ew
Cuttings are looking good, and nice haul from your tailor.
Here are few rhipsalidopsis segments I potted up recently - they just fell off original plants .
Two are in mix of perlite and grit, and 2 in perlite+grit+little soil. So far they look same to me. They are outside, in filtered shade:

Rina

Great pics!

Ew & Ariana, both of your last pic look like a hybrid between TC & CC with the scalloped and then pointed segments.

Camellia
I don't have a clue :)...here are the flowers of that plant in last photo:

Rina, based on the flower, it's a Thanksgiving cactus but so neat with the segments how most of them are scalloped like a CC until the end with the points like the TC. Looks like a hybrid to me.

I don't have a clue either, but your CC looks great to me! That mix of colour looks really nice. Keep me posted on your SC, I'm curious if there will really be any difference at all.

Do you use the rocks to try and prop the cuttings up straight? Or just so they don't fall out of the mix?

ew
Both. I use larger ('turkey') grit as topdressing, and rocks to prop up if propping is necessary, and sometimes for decoration :) - if I find some nicer ones.
I have another TC that has more orangey color - grown from a cutting; the leaves are more pointy:

I didn't really want one originally because they take up so much space. But then two coworkers gave me TC cuttings (supposedly red). And then of course I couldn't pass up the CC cuttings (supposedly pink). Not sure if I can handle even more! Might need a new growing spot...

I've been reading up on older forum posts and found this old old webpage: Differences between 3 holiday cacti (web archive)

For my two sets of cuttings, I have no photos of what the flower look like yet. I don't really know how my friends/tailor can get so many flowers, yet not take a single photo!

Do you have any experience in how long it takes from cutting to blooming?

p.s. If you ever end up with an excess of Rhipsalidopsis segments, I'd happily take one off your hands.

Rosie

They are both beautiful plants. All of mine are much smaller over all. The stems get woody with age. And coloring on the leaves ('measles':) is np, just reaction to more/less sun exposure, and temps. Your plants are very healthy looking.

Few ppl trim them quite a bit - but if you have enough space for them, they will look fantastic full of blooms.

Rosie you might want to change out the dirt next spring as you mentioned that all you have been doing is top dressing. The soil at the bottom of the pot probably has broken down which will cause trouble with root system. Though it looks like you will need at least 4 hands to do it, LOL!

Fred

you might want to put chicken grit on top to keep in the perlite, otherwise the perlite will try to escape when you water ...

Thanks Rina! I was hoping the measles were not contagious! lol I know the red rimming is ok, but the "measles" were a first.

Hi Fred! Actually I did misspeak. I thought a while about what I did to them about a month after I brought them here and I remembered.

When she gave me those two plants I did pull them out of the pots and add fresh soil. The Easter Cactus has almost no soil and was stuck big time to the sides of the pot. I had to run a knife around it to get it out. Broke a lot of pieces off but managed to find homes for them.

The Christmas cactus pulled out of the pot pretty well, but again broken pieces EVERYWHERE,,,,,,but it also got fresh soil. I will just top dress them now.

Next spring I will take them out into the grass (my favorite "tablecloth!") and literally unpot and redo again. And cut back again!!!!! If I don't they will become unmanageable. These things are HUGE and heavy. And you are right, I will need 4 hands but alas,,,,,,I only have 2! Rosie

I don't know what you mean by escaping perlite. I have never had anything escape. When I repot anything I always put some sort of barrier in the bottom of the pot. Usually paper towel, napkins or newspaper (no glossy). By the time it degrades, the plant is again potbound and I have never had anything come out the bottom but excess water. Rosie

If there is a lot of perlite in a mix, it tends to float up during watering. If you put grit on the top then it stops this from happening. Here is how mine looks on top:

Most of us here are using plastic at the bottom of our pots to prevent the mix from spilling out. This plant is not a Schlumbergera, but you can see the black fiberglass window screen at the very bottom:

As for an update on how my cuttings have been doing since July, it took a long time but they are finally growing! Both are now under lights for the winter, so I think growth should pick up even more (at least, I hope).

Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti don't grow in gritty or fast draining mixes like desert types do. That's not to say they won't, but it's not the best type to chose for them. Their natural habitat is the jungle where they grow as epiphytes attached to branches. The leaf litter collects and rots down to form a rich moisture retentive humus often in the angle between a branch and a trunk and this is where these type of cacti grow in the wild. The air is often damp and there's high rainfall in this shady type of environment. Therefore they need a mix that is fairly high in organic matter and that retains moisture well in order for them to thrive. Leaf mould made from collected and partly decomposed leaves, rough garden compost that hasn't broken down fully with some added bark chips is what I grow mine in. They get a small amount of fertiliser and regular drenchings. They are kept in the g/h year round but are shaded from direct sunlight....just as they would be in their natural habitat.

