Marjie:

First, congratulations on raising a daughter who listens!

Second, do not repot while in bloom; wait until all the blooms have faded.

I would pot them separately but put in a larger catch pot together. That way they look as if they're potted together. You can put a layer of rocks or pebbles in the bottom of the catch pot if it doesn't have holes so your choices are great in what you use. You can also put sphagnum moss sparingly around the top to further the illusion.

Mine have lived happily for donkey's years in a mixture of cactus soil and perlite which I change out after blooming in the Spring.

Remember, these are succulents; not true cactus so they need water more often. I check the soil when I'm filling my African violet reservoirs.

Check out the cacti and succulent forum. Most of the people there also frequent this forum but you might find more information/posts when doing a search.

Linda

Oh! I almost forgot: Watch these babies carefully; the ones from Wal-Mart are packed in almost straight peat and get hard as a rock if allowed to get completely dry.

Marj, I second Congrats on raising a child who listens. :)

What is a Spring Cactus? Toni

Hi Marjie,

Glad your plant made you so happy, but I too have no idea what a Spring Cactus is.

Pls. don't repot it until the plants are done blooming, or you may lose the rest of the blooms.

Since you feel it's so wet, perhaps set the pots on top of some stacks of newspaper (we/out the saucer) to the paper will absorb some of the extra water until you can repot.

It's difficult for us to give advice on an unknown plant, if you do't know the botanical name, perhaps post a couple of pics so we'd have a clue?

ok-- the tag on it said Spring Flowering Cactus. No botanical name on the tag. But here is a pic of them.

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Hope this helps some-- :)

I haven't googled it yet to see the real name of them. The soil is really REALLY WET, not sure what to do about that while they are in bloom. Any advice?

Pirate-- sorry-- somehow I missed the newspaper idea, will give that a try-- thanks :)

You lucky, lucky girl, those are Easter Cacti! I never see them for sale around here. What beauties, great color too! Can't really give advice as I'm still learning these myself (& have failed w/ a couple of 'em), they're said to be fussy.

No need to apologize, nothing to be sorry for. It's likely I learned that tip here (to set the pots on a stack of newspaper to absorb off some of the excess water). That's what we're here for ;>)

I'd go w/ Linda's advice since she said she grows 'em -- Enjoy!

Yep-- Easter Cacti-- (tag said Spring) they were hard to find, luckily, of all places we looked, Walmart was the ONLY place we seen them, and that was just a few in front of the entrance door.

I hope they aren't "too" fussy, I really want them to last. They seem very delicate, hope that is just cuz they are new and will be stronger later on. But anyway-- I'm a happy camper right now.

Any advice on these would be very much filled with gratitudes-- :)
Marjie

Yay!!! I remember reading that you really wanted one of these and you got two, even better! Yours look exactly like the two I picked up at wally world today. I gave my mom the orange one (and a hoya rubra) for mother's day and kept the white one for myself. My mom's was super wet, so i took it out of the little sleeve they have over the pot so it could dry out some...I'll have to tell her about the newspaper thing.

Wal-Mart sells these guys at Easter and Mother's Day. They go really fast. At our store they came in on Thursday, I got mine on Friday and on Saturday night they were gone!

I, personally, would not put them in any kind of gritty mix; just run water through them to rinse out salts every month or so. They are not delicate. Mine actually did really well in a north-exposure sitting directly over a directed-away-from-them floor air duct. Now they are in a south-exposed window under a porch overhang and are doing just as well. They have had profuse blooms in both places.

Why do you think your plants are delicate? They look healthy and happy to me. Pot them up in better soil when they stop blooming and water when they feel dry. You could get a moisture meter. Some might disagree but I think they are a good investment/guide for newbies (and oldbies, too).

Try not worry. It's just my opinion, but I believe when we do, plants become a point of stress instead of joy and fun. Of course, this from the woman who practically got ulcers when she first started growing African violets! :-)

Linda

Stonesriver/Linda..."all cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti", as an old text book said. ;-) That's a true-ism, but in this example we're talking about plants that are really and truly cacti which have simply evolved in hugely different environments.

