General care and how to get your Christmas Cactus to bloom year on year.
The Christmas cactus has been my top seller this festive season, with good reason. It's a blooming succulent that is easy to care for and provides you with gorgeous coloured flowers.
This plant can survive for decades- you can pass this down your family generations to come. An heirloom plant!
Though they are cacti, they're not desert-dwelling plants. Technically several species under the genus Schlumbergera, the plants originated in the shady, humid forests of Brazil and actually grow as "epiphytes" up in trees where the branches meet. They have stem segments and profuse flowers that can be a variety of colours including salmon, hot pink, deep red, pale pink, and a lovely snowy white colour.
Re-pot once a year or two to maintain healthy growth. This can be done at the end of March, which is the beginning of their growing season. Use Soil Ninja cactus compost which will provide suitable drainage. When potting on, choose only a slightly larger container each time as they like to be snug in a small pot.
After flowering a resting period is required. From late January to late March, reduce the watering to only occasionally so that the compost does not completely dry out and reduce the temperature to 12-15°C. This can be done easily by moving to a cooler room.
The growing season is from April-September which you can increase your watering and start feeding with our popular seaweed plant feed. During the growing season maintain temperature of 18-20°C if possible.
How to get your cactus to re bloom.
The Christmas cactus is a "thermo photoperiodic" plant. That means its flowers are affected by temperature (thermo) and light (photo) changes. Approximately 10 to 12 weeks before the time you want flowers, try to provide lower night time temperatures in the 12 to 18 °C range and dark nights uninterrupted by any light. You must provide the usual bright indirect light during the day.
Reduce watering at this time, but not to the point of wilting. Just let the soil get quite dry before watering. If you can provide temps around 12 °C then the completely dark nights are less important.
Do this for at least 6 to 8 weeks and you will see buds begin to emerge and the flowers will open a few weeks after that. Note: Do not move or rotate your Christmas cactus while the buds are developing or they will drop off.
The closer you come to achieving these conditions, the more blooms you will get, but don't become a slave to these pre-bloom conditions. Well-established plants that have been in the same pot for a long time will often bloom without the cool, dark nights.
