Forcing blooms or encouraging blooms on Christmas cactus

I have a healthy small cactus that I repotted this year to a 9 inch pot from a 4 inch pot. It had lived for 20 years in the small pot, forming a very woody stem and exhibiting good health.

Now it is suffering just a bit from transplant but still healthy. I have it under bright artificial light 18 hours a day at a temp of 62 degrees.

What can I do to promote blooming?
and why is there not a link to post a picture?

Thank you.

Hi there. I am no expert but my Christmas cactus, and I have several, bloom every December without fuss. I treat it like any other houseplant, water it when it is dry, feed it simple house plant food every watering. They sit on my bedroom windowsill which only gets minimal sun as I live in a wooded canyon. My bedroom stays between 60 and 72 degrees and it only receives the light that comes in the south-face window. I have a tendency to think "to much light" for your cactus. They really do bloom in late Fall and it may just be missing the signal.

I found this site with some interesting ideas:
http://leon.ifas.ufl.edu/news_columns/2003/122503.pdf

I agree with Dee. That is how I treat mine. I have also noticed that some fertilizerin spring and summer is appreciated.

Hi reddog, the "Post a reply" space has an "upload images" area below the box I'm typing in. I'm not too good on the computer but have managed to drag in a picture or two, so I figure anyone can do it!
I'm not sure what kind of cactus you have, it would be helpful to see a picture. A lot of plants have blooming triggered by the change from longer to shorter days, or vice versa, so continuous unchanging light might have something to do with it. Also make sure it drys out well between waterings, and go very easy on fertilizer.

Whoops, I just realized you are talking about Christmas cactus, sorry! I think the link that
Dee left is excellent and quite detailed. I'm trying to get a Christmas cactus started myself, and am happy to get advice.

Nopala - Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera) is in the cactaceae family but they are from tropical/subtropical Brazil. They live in a humid environment unlike their southwest cousins. Letting your plants dry out in between waterings is always a sound practice though.

We must have been typing at the same time, how funny. They are really easy plants to grow, they don't require much light. My houseplants seem to bloom and do there thing without much care but I don't heat my house much or open and close drapes so they get light and temperature changes.

I make sure my Schlumbergeras have cool nights 50-60º in Sept./Oct. and then mine bloom no problem.

Blooming is triggered by the amount of light the cactus get during the day - as the days shorten and temperatures drop, the plants take a short snooze then go into bloom mode. But, its not the amount of light the plant gets during the day, but the amount of dark the plant gets at night. Un-interrupted dark - every time the light goes on, the plant starts counting all over again.

To get your Christmas (or Thanksgiving or Easter) Cactus to bloom, drop the temperature to the low 60's and put it in a spot that gets natural light only. After the buds set, put them someplace where you can enjoy them but the flowers will last longer in a cool room.

Reddog, be careful of over watering in such a large change of pot size. Usually, giving a plant 1 inch all the way around is enough. Christmas Cactus really only need a pot big enough to hold them up.

My Christmas Cactus blooms every year. In fact right now it has buds for a second bloom. It lives in my "open plan" kitchen/dining room area with lots of windows to the east and west, but gets no direct sun. At night in fall/winter is usually only gets down to mid 60s at night, sometimes not even that low if I had a fire in the woodstove, as the area holds heat very well. The lights are on most evenings, often until after midnight. The night is very long here in winter, we are a bit further north than Illinois, but I recall having one in NY that bloomed well and lived in a well-lit place.
Mine here did not bloom well for a year or two, it needed more fertilizer and more water. So now I make more of an effort to water more than once a week, and give it a bit of fertilizer in the spring and summer.

Hmmm--
are you all talking about Thanksgiving cactus--aka Holiday cactus
or the TRUE Christmas cactus???? This blooms sometime in December.
Most people use the term "Christmas cactus" when talking about the Thanksgiving cactus.