There are true cacti (in the Cactaceae family) that are native to (mostly)South and Central American rain forest areas; many of these plants are epiphytic (tree dwelling) or lithophytic (rock dwelling) in nature. Though these much loved plants seem so different than those cacti that are native to very arid climates, they still have enough similarities that they all belong to the same plant family.

Probably the most striking similarity between the 'jungle cacti' and the 'desert cacti' is that after millions of years of evolution, they have both discarded their leaves. All cacti (with very few exceptions) have their stomata on their stem tissue.

The genera that have evolved in areas of extremely low rainfall have modified leaves called spines, a successful evolutionary feature well designed to keep thirsty animals away. The tropical cacti don't have such protective devices, but live high in rain forest trees or along cliff faces that make them inaccessible to any animals that might want to munch on them.

The moral of this story is that Lamora's Easter cacti are not only succulents but true cacti, as well. (Not that it matters a whole lot, but I think it's interesting!)

Marj, ah, Easter Cactus. Botanical name is Hatoria gaertneri or synonym Rhipsalosopsis rosea.. But, it's easier saying Easter Cactus, lol.

Both your EC are beautiful. Orange is fairly common, but I've never seen white. You really lucked out. Other colors EC comes in are light purple, dark purple and deep red.

I got my EC in 2009 from HD. The reason I chose the specific EC is flowers were red on one side, orange on the other.

{{gwi:86864}}

This year it bloomed in December. Nowhere near as many blooms and only one color, boo hoo..lol

{{gwi:86866}}

Our Walmart used to sell hundreds of EC's, same w/HD. Since 2009, both stores cut back or stopped selling them, period.

Marj, can you keep Thanksgiving Cactus? If so, I don't see why an EC would be any harder to keep. Except for bloom time, care is the same. Toni

Thank you, Rhizo. Don't know where my head was at that moment. Methinks it must have been late. :-)

But most of all, I thank you for correcting me so nicely .... a skill too few possess.

Linda

Those are very pretty! Congrats!

Thank You all!
Yes-- My daughter does listen to me-- sometimes more than I would like her to-- ;)Ummm teen years were way different tho-- glad she outgrew that.

So far I am happy with them. (two days) lol
The reason I think they are delicate is because on the way home some of the leaves were falling off. Found one again this morning too.

They had pleanty of white ones, but just a few orange. Red ones didn't looks as "spry" if that is the word I'm looking for. Kinda droopy. But still pretty none the less.

I don't have a Thanksgiving Catus, but believe me- I will be looking for one. My daughter has a Christmas one (are they the same thing?) and she wants to give me a cutting from that. I can't find anything on the different kinds of "holiday" cactus. Just Easter and Christmas. I am going to look harder tho. How many are there? I think there should be 4- Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall... that would be koolness! ;)

I should have put them outside today.. I had a headach all day and silly me,, didn't think about it till now. There is a few hours left, maybe put them on the back porch. Sun will be hitting the front real hard soon.

Do they like full sun? being a cactus and all? I would think they would, I am just making sure.
Different sites have different care for them. One said partcial sun, one said full. So far that is the only thing that concerns me some.

Anyway-- thanks again..
Marjie :)

No sorry, Marji,

These are jungle cacti, they do not like full sun, they are not desert plants. They originate in tropical rain forests, where they grow in the crooks of trees branches & the like, so they only like dappled light (like through leaves or canopy). (They can & do burn when exposed to direct sun, especially too strongly or too quickly.)

Pls. don't fuss over the occasional dropped leaf segment, that happens.

Pls. go to the Cactus & Succulent Forum (next door) & do a search for 'Holiday Cactus' & our favorite link will come up, showing detailed line drawings which distinguish btwn Christmas, Thanksgiving & Easter cacti, their leaf segments are shaped differently & so are the blooms (btwn TC/CC & EC).

Toni,

I can't explain why, but there are decidedly fussier than the TC & CC (which I now have as well). If you search around the literature, I've seen several places where folks suggest they're finickier than the other 2.

I've lost 3 EC in the last couple of yrs. tho' once I read to only bottom water it, then that one lasted a year; tossed it last month was D-E-A-D!!!

They just do not behave the same IME.

Pardon my typo -- that should read

"they are decidedly fussier ..." excuse me.