I agree with Zach, mine aren't finicky at all. I have 2 just inside a big window facing southeast. I treat them pretty poorly, water every couple of weeks, and they've bloomed for the last 3 years straight, around Thanksgiving. I was told there were 2 varieties, maybe the one that blooms later is finickier??? If you decide not to buy remind me before the spring swap, they're supposed to be really easy to propagate. I have a lighter pink and a crimson colored one.

I just walked out to the living room and looked--mine have buds, too! I know I bought mine in bloom a week or 2 before Christmas. I'll probably pick up another at Sams this year if they have some pretty ones!

Thanks Zach and Lizbest! Yeah, I didn't remember them as being finicky, so glad to hear both of you think that not as well - and have proof to show :)

The website I found was http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Christmas-Cactus. Among other things, it says you need 50 to 60% humidity, Caring for this plant can be a bit tricky, cannot tolerate completely dry soil. If the soil gets too dry, the flowers buds will drop, Change your watering schedule seasonally, and to get it to bloom at Christmas:When October hits, your watering duties are over. You can carefully resume a light watering in November and From September and October, the Christmas Cactus should be kept in a cool room where temperatures will remain around 50-55°F.

So you can see why I was a bit apprehensive!

At one of the swaps, Skybird gave away some leaf cuttings from her CC. Unfortunately, mine didn't take :( That'd be a great addition to the swap, Lizbest, if you bring some of your cuttings!

So now I think I'll give one of these plant sa go, especially since it's a fundraiser anyway.

Late to the party!!!

Yes! What Zach and Liz have said! I kind of wonder if the folks who gave those directions on how to grow them are able to grow them!!! Some folks can make the most simple things incomprehensibly complicated!

My directions are these:

Completely saturate the soil.

Wait for the soil to dry COMPLETELY, and then leave it stay completely dry for at least a few days--a week or two is good and won't hurt it! The foliage can actually be getting "limp" and it's not gonna hurt it!

Then COMPLETELY saturate the soil again, even leave some water in the saucer for an hour or so to be sure--but then remove any water that's still in the saucer.

Repeat the above ad infinitum!

Would add this! If it comes in some sort of a weird cactus soil, replant it in a "normal" good quality potting soil so you can tell when the soil is wet and when it's dry!

Mine all get whatever temps I get in the house! Normally a little over 70 in the daytime and low to mid 60 over nite! Ones I have in different rooms get different temps and I can't tell any difference at all in the plants!

To the best of my knowledge they bloom by length of day, like Poinsettias and a bunch of other things! I believe there are at least a couple different species, and I suspect I have that all written down somewhere--but I don't know where! In other words, I don't consider it to be very important!

If I'm right that they do bloom by the number of light hours, then it's best if they stay in a room that doesn't get much artificial light after dark until they start to bud. Artificial light won't change anything after they start to set buds, so you can move them wherever you want them so you'll see them all the time at that point!

From my experience, different "colors" bloom at slightly different times! The ones in my pots are mixed up--more than one color in a pot, and I don't think I've ever had "both colors" in full bloom at exactly the same time!

There are "different ones," I assume different species but don't know that for sure, that are called Christmas Cactus AND Easter Cactus. And that's roughly when they bloom. If you buy them when they're blooming you should be fairly close to when they'll bloom for you in future years--but I suspect a lot of them are "forced" for selling, so they might not bloom at "exactly" the same time for you!

The HUGE one I had for MANY years almost completely died last fall! Here's how--and what not to do! I had been on vacation for about 3 weeks so it had been completely dry for at least 2 of those weeks, so when I got home I decided it could use a GOOD soaking. I was right about that part, but what I messed up on is that rather than just soaking it really well and then letting it stay dry when it dried again, I soaked it really well a second time--and I'm not sure about this, but maybe a third time! The plant was really big and had been in a 6" pot for all the years I had it, so with so little soil I assumed it would be ok to water it more often to "help" it "get caught up!" ERROR! HUGE chunks of it started to fall off! It was rotting off at the base of the plant, and for several weeks I thought the entire thing was gonna die. As soon as I realized what was happening I STOPPED watering, but the damage had been done! In the end one little "branch" managed to survive my rampage and at this point I'm just carefully NOT overwatering it. Over winter I'm going to take some segments and start a few new plants. The reason this particular plant is so important to me is that it's "different" from all the others I have! It has slightly smaller real pretty (not hot) pink flowers that are double! All my other ones are singles! I believe this is one of the ones that's a different species--but then, where did I put all that info when I looked it up???

