Living in the south, the Savannah Georgia area, I inherited by material grandmothers Christmas cactus' in 1979, so today I have had them for 36 years. I have been able to clip and re-root pieces from the original two CC every year, in doing so passing a new cutting to a family member each year. My grandmother had them for years so, I would guess the two CC are about 50 years old. Things to remember.......always plant in a clay pot. Clay pots tend to let the roots breath better and helps the water drain better. What I have done for the last 36 years under the advise of my grandmothers sister, give the CC Castor Oil twice a year, this tends to give the CC nourishment and you can actually see the branches stand up more and look healthier. I have always kept my CC out on the front porch until the first frost, in the South that can be anytime between Oct 1st- 15th. When brought inside, I put my CC in a corner of the room were it can get some light but not direct light, a foyer or living room which lighting at night is deem, make sure not to place near a heater or vent where the heat from the heater will directly hit the CC. Water very light ( once a week, small cup) the months of October and November, you should usually start seeing buds in November or first weeks of December. Good Luck! Lawrence Garnto, Pooler, Ga.

Many people misunderstand cactus and think they can withstand heat and sun in a pot, with minimal water. But, in habitat, plants are not constricted to the confines of a pot, they send their roots out deep where there is moisture and cooler soil. Cactus in pots do not have this ability, and can burn easily in a sunny stagnant environment where the soil is dry. Peat moss as a main component in a cactus mix makes it worse. From the looks of your picture, you have the plants growing in a garbage can, which is nice because of the soil volume, but what is in the soil mix?

Yes, Renee, I made a mess of that, I posted without the pic., sorry :)

thanks all for the amazingly fast responses. I will go with Opuntia or "Opuntia ficus indica" since I've found a few pictures that look reasonably similar with labels - "Tall Indian Fig Prickly Pear Cactus Plant Opuntia Ficus Indica" and "Opuntia ficus indica 'Burbank Spineless'" To answer the sunlight question it is in a glass sunroom and gets as much sunlight as New Jersey can give it. The room is heated to a point and doesn't/shouldn't get below 45 on a cold evening. Even today, it was sunny out so it was in the low 60s in there while it was in the 20's outside. The only way to give it more direct sun would be to move its positon somewhat in the room, the late day sun isn't direct to its location. During the summer the windows need to be opened to keep it from creeping into the upper 90s and beyond. Its been out there for the better part of 10 years and has been pretty happy. I have a couple dozen plants out there including 2 pretty large Birds of Paradise I grew from seed and an agave that are all pretty happy. Now for part two, what does it have? There is a issue/disease/pest problem with it and 1 or 2 others in the same sun-room, it seems worse on 1 or 2 of the smaller plants. I noticed it in the last week or two, maybe a little longer. I haven't been spending much time out there the last month or two expect for watering etc.. It seems to start as brown spots and they progress into a depression. It seems dry in the cavities on the left picture. I read something today about soft rot and dry rot. I think I need to move fast tomorrow before the large mama plant (first picture above) gets hit to badly. It mainly has that spot shown in the bottom right picture below. thanks again