How Often Do You Water A Zygo Cactus
Christmas Cactus is an piece of cake-care, attractive houseplant that can alive for a long fourth dimension. Here's a elementary guide on how to intendance for Christmas Cactus during its blooming period and for the long term as well.
Practice you want a cool blooming institute for the holiday flavor? Well, look no farther. Christmas Cactus, aka Holiday Cactus, is the one for you.
I happen to detect this long-lasting delicious houseplant very bonny. Don't transport it to the compost after Christmas because it's easy to care for and will abound for many years to come up if maintained to its liking.
Christmas Cactus vs Thanksgiving Cactus: There is a Difference
Showtime off, let'south get a fleck technical for those of y'all who geek out on all things establish as I do. My scarlet Christmas Cactus that you run across in the lead photo above and in the video is actually a Thanksgiving (or Crab) Cactus.
It was labeled as a Christmas Cactus when I bought it and that's how it's commonly sold in the trade. Most of us desire them to offset their bloom in tardily November and so it's one of those clever marketing things!
Nowadays you may come across them labeled for auction equally Holiday Cactus. Regardless of which one you have, you care for these popular epiphytic cacti in the aforementioned manner.
Both the Thanksgiving and the Christmas Cacti fall under the genus Schlumbergera, which I learned as Schlumbergia years ago. The Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) has lilliputian spine-similar notches coming off its leaves, just similar a crab hook hence that common name. The leaves of the Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) are smoother and rounder.
The Thanksgiving Cactus is timed to flower in November/December whereas information technology'due south December/January for the Christmas Cactus. In that location's also an Easter Cactus that is a bit harder to grow indoors and is timed to bloom in spring.
Notation: This post was originally published on 11/25/2017. It was updated 10/7/2021 with more than info & new images.
Y'all can spotter my Christmas Cactus care tips in this video:
Other Christmas Cactus Care Guides: Getting Christmas Cactus To Bloom Again, Christmas Cactus Repotting, Christmas Cactus Propagation, Christmas Cactus Flowering More Than In one case A Year, Christmas Cactus Leaves Turning Orangish
How To Care For Christmas Cactus
Below are things you should know nearly when growing and caring for Christmas Cactus plants. Relish!
Size
Christmas Cacti are most ordinarily sold in 4″ or 6″ pots. I've likewise seen them in half-dozen″, 8″, and 10″ hanging baskets.
Many years ago I saw one in a greenhouse in Connecticut with quite the weeping course that was actually big. It was over 6′ wide. Yes, they can be a long-lasting houseplant!
Light
They like and practise best in brilliant, natural light; a medium to high light exposure. Be sure to proceed them out of the directly lord's day and hot windows because their fleshy leaves will fire.
Although they don't do well in full sun, they exercise need bright light to grow, to bloom successfully, and to stay looking good throughout the yr.
Mine grows on the lesser shelf of a long table in my dining room with quite a few other houseplants. It sits virtually 7′ away from a trio of s facing windows in vivid but indirect light.
H2o
These epiphytic cacti differ from the desert cacti that I'thou surrounded by here in Tucson. In their natural rainforest habits, Schlumbergeras abound on other plants and rocks; not in the soil.
This ways their roots need to breathe. You lot don't desire to proceed them constantly moist or they'll eventually succumb to root rot.
Give yours a good drink and let all the excess h2o thoroughly run out of the drainage holes on the bottom of the pot. Allow the potting mix to become dry before you water it over again.
How often you h2o your Christmas Cactus depends on abode temperature, the exposure it's growing in, the pot size and blazon, and the soil mix it's planted in.
I h2o mine growing in an 8″ pot every 2-3 weeks in summer and every 3-v weeks in wintertime.
When your Holiday Cactus is blooming, water information technology a bit more often. Afterward information technology has flowered, back off on the watering in wintertime. You can increase the watering frequency in jump and summertime if demand be.
My Christmas Cacti grew outdoors in terra cotta pots in my Santa Barbara garden. Yes, they practise abound outdoors year round in temperate climates. I watered them every week in the warmer weather and sometimes not at all in the winter, depending on if we had rain or not.