Gill UK

Agreed! I just wish good bark didn't cost a fortune here. =(

If I repot in the future... maybe I'll splurge on bark for my Schlumbergeras...

I think this is an Easter one ... I do admit to loving it more when it is in bloom lol!

Just bought a 10lt bag of bark for my desert roses only the other day, it cost £8. How does that compare Eww?

Tahneal, the pics above look more like a Thanksgiving cactus to me. Easter cacti gave more rounded segments.

Gill UK

Gill - It's about £6.80 here for the same amount. Okay - not as bad as you guys!

What size do you use for the bark?

Gill you're probably right. I know it flowers for me at Easter time, being in Australia :) I have the tag for it.

I grow my Thanksgiving cactus in orchid bark. I use the same for my Easter cactus.

Tommy - mind showing what your orchid bark looks like? It varies greatly in size and type. Thanks!

It's Miracle grow coarse blend orchid mix.

Eww, sorry I missed your post asking about the bark size that I use, I'll open the new bag for you tomorrow. It's 8.15pm here in the UK at present so I can get a better picture in the daylight for you.

Gill UK

Gill - not a problem and don't have to open a new bag on my accord! (Not sure if opening it and leaving it would be bad).

Just the other day I bought two bags of different orchid mix (but for my mother-in-law's orchids). One was fir bark, charcoal, and perlite. The other was fir bark and coco coir. I ended up mixing both bags together.

Almost the same price as reptibark, but much bigger chunks. Probably not as good and not sure if I regret the decision.

One bag was Farfad orchid mix, the other Better Gro orchid mix. I've also used Promix orchid mix earlier this year, which I see as being inferior with very large chunks of bark. In my opinion, none of the three seem all that suitable for Schlumbergera.

But seeing good results (and mixes) from you all helps give me a better idea of which bark leads to success.

Eww, that's odd, I definitely posted a reply to you last night and it has disappeared from this thread!! Have read about other posts evaporating like this....oh well.

Anyway, here is a pic of the bagged bark that I bought, not much use putting one of my coins beside it as they are different from yours, so here it is with a tape measure...which I assume is the same, lol!

Nomen - Thanks! Yours looks like the Farfad orchid mix that I bought, except your pieces are a better size (smaller).

Gill - Strange that your post disappeared. That bark looks really good. I've seen the virtually the exact same stuff, but it's $6 CAD for a tiny ~1L bag.

Much appreciated for the photos!

The bark in link is the same ( See link provided below). The medium sized bark will have low % of pieces per bag that may need to be broken in to smaller pieces which are easily broken by nealry 100% of bag at uniformed thickness / thinness

The size of the bag & prices may vary depending on where you get it. I got mine at a farm feed and supply store where they offer larger bags for less $$ than a hydroponic supply store.

http://www.planetnatural.com/product/orchid-bark-medium/

I know this is an older thread, but wanted to mention my Schlumbergera are happily potted in bark now.

While my plants flowered very nicely over Christmas, the roots were pitifully small. Do NOT recommend perlite and grit for growing these.

Thanks all for the tips and I really wish I had switched over to a different potting medium many months ago.

Glad you did, I am getting some cuttings of Easter and Thanksgiving cactus shortly through a trade and was looking for rooting information. My plan is to pot them all together, and add different colors later on as I find ones I like. My space is such I can accomadate one larger plant, but can't be asked to pick which color I like best!

Forgive me for not reading the entire thread, but is that pure bark you have planted in? I am lucky on that I can get a lot of potting components easily where I live, would fine orchid bark be good? Shoukd I root in that, or something else?

Kim - I used pure reptibark for mine. Not sure how that compares to fine orchid bark? It's not very chunky.

Probably best to follow what Nomen and Gill have used. They definitely have a lot more experience with these than me. There are a bunch of other forum members who have done the same, just forget exactly who at the moment.

No idea about what's best for rooting them, hopefully someone else can chip in about that. I used perlite.

Ewwmayo, this is what the fine orchid bark looks like. I will probably use a mix of this and some cactus mix.

Personally, I would just use the bark only and skip the cactus mix. Of course, it's your decision and I'm new to growing these in pure bark. =)

Here is what I used:

For rooting succulents such as a jade (photo below) I use a gritty mix with virtually no soil

However for the buckleyi and truncata I use pure cactus soil

The picture ( from February )of the buckleyi on the left was started in October from 7 single leaf cuttings in pure cactus soil.. Under T5 lights, and lightly misted everyday until a change in leaf colour signified root growth..

This is it today in a south window

I have had no luck rooting schlumbergera in anything other than soil.. Good to see others have though!

My Thanksgiving Cactus is loving her new mix of fir bark, turface, and granite (60%, 20%, 20%). Just starting throwing out a whole bunch of new leaves, which was delightful to see since I purchased the plant from Lowe's clearance rack for $1.00 this winter! Booyah to Bark.