One blooms around Thanksgiving--and those blooms, kind of, angle upward from the tips.
The true Christmas cactus has smooth leaf edges (no spikes) and has a drooping
growth. The blooms on this one hang straight down.

1---Holiday/Thanksgiving cactus. Spikes on leaf edges and blooms point up.

2--"leaves" on the True Christmas cactus--droop downward and have smooth edges.

3--True Christmas cactus blooms hang straight down.

4---Christmas cactus bloom--closer.

Gita- You are correct, my plant appears to be some type of "Thanksgiving Cactus"- but it blooms at Christmas. Just to make us all even more confused, there is also an "Easter Cactus". And of course various cultivars.
I spent a nice hour looking at articles about these plants, and they seem to need similar care, so hopefully my comments will help and not make things worse if RedDog has the real thing.

Easter Cactus is in the genus Hatiora. The flowers are quite different (although the plants looks similar to Christmas cactus). Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus are both in the genus Schlumbergera. All three are referred to as Holiday Cactus.

Christmas Cactus have a more rounded leaf and Thanksgiving Cactus have a spikier leaf. They will bloom anytime that the criteria for setting blooms is met: cool temperatures and sufficient darkness.

If you are managing to get your plant to bloom, you are doing things right. If not, try again next fall.

Just a note: Hatiora and Schlumbergera are both epiphytic, meaning they don't grow in the ground but up in a tree in rotting leaves and organic matter that gets caught in the crooks of trees. To mimic those growing conditions, use rich, well drained potting soil and plant in a pot big enough to hold up the plant but not any bigger. Keep moist in the growing season. Water less and lower the temperature in the fall and winter.

Daisy

Red Easter cactus. There is a white on too.

When I went home for Christmas, my sister passed on some a pot of some of my Mom's Christmas cactus to me. The problem is, she told me I'd need to go ahead and repot it as it's not in much soil. I think the pot is probably okay. Is it okay to use a cactus potting soil for this. It has fertilizer in it. I didn't know if I needed to be fertilizing it in the winter.

Thanks so much for your advice. This is very special since it's Mom's. I sure don't want to kill it.
~Susan

Waydown---

I am sure others could chime in with their advice---but here is what i think.

You need to remember that Christmas cactus are Epiphytes (Epis for short)
They live and thrive in crotches of trees in the canopy of tropical forests.
The DO NOT, naturally, grow in any soil.

Therefore--the best soil to use is a loose, humousy, well-draining, organic soil.
NOT cactus soil which is pretty heavy.
Maybe you could just top-dress it with some compost...leaf mold...Perlite
for aeration...etc. Maybe some Slow release fertilizer mixed in. Just a pinch.

X-Cactus is shallow rooted and does OK in a root-bound condition.
It also need a rest period just about now until beg. of March. So--no fertilizer
and cutback on your watering.

If you think the pot size is OK--I would NOT re-pot it. Who made your sister the expert?

Gita

It is amazing to me how the Easter cactus flowers look like Hatiora flowers but much bigger. I never realized Easter cactus were in the Hatiora family but now I definitely see it! Thanks, Daisy!

Here's my Hatiora (Drunkard's Dream) flowering in March 2013. Note that the wider leaves in back of the Hatiora are the original Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera buckleyi). The Hatiora leaves are the little ones that look like bottles (hence the common name!)

This message was edited Jan 17, 2015 1:58 PM

You are welcome. Its always fun to help. Your plant is unusual - I don't think I've ever seen another member of this genus. Or maybe I have and thought they were Rhipsalis.

Daisy

This message was edited Jan 17, 2015 4:29 PM

Nancy--you are right on the horticultural name of the Easter cactus.

Here---
http://www.guide-to-houseplants.com/easter-cactus.html

Gita

Hatiora salicornioides is a synonym for Rhipsalis salicornioides.

Yes, Rhipsalis salicornioides is a synonym for Hatiora salicornioides. I think the now preferred name is Hatiora. It is in the tribe Rhipsalideae, though.