So, no matter what some Wiki Person says (remember, ANYBODY can put info into the Wikis! I've even made a couple Wikipedia corrections myself!), DON'T overwater it! My mother had a HUGE one--WAY huger than mine that almost died--and after both my mother and my father died, my brother, who didn't want to mess with it, stuck it out in his greenhouse (big, commercial!) and left it sitting out there without water for MONTHS! And in winter when they're not used the greenhouses are kept just barely above freezing so the water in the (heating) lines won't freeze! He grows lettuce and parsley out there all winter! So ignore the Wiki Folks and DON'T overwater! That's probably the one most important thing!

Oh, this! Some direct sun, or at least good bright light is probably good for them! I try to keep mine near a window where they get hit by the sun for at least a little bit each day, but I've also--ran out of room--had them where they didn't get any direct sun at all, and they seemed to do ok. I've never kept one by a north window, at least not for any length of time.

Oh, and this! They do seem to prefer to be pot bound, so don't be too anxious to pot them up to a larger size! I have one in a little 6" hanging basket (plastic pot with wire!) and it's been in there forever. The soil is all packed down and I think there may be less soil than roots by now, but it does just fine. When they've been in a pot that long it makes them harder to water them because soil that's that "old" gets really hard when it dries completely, so I generally just sit the whole pot in a bowl of water for an hour or so once a month--or whenever I get around to it!

I think there were a couple more "oh, and this's," but I can't think of them right now! Will be back if I remember them!

Here are a few pics of mine. None of the big one that almost died--I just never happened to think of taking a pic when it was blooming!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0FrFCSREQWAf6EDpuYADGfA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_21U6cwU-DjrobmrEaNLi_A0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HDLY-gTqNsu89ouwNmXJYvA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VcDMoVKpAVc2ZbbBxOc2hvA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ajFYHmmqcMxFfYcys6FeQPA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GS6JFB_JNvA8idQzmGr1tfA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

Skybird

Here’s more!

Misty, if you weren’t able to get the “leaf segments” to
root, the most likely problem is that you kept them too wet. I have a problem letting things like this
stay dry long enough too! It just feels
like I’m torturing them if I don’t water them soon after the soil is all the
way dry, but that really is what they need—even more when you’re rooting them. As a matter of fact, you can leave the “cuttings”
lay around for a week or even two before sticking them in soil, so that proves
that they do ok without frequent watering, but the problem is convincing the
human beings of that!

Liz, can you post pics of yours so I can see the
colors? I’d love to get a new color or
two. There’s a VERY light pink
one—almost white, that I’d love to have some day. If you don’t have pics, are yours different
from mine?

I can bring some pieces of mine to the swap again too if
anybody is interested. I also made up a
sheet for how to root them. At this
point I have the hot pink one, a deep red-orange one, and a lighter
salmon-orange one. I’ll try to remember
to mark them when they’re blooming so I know which is which when I give them
away! I also have what’s left of the
smaller lighter pink double one, but it’ll be a few years before I’m giving
that one away again!

Forgot this in my first post! After they finish blooming they’ll probably
look pretty bad for a while! It’s kind
of like they get all worn out when they bloom and it just takes them a while to
recover! Really important to not try to
“help” them at that point by watering them more than they need!

One of mine is starting to bud too! Haven’t checked out the others!

Skybird

I've had the same one for over 18 years. I've only repotted it once. It lives in a sunny East-facing window. I water it a bit once per week. Mine is blooming right now. Probably the easiest houseplant I have.

