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by rooting one of the leaf segments. The leaf segments will root easily when stuck in damp vermiculite or gravel. Most gardeners will buy or be given potted plants, usually in bloom. Take the foil off the pot and place it in a bright, sunny window. Make sure the pot has drainage holes. There is no need to rush to re-pot the plant as most Holiday cacti actually prefer to be root bound.

Plants found in stores are usually only labeled by color not by variety name. It is possible to find named varieties in catalogs and at better garden stores.

Your Christmas Cactus will bloom longer if your house is on the cool side, especially at night. Temperatures below 50 degrees or drafts may cause the plant to drop its buds. These plants need to be watered when the top of the soil feels dry, but don't over water.
Constantly wet soil will cause root rot. When not blooming, the cacti will survive longer without water, but if the stems feel limp and flat you need to water.

To get your Christmas or other holiday plant to bloom again it needs a summer vacation. After all danger of frost has passed put it outside in its pot in a shady location in the south, partly or lightly shaded in the North. If the light is too bright the cacti will either turn reddish or bleach out. Make sure the plant will not sit in water when it rains. Bring the plant back in before frost.

The Thanksgiving or Christmas cacti need lengthening nights and cool temperatures at night to form buds. Keep the plant in a cool room with bright light and no drafts for best results. The trip outside will generally have allowed enough naturally shortening daylight to start buds forming. Easter Cacti begin blooming as the days start to get longer.

If you cannot put your plant outside for the summer, move it to a window where the sunlight is not too hot and strong in the summer. By late summer it should be getting cooler nights, about 55 degrees, and the same amount of light that is outside. You may want to cover it when it is dark outside or move it to a closet. Sometimes just the cooler nights will start buds forming. Once the buds have formed they usually continue to develop despite getting light at night.

When the cacti have buds try not to move them to another location. This will sometimes result in dropped buds. Easter Cacti are a little harder to get to re-bloom and a little more sensitive to drafts and improper watering, but worth the extra trouble.

In the early spring it doesn't hurt to give these cacti a little liquid house plant fertilizer, just once and not too much. You can also pinch the plant back to promote more branching. The segments you pinch off can be rooted to start more plants. Stop pinching after June 1st or you will not have buds in the fall.

Christmas and other holiday cacti can live for decades; many people have plants 30 or more years old, passed from generation to generation. Every three or four years you may want to re-pot the plant. Use a mixture designed for cacti or mix peat, sand and vermiculite in equal amounts. These rainforest cacti like slightly acidic conditions. If you use hard, alkaline water to water them you may want to add 1 teaspoon of vinegar to each gallon of water to increase the acidity.

If you care for it well that small plant you got this Christmas may become a large beautiful plant you pass to your grandchildren in 30 or 40 years.

Learn more about this author, Kimberley A. Willis.
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