Related: How to Water Indoor Plants
Temperature
In our homes, Christmas Cacti prefers warmer daytime temps (65 – 75) and to exist kept cooler at nighttime. They actually need those libation temperatures when setting their buds.
Santa Barbara wintertime temps could dip into the low 40'southward or loftier 30'southward and mine growing in the garden were fine. If yours has been outdoors for the summer, bring it into the house earlier the temperatures drib as well low. They tin't have a freeze and definitely not a blanketing of snow.
(It was Nov 21 equally I initially wrote this post and my Holiday Cactus in Tucson was already half bloomed out. The temps were in the low to mid-80's so I put it outside at dark with temps effectually 55F to try and prolong the bloom a bit).
Just know that the warmer your business firm is, the quicker the blooming period volition get past. Be certain to keep yours abroad from any heaters, and conversely, whatever cold drafts.
Humidity
These are tropical cacti so they prefer and do best with high humidity like the rest of your tropical houseplants. Our homes tend to be on the dry side so yous may have to up the ante a bit with the humidity.
I alive in the desert and have 3 Awning Humidifiers that I run in my kitchen, dining room/living room, and bedroom when the humidity inside gets below xxx%. This is the approximate I use to measure out humidity by the way.
If mine starts to look not as robust and a bit on the dry side, I'll also put it on a saucer filled with pebbles and h2o. Be sure to keep the bottom of the pot out of the water because you don't want whatever rotting.
Related: How I Increase Humidity For Houseplants
Fertilizing
I had never fertilized any of mine until I moved to Tucson. I would e'er better them with worm compost and organic compost every spring and still do. They always flowered fine. Hither in the desert where it's much hotter and drier, so I feed them a few times during the spring/summer.
Yours may not need it but if you similar to fertilize, yous tin use a counterbalanced liquid houseplant fertilizer (such as 10-x-10 or twenty-20-twenty) in early spring, early summer and mid-summer.
My friend used an all-around orchid fertilizer (20-x-twenty) on his Christmas Cactus once in spring and then again in summer and it looked great.
I at present buy a combo of organic worm compost/compost at our farmers marketplace. That'due south what I use for spring feeding and repotting and planting. I likewise feed my Christmas Cactus 4 times a yr March through September with Eleanor's VF-11 because the climate is tougher on it hither than in more boiling Santa Barbara.
Related: How I Feed Indoor Plants
Soil
As I said, Holiday Cacti grow on other plants, rocks and bark – they don't grow in soil. In nature they feed off leaf matter and debris. This ways they like a very porous mix that likewise has some richness to it.
The potting mix needs to provide first-class drainage because the roots of a Christmas Cactus can't stay constantly wet.
I use mostly DIY succulent and cactus mix that is very chunky forth with a bit of potting soil and compost mixed in. The DIY mix contains coco chips and coco cobweb. This environmentally friendly culling to peat moss is pH neutral, increases food property capacity and improves aeration.
Related: Repotting Christmas Cactus
My newly repotted Christmas Cactus (technically Thanksgiving Cactus) on the left & a yellow variety on the correct.
Pruning
The merely reasons for pruning would be if yours needed taming due to spreading over fourth dimension or if you want to propagate it.
Merely be certain to cut off whole leaf sections. They're like shooting fish in a barrel to identify because of the indents.
Propagation
Like most succulents, a Christmas Cactus is very easy to propagate. You tin can do it by leafage cuttings or by stalk segments as well as by division.
As you'll run into in the video, mine is actually 3 plants growing in i pot. I could easily carve up them by pulling the individual plants apart or by cutting the root brawl carefully with a knife into 3 separate plants. I'd plant them in carve up pots in the succulent/compost mix.
You lot tin take individual leaf cuttings by pruning the terminal leaf sections off. I prefer to twist them off whether information technology's a single leaf or a segment that to me constitutes a stem.
So heal off the single leaves or stalk segments for 5-seven days. Constitute in that loose mix with about 1/2-2″ of the finish sticking in depending on the size of the cuttings. They'll start to root in 2-4 weeks, depending on your climate.
I find that propagation is best done 2 to four months subsequently the flowering has stopped.
