CHRISTMAS CACTUS

I got my rooted cutting in plugs from: Whitton Greenchouses in Delaware. The cost was five or six for $19.95. Shipping was $5.00 for the first one and .50 cents for each additional. When my order arrived I found them tall enough to make immediate cuttings to at least double the number I ordered. They show maybe fifty varieties. They do not ship until April the first to avoid cold weather damage. Three or four years ago I could not find a better price. Condition upon arrival was exceptional. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Go there and order up five or six according to taste. It will be the nicest Christmas gift Santa will deliver in April. His are all the large hybrids. My plants have produced the beauty you will see in the on line catalog.

Others may add sources. I never looked around after I found these folks.

Here's the link.
http://whittongreenhouses.com/mailordervarieties.htm
I had to click through all the varieties just to see- so pretty. I didn't know there were so many varities and that they give the difference in upright VS trailing

Once again, I will post my beautiful blooming Christmas Cactus gifted to me by Doc at our 2010 Spring Swap. We are all truly in awe of this lovely and will look forward to many more bloom times. Thanks again, Doc. Teri

Here is my white about to begin for this year.

Now open and the mother of any cuttings or plants of this color I have passed on.

That looks like my baby's mother, all right. What a beauty.

The reason most people have not seen these in bloom is that their blooming time is not geared to the time gardeners in the Northeast are out and snooping about the greenhouses. I see them at outrageous prices in a few of the Christmas catalogs. The major cost is shipping and a decorative pot. They are quite easy to keep, and propagate. They like all the teas I have so I rotate teas weakly weekly. I do not feed after the buds are set and about to open............until they show signs of growth in March. I maintain weekly watering weekly weakly all year long.This maintains the plant from dry on the medium surface to damp on the surface. I make a once a year cutting activity in February or March to shape them up and share with others.

Don't be afraid to root and grow several varieties in a larger pot. The will take a bit longer to make up and bloom because they like to be pot bound. They are tropicals found growing in nature in a tree crotch in a hand full of rotting leaves. One could make an interesting cactus tree using wood and four inch pots. Just don't make the medium so good it holds large amounts of water. That would be an invitation to rot. I use Miracle Grow Potting Mix adding about ten percent by volume of coir with a small amount of Vermiculite. This has been my potting medium with about ten percent by volume finished compost. I mulch the larger pots with ground wood. I have not changed my medium much over the past fifty years. I figure if it 'aint broke don't fix it.


Each fall I dump the pots roots and all into the pile I call my potting medium. In the spring all of this year's potting mediums have had the opportunity to be refurbished The pile is always about the condition I have described in the above paragraph. As you can see I do not buy much. Yet I am soil building with refurbished medium each spring when I repot for the coming summer's display. I feed my patio plants the same mixed teas weekly weakly food they get all winter in the house. I never have used man made fertilizers. I keep a bag of organic 4-2-4 but use it very gingerly when the plants indicate they need a little help.

The sixteen year old grandson was here for the holiday. He got a photography lesson. Here are the results.
I was not permitted to touch it. Ha.

This message was edited Nov 26, 2010 7:27 AM

Wonderful pic Doc. he did well. I missed getting a pic of one of mine blooming hope there will be more blooms. I must pot them up as they are still in very small plastic pots.

I was so impressed with my first Christmas Cactus that my family thought it might be a good idea to bring another when they came for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a good idea and I'm totally hooked on them.

This message was edited Nov 28, 2010 6:15 PM

Just as soon as your Christmas Cactus are done blooming or before March the first pinch the dickens out of them to foster new growth and a more compact plant. Pinch or cut at the joint. By the end of April you will have two arms where you pinched most of the time. Do not repot. They like being pot bound. Allmost all of your cuttings will root if you plant them in potting soil. They may rest awhile after blooming. This is still the best time to pinch them. Any arm that goes crazy may be pinched anytime.

Yet another.

The Christmas Cactus is one very easy plant to have and to work with. They produce nicely in the short days of early winter. Our Meyer Lemons are both blooming profusely right now. A few begonias are blooming. From all the cuttings we tried to root this year only one Coleus failed. This year I used alfalfa and kelp as a tea with a root promoting hormone. I have Geraniums from four years to one year in the same pot all pushing buds now. They may open by Christmas. This is a second bloom of the Geraniums since we brought them in.

My Thor Kiri-Love this color!