some period to concentrate on its vegetation growth. The main reason for pruning the christmas cactus is to ensure its robust growth, so early June is considered an ideal month for pruning.
During this active growing season, decent fertilizer as a feed along with adequate water is being provided to the plant which will help your plant take advantage of the pinching and pruning more effectively.
6. Preferable Timing
If you decide to follow the natural planting procedure then winter will be the ideal blooming period for your christmas cactus which could last around 5 to 8 weeks. Similarly, summer blooming can be ensured if you can keep the plant in a dark place for the required period.
This plant gives you the flexibility to adjust its blooming time at any stage of the year given that it has been provided with the necessary environmental conditions to thrive.
How To Fix:
Christmas cactus have been found to take about eight weeks of constant darkness for about 12 hours every day to reach their potential of full bloom. Thus, it is suggested that every cultivator count back eight weeks to achieve their anticipated flowering time.
This means you need to prepare your plants during September for them to bloom at christmas ensuring the complete exclusion of light every day for a full 12 hours. This way you can adjust your plants to make them bloom at any period of the year.
Generally, christmas cactus is repotted every 2-3 years during the summer. During this period, buds have not developed and the blooming has come to an end. Above all, you need to inspect your plant before you decide to repot your christmas cactus.
Although christmas cactus blooms happily for years growing in the same pot if given proper care on light, temperature, and water, it is quite difficult to achieve and maintain consistency for continuous years back-to-back. This means repotting is essential for your plant to thrive for years to come.
When to Repot Christmas Cactus?
Signs such as wilting or tired appearance and crowded roots blocking the drainage holes could be some of the signals that repotting is required for your christmas cactus to continue blooming for the coming years.
Having said that you should know frequent repotting is not favored by the christmas cactus. It is recommended to repot your plant only when needed and perform doing so during the summer or when the active blooming has come to an end.
How to Repot Christmas Cactus?
Repotting christmas cacti may seem a bit difficult and slight mistakes can lead to huge losses. Still, you can achieve this with proper care and handling during the entire repotting process. You need to follow some instructions that are listed below for the efficient repotting mechanism:
Make arrangements for a container that is slightly larger than the current one with proper holes for the drainage system to ensure proper air circulation for the roots.
Fill the pot with soil enriched with the necessary nutrients having a mixture of two-thirds regular potting soil and one-third sand.
Try removing the Christmas cactus from the current pot along with the rootball by gently digging the soil.
Make sure to eliminate all the damaged parts such as leaves and stems and give a proper cleaning to prevent the spreading of any diseases and infections.
Replant it in the new pot ensuring its rootball has been entirely covered with the fresh potting mix. Make sure to remove the air pockets by gently tapping the soil from the top.
Give moderate water to your plant and place the pot in the shaded location for about 2-3 days following the standard care routine for christmas cactus.
8. Maintain Humidity
Christmas cactus requires a cool temperature to thrive. Indoor growing spaces might be hotter and drier during the summer, which can make the required humidity level of 50-60% difficult to achieve.
To cope with this problem, you can't possibly overwater your plant. This can further lead to rotting of the roots and shutting down your plant vanishing your dream of blooming christmas cactus.
How To Fix:
The temperature of 50-60 degrees F seems difficult to maintain during the entire day continuously which can make your plant dry quickly with the unmeet humidity requirement.
For this, you can fill the bottom of your pot with small wet pebbles which might help your christmas cactus from getting dry quickly along with the spraying of mist around your plant.
9. Propagate to Get More Blooms
You can try propagating your christmas cactus to multiply the plant and get more blooms with the lush vegetation. It has been recommended to propagate your plant through cuttings, which is a pretty easy and simple method to achieve.
Propagating is also done when the christmas cactus is in its vigorous vegetative phase which is during the period when its flowering period has come to an end.
To achieve the best results, professionals have recommended not to propagate the plant by cuttings when it is flowering, budding, or blooming. Also, a warmer temperature in the summer is ideal for the propagation which further helps in the speedy root development.
How To Propagate:
Propagation of christmas cacti can be done through two methods, direct or general planting, and water propagation. Both of these methods are easy and simple and are quite related to each other. Below is the guide for you to achieve this simple propagating technique:
You need to make a clean cut or pinch off a stem from your christmas cactus at a joint. It is suggested to make 1-4 segments for a single cutting to avoid the overbalance in the new pot.
Place this stem directly into a pot filled with potting mix and allow it to develop root. Give moderate water and place it in a shaded place. This is a general planting technique.
For water propagation, pick a glass or vase with half-filled water and small pebbles at the bottom which aid in holding the cutting firmly. Wait until the roots start to form which can be visible through the transparent glass.
Now, you can transfer this cutting with developed roots into a new pot with a potting mix and a well-drained system.
Christmas cactus has been found to have originated in the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil. Growing on trees and rocks in slightly humid and shady places, this blooming plant is unlike most of the cacti from the desert areas developing up to 4ft.
They are leafless plants giving one of the most decorated and majestic blooming flowers usually in the fall. The green stems of the plant are responsible for all the important processes such as photosynthesis, acting as a leaf.
Christmas cacti are given different names usually referring to their flowering season in different parts of the world. They are found to have been called by the names of Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactus, Crab cactus, and holiday cactus. These names are more common in the Northern Hemisphere.
Cultivars of Christmas Cactus
There are mainly two groups into which the cultivars of christmas cactus have been divided:
Truncata Group
The plants falling under this group have segments of stems with pointed teeth. Flowers are held quite horizontally within the plant body having different shapes on their upper and lower sides with yellow pollen.
Thanksgiving cactus, Crab cactus, or Claw cactus are usually taken under this group. These types of cultivars of christmas cactus are found to flower quite earlier than the members of other groups.
Buckleyi Group
This group consists of plants with more rounded stem segments and symmetrical teeth. The flowers seem to hang down vertically below the horizontal being similar on both sides. The plants usually have pollen colored in pink.
They are more likely to be called by the name Christmas cactus around the world and are found to flower generally later than the members of the Truncata Group.