I wanted to add that I just received my new issue of Birds and Blooms magazine and they list the Christmas cactus in the top 10 easiest houseplants. It says, "This cactus asks for next to nothing from its caretaker and will readily live on for years and years."

So there ya go!

Why don't we all post our Christmas cactus pics here when they bloom? It'll be nice--posting flower pics in Nov/Dec.....mine are barely showing color, it'll probably be right at Thanksgiving.

Do you put the plant in a dark, cool closet for a month and then bring it back out? An aunt used to do this.

Heidi

Heidi, I do not. The only time mine ever get moved is to water them, and then they go back to the window.

Liz, I have ONE open flower and ONE almost open flower. I would probably have more, but my son picked a bunch of the buds off one day to give to his mother lol.

This one is a much better color, a salmony/orange color. It was a "rescue" plant that came from on top of my grandpa's refrigerator. Its been about 3 years since it got a new home, in the same planter as the the big one in the picture above, but still doesn't look very good. I might try re potting it once it's done blooming, or wait until spring and Ill get the instructions on how to root some pieces of it from Skybird at the swap.

I do not put mine away either. It happily lives in the bright East-facing window all year long. It blooms right about this time of year near Thanksgiving. It's budded out now. It had one bloom but when I was trying to turn it around to take a picture, the bloom fell off. So now you'll have to wait for the picture for a few days until a few more open up. Haha. Interestingly, it usually seems to get buds/blooms only one one side. No idea what that tells me. One side is happier than the other? I may give it some cactus fertilizer and see if that helps. But I've never fertilized it before, so I'll probably kill it!

You probably already know this Mama, but, wait until after you water to fertilize. Fertilizer on dry roots can burn them.

Mine also seem to only bloom on one side of the plant, maybe it's the window exposure?

Thanks, this is the kind of fertilizer that goes in the water. Now would probably be a good time since I did water it a little bit on Wednesday. Wednesday = Water day. WW. It's how I remember to water my plants every week.

That's interesting that yours only blooms on one side too! How very curious!

Mine are showing color on a few of the blooms, both plants. It's too dark in there to get a good pic, I'll try to take one tomorrow. Love the close-up pic, that's a beautiful color and bloom. I probably have the hot pink you aren't as fond of, Zach! I do like it though and that dark pink is my daughter's favorite color. The other is a showing pale pink, hoping it's the one you want, Skybird! I'm with Zach, would absolutely take cuttings to share if you'll tell us how to do it so we'd have the best chance of success!

I repotted mine last spring, actually went up 2 pot sizes because they were very root-bound when I pulled them out. They never drooped or complained, though, nor have they since.

I ordered mine from the lady at work doing the fund raiser. Should have it first week in Dec. I'll post pics of it when I get it! Excited to know it's an easy care for plant!!!z

Can't wait to see everyone's pics :) Yours are beautiful Skybird and Zach!

Hi all,

I was planning to reply to this thread when I first read the
most recent posts this morning—but—I decided to find out if I was right about
the “long nights” being what induces them to bloom—and I wound up spending
almost the whole day finding and reading info about Christmas Cactus!!! I’ll post some of the interesting tidbits
below, and some of this stuff is just “from me” since I’ve been growing them
for a long time now!

First off, I thought this was interesting—and potentially
helpful! I found out the three different
species for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter Cactus—and how to tell them
apart! Apparently what most of us have
are actually Thanksgiving Cactus!!!

Thanksgiving Cactus – Schlumbergera truncata

Christmas Cactus – Schlumbergera bridgesii

Easter Cactus – Schlumbergera gaertneri

From what I can tell, the above genus/species are
“currently” correct, however over the years these things have been reclassified
multiple times, so there are several different names you might find attached to
them if you’re ever looking something up!

Here’s how you can tell which one you have!

Christmas cacti have scalloped stem segments.

Thanksgiving cacti have 2-4 pointy teeth along the edges of
the sections and will bloom earlier than Christmas cactus if left to natural
day-length.

