What's the difference? Does the Christmas variety bloom later? I'd like to know what mine is...

Josh

Hi Daniella,

Very nice pix, one happy plant, congrats!

Josh, the diff. is not all that significant & thru the yrs., these have been so heavily hybridized (so I've heard) that it's hard to really get specific & correct IDs. Plus (I feel, since they take identical care that) it doesn't really matter except for swapping purposes.

It has nothing to do w/ timing of their bloom or who blooms later.

Two main differences: one is the leaf or stem segment shape. Thanksgiving tend to have the more jagged, pointier stem/ leaf segments. Xmas tend to have the more rounded leaf segments, no jagged points.

2nd difference is in the blooms, they hold their shape differently. I don't know the technical term for this, but one has flowers the same all around the whole flower (see above). The other type of flower initially looks the same, but when fully opened, 1/2 the flower flattens out, looking like you wacked it w/ a hammer. Sorry for the less than technical terms, but that IS the visual difference.

Thanks!

this link might make it easier to id holiday cactus

Bear

Here is a link that might be useful: Holiday cactus

The other dif with the flowers is that Xmas cactus flowers bloom str8 down, and the thanksgiving cactus bloom point outward as in my pic. There is also an Easter cactus which has dif segs, and if I remember correctly, completely dif blooms.
A friend had given me this awhile back cuz she didnt want it,and I didnt even know what it was! Came on here, and with help decided it was an xmas cactus..couldnt wait for it to bloom so I could figure out for sure what it was, lol. I am very happy with it. And it seems it is happy with me, living in a south window right next to my kitchen sink where it gets plenty of sun and moisture. I have so many more buds coming. I am very pleased!! I think these blooms are SO cool lookin!
I want to thank everyone who helped me with this..your advice is greatly appreciated! I just had to share my blooms with you all :)
Daniella

I noticed today that mine (Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter or Holiday whatever it is. . . ) has a few small buds on it. Teeny weeny like the size of a pin head so far, but they were't there Monday. I have never had one bloom before so I am excited to see it.

My delima is this, I watered it really well Monday not knowing it had blooms, and I stuck a fertilizer spike in it as well so it has broke down and started to do its thing, is it OK to feed during flowering time? I think I may post this question just to see for sure. BTW, very pretty plant.

Thanks Maid :)

I never slowed down on watering mine, and it didnt hurt it. Since I have gotten it I always water once a week. I also used MG right before it got buds and it didnt hurt it at all. I used the granulated that you put in water though. Since it didnt seem to have any neg effects the first time I just did it again yesterday. Another thing I did that I didnt know I wasnt supposed to, lol..was that I moved it around alot. Changed spots a few times, was turning it for equal light on all sides in front of the window. I didnt get any bud loss. The only prob I have had is that my cat keeps pulling off buds now as they form. Every day I see new buds, and the lil b****** pops em off. The ones he cant get to are still blooming nicely. He's even been tearing pieces of segments off..must not taste good cuz he just leaves them on the counter like the buds. So why in the world does he keep doing it? lol. dumb cat.

It is very exciting isnt it? I think yoursd will be fine and bloom nicely. Waiting for those buds to get big enough and bloom was like torture for me, lol. Good luck, and post pix when it blooms!!

Daniella

"He's even been tearing pieces of segments off..must not taste good cuz he just leaves them on the counter like the buds. So why in the world does he keep doing it? lol. dumb cat."

Cats are scoundrels, aren't they! Ha!
Truth is, the segments dangle enticingly (hard for any cat within reach to resist) and probably feel really good on his paws and claws!

Josh