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Growing Christmas Cactus Plants: Watering, Light, Propagation, and More!
The Christmas cactus is a long-lasting holiday plant (move over, poinsettias!) that flowers in winter with colorful, tubular flowers in pink or lilac colors. Learn how to care for a Christmas cactus—how much to water this succulent, how to get a Christmas cactus to bloom, and how to propagate for a gift that will give year after year!
About Christmas Cacti
The Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi) is a popular houseplant that blooms indoors in the winter, so it’s popular at holiday time and makes a great gift, too. Unlike regular cacti, however, this is not a plant from a dry, hot, desert location. Instead, this is a succulent native to tropical rainforests, where they grow on tree branches and soak up the high humidity, dappled sunlight, and warm temperatures.
The bottom line: Don’t treat a Christmas cactus like a run-of-the-mill cactus! It’s important to water these cacti more regularly but also to be cautious of keeping them too wet. (See detailed care instructions below.)
Holiday Cactus Types
There are three main types of “holiday” cacti out there: the Easter cactus (S. gaertneri), the Thanksgiving cactus (S. truncata), and the Christmas cactus (S. x buckleyi). For simplicity’s sake, we refer to all three species as “Christmas cactus” on this page since the care is the same. See our article on the different types of holiday cacti and how to tell them apart.
Growing
How to Care for Christmas Cacti
- Plan to water every 2 to 3 weeks, but only water when the top one-third of the soil feels dry to the touch. For example, if the plant is in 6 inches of soil, water when the top 2 inches feel dry. (Use your finger to check!)
- When the soil is sufficiently dry, soak the soil until water runs through the pot’s drainage holes. Place a tray underneath the pot to catch the water. After 10-15 minutes, discard any excess water in the tray so that the pot doesn’t sit in water.
- It’s especially important to water well while the plant is flowering.
- From spring through early fall, feed every 2 weeks with a balanced houseplant fertilizer. Feed the cactus monthly in the fall and winter to encourage successful blooming.
- Prune plants in late spring to encourage branching and more flowers. Simply cut off a few sections of each stem; the plant will branch from the wound.
- If you wish, place the cut pieces in a lightly moist potting soil—they root easily after a few weeks and make for excellent Christmas presents!
How to Get Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom
The blooms of Christmas cacti and its relatives are triggered by the cooler temperatures and longer fall nights. The three main types of holiday cacti generally bloom according to this schedule:
- Thanksgiving cacti are the earliest and longest bloomers, typically producing flowers from late fall through mid-winter.
- Christmas cacti tend to bloom from early winter to mid-winter.
- Easter cacti bloom from late winter to mid-spring.
If your cactus is NOT blooming, it may be receiving too much light or too high temperatures. Here are some tips to encourage yours to produce flowers!
- To trigger blooming, nights need to be at least 14 hours long and days between 8 to 10 hours for at least six weeks. If you have strong indoor lighting that’s on at night, you may need to cover your cactus or move it to an area that’s exposed to the natural light cycle.
- Flower buds form best when the plant is kept in temperatures between 50 and 60°F (10 and 15°C).
- You can kickstart the budding process by exposing the plant to temperatures of about 45°F (7°C) for several nights in a row.
- Make sure that you are consistent with watering while the plant is in flower. If the plant dries out too much, it may drop its buds.
- If the cactus sheds its buds one winter, don’t worry: it should bloom the following year!
Types
There are three main types of “holiday cacti” available:
- Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera truncata) bloom from late fall to mid-winter and are often mislabeled as Christmas cacti.
- Christmas cacti (S. x buckleyi) bloom from early winter to mid-winter.
- Easter cacti (S. gaertneri) bloom from later winter to mid-spring.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Leaves on my plant are light green, not the dark green as shown on your plant pictures….any suggestions?
My cactus looks pretty healthy but it has lots of little "hairs", maybe roots, coming out of some of the leaves... like between sections. I hope I'm explaining myself... Should I just cut those leaves off and put them in water to sprout new plants?
My Christmas cactus is suddenly dropping the tip leaves off each branch. I fertilized it about two weeks ago. Give it some water every week. Any suggestions?
My Christmas cactus leaves are shriveling why?
Shriveled Christmas cactus leaves commonly means overwatering. If the soil is wet, you might consider this as a possible cause. Overwatering causes the roots to rot, so that the plant can not take in enough water. To prevent, avoid excessive watering and make sure that your pot has drainage holes. Do not let the plant sit in water, such as a saucer filled with the water overflow. If you suspect that your plant has been overwatered, allow the soil to dry out before resuming normal watering.
Underwatering, of which dry soil is an indication, can also bring on these symptoms. Be sure to follow the watering guidelines in the article above to make sure that the plant is getting the proper amount of water.
Sometimes if one waters too lightly, the surface of the soil will harden, making it hard for water to penetrate. To remedy, soak the pot in a pan of water for about 30 or so minutes, then drain, to loosen up that layer. Then resume normal watering. If things still don’t improve, repotting with fresh soil might be necessary.
Salt accumulation in the soil, from fertilizer or hard or soft water, can also cause shriveling leaves due to root damage. Check for salt crusts on the surface and edges of the soil surface. To remedy, water the plant thoroughly so that it drains through the drainage holes. Let it sit for about an hour and then repeat. This will help to flush out the salts.
Sometimes a plant that is rootbound might also result in wilting leaves. In this case, repot into a slightly larger pot.
Hope this helps!
Hi, the leaves on my Christmas Cactus are turning red, do you know why this is and can it be rectified?
Thank you x
Hi Mary,
There are a few reasons why your Christmas cactus leaves have turned red. Excessive light, typically when it receives too much direct sunlight, can turn the leaves of a Christmas cactus a reddish color. It does best when placed in a location that receives bright, indirect light.
Other reasons for red leaves are a lack of water, magnesium deficiency, or your plant is too root bound. Christmas cactus like to be root bound, but should be repotted every 3 or 4 years. A sign that it needs to be repotted is if roots grow out of the drainage holes at the bottom of your container.
I have had Christmas Cacti for the better part of 33 years (one of the plants was thought to have “died” and was given to me when I said I’d like to take it - I was able to “coax” it back to life and have had it ever since, so who knows how old it actually is?) Regardless, I have always seemed to have had luck with these plants, watering about once every 3 weeks as well as rotating the pots a quarter of a turn. Just recently, a friend saw me do this and she said they should NEVER be rotated. I wonder now, what is the “proper” way? Even though I’ve managed to keep my plants alive for quite some time, have I been doing it all wrong?
Thank you for this great article. I may finally have some success with the new plant that I recently purchased. My plant already has a few blooms that have given all the beauty they can and I think they need to be removed. When and how is the best way to do this? Subject: Dead-heading Christmas Cactus blooms?
Deadheading all the spent blooms by pinching off the flowers. This also encourages the plant to continue blooming.