Easter cacti have rounded teeth along the segments and bloom
primarily in the spring but may also periodically re-bloom at other times.

I checked mine out, and the BIG one that almost died the
whole way, the one with the slightly smaller, double flowers is a Christmas
Cactus! The others I have are
“Thanksgiving Cactus!” That info, in
retrospect, makes complete sense, since mine—and most of yours—are blooming
now, around Thanksgiving, and the BIG one of mine has normally bloomed after
the others were done—generally closer to Christmas! Interesting!

I don’t think I have any “Easter Cactus,” but I’d love to
get one if anybody has one—or gets one!

I always wondered about this, and here’s something else I
found out about! The “foliage,” what
most people call “leaves,” (including me at times!) are actually “flattened leaf-like
stem segments" called “phylloclades!” The
plant doesn’t have any “leaves!” I
usually refer to “segments,” but at times you need another word and that’s when
I use “leaves!” It seems to me that
referring to “stems” or “flattened stems” would just REALLY confuse people!!!

For anyone who may be considering repotting theirs, I’d wait
until if’s fully “recovered” from blooming and is looking “good” again and
starting to produce new growth again.
Early spring should be a good time.

Here’s a bunch of other Random Thoughts From The Universe
about Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter Cactus!
BUT, if you have one and it’s doing wonderfully, just keep on doing
whatever you’re doing now! I believe
very strongly in the theory that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it!!! These are just some things to think about and
consider if you’re having some sort of a problem—or if you’re just starting to
grow them!

I rarely feed mine—it’s absolutely amazing how they just
keep going and going in the olde, rock-hard soil—but for anyone who wants to
feed, I recommend doing it after they “recover” from blooming, and over the
summer when they’re actively growing, and then holding off when it’s getting
close for them to start budding again.

A few weeks before they should be setting bud, watering can
be cut back some, as long as the foliage isn’t getting to the “limp” point, and
when they do start to bud and are blooming, be sure to not overwater, thinking
they need more water because they’re blooming!
A long time ago I had a problem with the buds forming and then dropping
off of mine before they opened, and I’m virtually certain it was because I was
watering them too much! I’ve also read
things online that confirm that they don’t want any “extra” water when they’re
budding and/or blooming.

Toward the end of the blooming period I almost always have
the “last” buds that start to form dry up and drop off! Once they start blooming, mine almost always
seem to keep going and going and going, and I believe it’s when they get “too
tired to keep going” that they just seem to give up on the last buds! As long as the first buds opened “normally”
for you, don’t freak out if you happen to notice this on yours!

In my online Christmas Cactus explorations today I’ve
discovered that cool temps help them set bud, so I’ve added that to my “rooting
instructions,” where I also give general info about growing them.

Here’s my “Rooting Christmas Cactus Cuttings” sheet that I
pass out when I give cuttings away This
includes comments about not knowing what color it is that the people who have
received cuttings from me received—which has NOTHING to do with rooting them,
but it’s just something I want to let people know about when I give them
cuttings! I’ll bring some of these
sheets along to the swaps when I give cuttings away, but since some of you want
to start some, I thought I’d post it here now!
For those of you that want to do it, wait until after they’ve
“recovered” from blooming before you remove segments to root—about two months
after they finish blooming. (And I’m
gonna try to mark them well enough this time that I’ll know what colors the
cuttings are when I give them to you all!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Rooting Christmas Cactus Cuttings

To root Christmas cactus break them into one or two “segment”
pieces, mark the “bottom” of each piece with a Sharpie—just to be sure they get
stuck right side up. Leave the segments
lay somewhere, out of direct sun for a day or two, and then stick the bottom of the single segment, or bottom
segment, 1/3 to 1/2 into new soil—as many in a (small) pot as you want—and so
they’re not touching each other under the soil.
Water thoroughly—bottom watering is best until they root—and then don’t
water again until the soil is completely
dry—then totally saturate the soil again—and keep repeating.