Related: Christmas Cactus Propagation
Pests/Problems
Mine has only gotten a touch of mealybugs (they look like little specks of cotton) which just I hose off. If that doesn't get them, I dab them off with a cotton wool swab dipped into 1 function rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water.
Easy on the rubbing alcohol – it tin burn a plant. You lot may desire to test information technology out on a modest department of the institute 1st and wait a few days to run across how it reacts.
They're also decumbent to spider mites. With whatever pest, you want to accept activity when y'all 1st see it because they spread like crazy.
Root rots can be a problem if you keep them too wet. The establish starts to whither, wilts, and then eventually dies. This is a very good reason not to overwater this establish.
Flowering
Vacation Cacti, similar Poinsettias, are photoperiodic. They require equal or longer periods of darkness to bloom once again.
So, they demand 12 – 14 hours of darkness per 24-hour interval. Showtime this reduction in light approximately half-dozen-8 weeks earlier you desire it to bloom.
Keep them drier at this process as this volition help force them into dormancy. Water them anywhere from every 4-half dozen weeks depending on the temps, the mix it's in, and the size and type of pot it's planted in.
You desire to proceed the temps betwixt fifty & 65 degrees F. l-55 degrees is best at night. If your temps are warmer, they'll require a longer period of darkness.
It can take a bit of endeavor to motion yours into a cupboard or basement every night but perchance you have a spare room that naturally has these conditions.
Afterward the flower buds start to appear, then you tin can motion them back to a bright spot, resume the intendance you were previously giving it , and enjoy the beautiful flowers.
If the buds on your Christmas Cactus are falling off before they open up, it could be because it'southward too wet or it's gone through some type of environmental stress (temperature fluctuations, too much sun, cold drafts, etc).
I've seen the flowers in red, violet, white, peach, xanthous, pink, and bi-colour.
By the way, mine that I grew outdoors in Santa Barbara bloomed on their ain. Mother Nature handles the darkness in fall!
Related: How To Get Christmas Cactus To Bloom Again
Pet Safety
Bravo! Holiday Cacti are non-toxic to both cats and dogs. Y'all and your pets can enjoy them with no worries. Here is more info on houseplants and toxicity in regards to our furry loved ones.
Some Of Our General Houseplant Guides For Your Reference:
- Guide To Watering Indoor Plants
- Beginner'due south Guide To Repotting Plants
- 3 Means To Successfully Fertilize Indoor Plants
- How to Clean Houseplants
- Winter Houseplant Intendance Guide
- Plant Humidity: How I Increment Humidity For Houseplants
- Buying Houseplants: fourteen Tips For Indoor Gardening Newbies
- 11 Pet-Friendly Houseplants
More Christmas Cactus Growing Tips
Don't rush to repot your Christmas Cactus. It'll bloom improve if slightly pot bound. Every 3-5 years is all-time, depending on how fast it's growing. Repotting it a 2-three months after bloom time is best.
If your Vacation Cactus is irresolute color, usually to an orangish/reddish/or brownish hue, that means it's stressed. Common causes are as well much sun or too little water.
H2o yours a fleck more often when information technology's flowering.
If you water one also often, evidently put, information technology'll mush out.
Conversely, too picayune water will cause it to shrivel and alter colour.
You can get a Thanksgiving Cactus to flower a bit afterwards by keeping information technology absurd – 50 to 55F. The flowers will open slower and last longer.
Spent flower blossoms can be removed by holding on to the leaf section and gently twisting them off.
Whether you call them Christmas Cacti, Thanksgiving Cacti, or Vacation Cacti, the care is the same. The Thanksgiving Cactus blooms about three-4 weeks earlier than the Christmas Cactus and is popular because most people want to get a jump on their Christmas flowers.
I was told by a grower that Thanksgiving Cacti ship easier because they're not as pendulous as Christmas Cacti and the leaves tend not to break off. Hence, they're sold as Holiday Cactus.
Whichever one you take, it makes a long-lasting houseplant. Christmas Cactus intendance is easy and they're wonderful when in bloom. I recall I demand (want!) to get another one – how well-nigh you?
Happy gardening,
PS: If you are looking for your own Christmas Cactus you can get a scarlet one here.
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How Often Do You Water A Zygo Cactus,
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