Christmas cactus seem to like being root bound, so when they start
getting big, don’t be too quick to pot them up to a bigger pot. If they’ve been in the same pot long enough
that the soil is getting really hard, either replace some of the soil or start
to bottom water to be sure they’re being thoroughly watered each time. Or else, when you water them, leave water
stand in the saucer for an hour or so—and if all that soaks up, add more until
no more is taken up into the soil, and then pour off the excess. They can easily go completely dry and stay
that way for up to a month without hurting them—though they will start to look
a little bit shriveled! Do not keep wet all the time!

Christmas cactus can take pretty much any light conditions, but I
recommend at least an hour or two of direct sunlight a day. They bloom by length of day, so when the days
start getting shorter you need to be sure they’re not somewhere near a light
where they’ll get too much artificial light to set bud. Keeping them in a room where you don’t very often
turn on lights is perfect. Cool
temperatures will also help them set bud, so if possible give them cooler temps
along with the “long nights!” Once they
set bud you can move them wherever you want them. Also, my cuttings are from all different colors,
so you won’t know what they are till they bloom—and mine are mixed up in the
pots too, so I can’t tell you which are which!
And some of the colors bloom at slightly different times, so don’t be
alarmed if part of your plant starts to bud—but part of it doesn’t! The rest will bloom later! When they bloom, if you see a color you
especially like, mark it (with a Sharpie), and then, wait about two months
after it’s finishes blooming and you can take some cuttings and root a plant
that’s just that color. (Writing on the
foliage with a Sharpie won’t hurt them!)
When they finish blooming they normally look pretty “worn out,” and for
about two months after they bloom, while they’re “recovering,” don’t overwater
them. Just let them sleep!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any questions about the rooting info—or anything
else I just posted here, ask!

I also found places online where people talk about rooting
them in water, and they seem to be able to easily do it, but they’re also very
easy to root in soil, so I plan to keep doing it the way I always have! If it’s not broken…..

I love the color of yours, Zach! I think one of mine is really close and I
call it orange-red. It’s hard to tell
from a pic if they’re identical! And I’m
with you on the hot pink ones! They’re
not my favorites—but they’re all pretty amazing when they’re blooming!

Liz, if you have any sort of a light pink, it’s one I don’t
have and I’d love a few segments to get one started!

One thing I might mention about taking cuttings from, or
“pruning,” your plants! Even if you’re
not planning to root them it’s not a bad idea to go over the plant after it
“recovers” and “strategically” remove some of the “end” segments! If any of the stems are longer than others
you can start to “even the plant out” by doing this, and, most importantly,
when you remove a segment(s) from the end of a stem, it’ll produce TWO stems to
replace the “single” stem you removed a segment from, so you get more stems after
pinching/pruning, and since the flowers grow on the end of the stems, the more
“stem ends” there are, the more flowers you should get! When you do it you can remove just one
segment, or two or more if you’re trying to reshape the plant, or if you have fairly
long “single” stems you might want to shorten them significantly and then
“pinch” them every time they grow 3/4 new segments so you wind up with a
compact plant with a lot of “stem ends!”

I really have been working on this almost the whole day so I
have to go! Food is usually on the
bottom of my To Do list, and I have definitely NOT gotten to the bottom of my
To Do list today!

Christmas Cactus are fun, easy--and beautiful--plants to grow, and I
recommend everyone give one a try if they don’t already have one!

Skybird

So both of the ones I have are Thanksgiving cacti! I didn't know about the different "flattened stems", I'll have to keep an eye out to see if I can get some of the other two types. I am an indifferent indoor gardener--I tend to spend most of my time outside during the spring and summer, so my TC probably only gets watered once or twice a month. I found these cool looking little ceramic spout thingies that slip onto the mouth of a wine bottle for self watering, I use those for the plants that would die with my watering schedule so I haven't killed any plants lately.

I don't want to inspire you to work though any more meals, Skybird, but do you have advice on jade plants? I had one in my house in Parker, it stayed in the same spot for the 10 years we lived there and did great. We moved to a rental in Elizabeth between selling the Parker house and end of construction on our current house and managed to kill that one. It was a very dark house, no direct sunlight through any windows, I'm sure that lack of natural light was the culprit. I bought another after we moved into this house and it's surviving but not doing great. Any advice would be appreciated!

Also, does anyone know what variety of jade plant can be grown outside year round in CO? My husband has relatives in Buena Vista and she had a jade plant growing outside that was at least 5' tall and around the same wide--it was amazing. I always assumed they weren't cold tolerant enough for our climate.

I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool indoor gardener either, Liz! I do have quite a few houseplants (hey, they
make OXYGEN!), but they’re all things that can go all the way dry, and even if
they spend a week or two screaming/cursing at me, they’re just fine when they
get watered again! So most of them are
succulents—aloe, jade, X-mas cactus, orchid cactus, sansevieria—but pothos and
spider plants can go all the way dry without dying too, so I have a few of
those here and there too. It IS nice to
have something GREEN to look at in winter!
So it is entirely possible to be “indifferent” and still have some
plants to look at and, occasionally pet!, over winter—and over summer none of
them need watering more than every two weeks, and a lot of them once a month or
less! Over winter I do bring my mints
(they can sit in a saucer of water) and geraniums (Pelargoniums!), and purple
fountain grass inside, so I wind up with a bunch of stuff to take care of—and
NEVER enough east/south/west windows!
Most of my windows are on the back—north—side of my house!

Jade is, if anything, easier than X-mas cactus to grow! Directions!
Let it DRY!!! Jade is one of the
things that usually only gets watered by me every 4-6 weeks, not unusual for it
to wait two months to get watered! The
leaves get “soft” feeling, but no harm at all to the plant. It’s as close to a “cactus” as you can get,
without being a “real” cactus!

Since your “temporary” house was “dark,” my guess would be
that it stayed too wet! Without light
plants grow less, hence they use less water, and with no direct sun it would
also be cooler and the soil would stay wet longer. You may not have even noticed that it was
staying wetter since you were probably used to watering it “however you watered
it before” and probably didn’t even think that you might need to change they
way you watered when you moved—not to mention that you had a LOT of other stuff
going on at the same time! (Been there,
done that, in terms of living in a temporary place—or two—while a house was
being “finished!”) For a few months the
lack of sun or even bright light shouldn’t have made that much difference to
the health of the plant. My two (only
ones I have right now) big jades are, and have been for 10 years, right next to
a north window where they never get any direct sun, and they’re doing just
fine! I admit that surprised me! When I first put them there I assumed I’d
need to move them to a lighter/sunnier place, but when they were doing ok I
just left them there! (I used to have
several small ones I was planning to give away, but they somehow got mealybug,
and after fighting them for almost a year I gave up and threw them all in the
dumpster! Fortunately my two big ones
didn’t get it!)

So my first thoughts for the new one you have would be, are
you letting the soil dry ALL the way, and then stay dry for “a while” before
watering? And how big is the pot
relative to the size of the plant? For
any plant, being in a pot with a lot of soil with no roots in it can severely
stress the plant because it takes too long for the rootless soil to dry. If it’s not in “too big” a pot, I’d recommend
that you keep it in bright light with maybe a little bit of direct sun,
saturate it COMPLETELY when you water it, then let it go COMPLETELY dry, leave
it dry for 2-4 weeks, then saturate completely again—and repeat! Feel the leaves when it’s just been (24-48
hours after) watered and see how “plump” they feel, then feel them again after
it’s been DRY for 2 weeks, and again when it’s been DRY for 4 weeks. That’ll give you a “feel for” when it needs
water in the future. Leaving it dry “too
long” will not hurt it. Keeping it wet
all or most of the time can, and probably will.
(This is a “just me” thing, but, like the X-mas cactus, if it came in
some “weird sort of cactus soil” I recommend repotting it in whatever good
quality potting soil you normally use!
If you always use the same soil you know how to determine when it’s wet
and dry. With most of the commercial
cactus soils I’ve seen, I never knew if they were wet or dry! I just couldn’t tell, and if you can’t tell
that there’s no way to know when they need water! Just my opinion!)

If you want to start a couple more in case the current one
doesn’t make it for some reason, either remove a couple of the larger leaves
or, if the stems are long enough, snip a couple tips off that are at least 1.5”
long, a little longer (2-2.5”) is better, then let them lay around for a week
or so (remove all but the top couple leaves from stem cuttings before letting them heal over) and then
stick them the same way I said to for the X-mas cactus! In SMALL pots! (For individual leaves stick them about
halfway into the soil and for stem cuttings stick they all the way up to the
remaining top leaves) Individual leaves
take longer to root and start growing a new plant, but will eventually be the
same as a stem cutting.

When rooting jade it’s even more important to let them go
all the way dry and STAY dry for a couple weeks before resaturating. They will not root, and will probably rot, if
they get watered too often! But if you
let them dry adequately, it’s quite easy to start them.

One other thing I do with my jades is that every time they
grow about 3 sets of leaves I “pinch” them!
This serves a couple purposes!
Since jade foliage is so “heavy,” it keeps the plant more compact so it
doesn’t get all “sprawly” and start flopping all over the place, and, like the
X-mas cactus, when you cut the tip off of a stem it will produce two stems,
keeping the plant nice and full looking.
So by cutting it back every time it gets a third (or fourth) set of
leaves on a stem, I have short, full plants rather than tall floppy ones with
just a couple long stems. I cut one of
my big ones back about a month ago and the “clippings” are still laying in a tray
waiting for me to stick a bunch of them in soil to start more plants! I cut the other one back about a week ago, so
if I “leave the first batch lay around” TOO long, I have a backup batch of
cuttings to make new plants! But they
can easily lay around for a month and still be good to use for cuttings!

If I do get around to making some more, I’ll probably have a
couple of them at the next swap! But
whether I do or not, if you’d like me to bring one of my “Rooting Jade
Cuttings” sheets along for you, remind me!
If you don’t remind me before the swap, I WON’T remember it! I tell too many people I’ll bring things to
remember them without being reminded!

I’ve never heard of a “hardy” jade plant—and I doubt that
there is one! My guess is that she has
some completely different genus that happens to look like a jade! Does anybody else know anything about a
jade—or something that LOOKS like a jade—that’s hardy to zone 4 or 5?

Gonna go for tonite!
Yes, I did eat before I came back!
Had a big bowl of homemade chicken noodle (with corn and potatoes!)
soup! I’m good to go for a while!

If I raised more questions than I answered above, let me
know!

Skybird

Amazing information Skybird - so glad you were tempted to spend a day researching all of this, and putting it altogether for a post!! I assume mine will be a TC, but I'll use your notes to check it and let you know what I get :) I'll make some cuttings off of mine for the swap as well!

BTW, I'm also an "indifferent indoor gardener" as well :^D (Skybird - "dyed-in-the-wool"?! Had to look that one up! "having very strong beliefs, opinions, etc., that you are not willing to change" LOL)

I have a couple each of spider plants, pothos, and aloe - so all of those are very forgiving plants (I have let each of them go very very dry by accident multiple times until I finally notice some droopiness or yellowed leaves, and after profusely apologizing to them while watering, they all revive nicely). I also bring in my geraniums for the winter, and they are also forgiving. I love the red/orange blooms they produce for awhile when I bring them in (taper off towards the end, but I often still get a few). Some of the leaves usually dry out, and I crumble them off. But the majority of the plant does very well until things warm up enough to leave outside (I do put them out occasionally over the winter when the days are nice enough). So I think I'll be able to easily add the TC/CC to my forgiving plant collection!

You're probably right, Skybird, watering was probably the culprit for my first jade plant. It's been 8 years now so I don't remember but one of my first impulses when I see a houseplant in distress is to add water; I probably did drown the poor thing.

I had to move my current one from the main sunny window to a different one--I think it was getting too much sun! The leaves were actually drying up and shriveling on the side facing the window, the side facing inside the house looked great.

As for my husband's great aunt's outdoor jade plant, it looked almost exactly like the one I have inside. It was right by the walkway leading up to their house so I got a very good look at it. Who knows though--it might've been in a big pot dropped in the ground and taken inside for the cold months. She did say it stayed there year round but she must've just been pulling my leg.

Back to the TC conversation, here's the bud on the pale pink one. It looks absolutely white, both in life and in this pic, but the blooms have been pale pink when they opened on previous years I swear!

And a close up of the darker pink bud

Lastly a pic of both in the plant stand. They're in smaller plastic pots inside the decorative one.

Great info Skybird! Thank you so much! I knew that there were some plants called Thanksgiving cactus and Christmas cactus, but I thought it was just a colloquialism, I didn't know they were actually different species! And I had never heard of an Easter cactus!

My orange one has touches of the hot pink in it, especially as small flower buds, so it's probably a somewhat different shade than yours, Skybird, but it is my favorite of the three I have lol. It is good I got the picture when I did, before the end of the day, the flower was gone, another victim of a child attack. It reminded me of the red one I had. Once when it was blooming, I walked into the room to find every last flower scattered around the floor and the cat sitting beneath the plant, looking at me like "what? You mean those WEREN'T toys?" Anyways... The other two are both hot pink, and one is a "tree form" it has a nice "trunk" with the leaves...err... phylloclades, growing out of the top, looking like a weird palm tree. But you are right, regardless of color, they are pretty neat!

Mark me as a x3 "indifferent" houseplant gardener. I have killed more houseplants than I have ever kept (I think I've had a holocaust of actual cactus). I did have orchids in Hawaii, but I they were never inside, they lived on my back porch and the only attention I ever paid them was to look and say "oooh, pretty" never watered or fertilized or anything (Actually I have a couple orchids now, and, believe it or not they ALSO like to go dry between watering,)

Here is my Christmas (I guess Thanksgiving) cactus as of today 11/20. The blooms are a bit more hot pink than they appear in the picture. I had to lighten the photo a bit to get it out of the shadow of the Eastern window light.

I was at my mom's house yesterday and she has both varieties. Neither are blooming.

Close-up of the blooms.

Mine are finally starting to open!

Last pics from me on this string, one of the buds that were completely white opened yesterday, it has a very pale pink cast to it.

I was at Tagawa Gardens yesterday and they have about 20 different varieties/colors of "holiday" cactus. It was really hard to choose only one, but I settled on this one with buttery yellow blooms. The color is a little hard to appreciate in this image, but it is a buttery yellow.

Pink poinsettia in the background. Also from Tagawa. It was a gift I received two weeks ago, still looking good.

I got my Christmas Cactus today! It's hot pink!!

Here are a few pics. I put the ruler next to it to help show you the size of the plant and blooms:

It's got quite a few blooms, as well as buds :)

So if it's blooming now, is it more of a Thanksmas cactus?! :^D But by Skybirds descriptions of the segments, mine is actually Schlumbergera truncata (Thanksgiving cactus) - you can see the pointy edges in the pics.

That's a nice, healthy-looking plant. I've never heard of anyone selling those for a fundraiser. I'd be so in for a few of those! If they ever do it again, send me a message!

That's beautiful! I wouldn't call it "hot pink" either, its much less garish than that. I actually really like that color!

Home Depot had a bunch for sale a couple weeks ago when I went in there to buy a new shovel and I was awfully tempted by the yellow and red ones... but my wife is liable to kill me if I more plants show up in this house. Then I was back at HD a this week and I said "aw, screw it, she'll get over it." but all the flowers on them had faded so I couldn't tell which was which on any of them. Maybe next year...

Thanks Zach! Let's call it magenta then :)

I have it on my dining room table, and then when I was getting the Christmas deco out, I placed some gold glitter reindeer by it. So it's now the "sleigh"!

It's been blooming very nicely.

Popmama, I stopped by Tagawa last week and picked up one of the yellows as well; thanks for the tip! Mstywoods, it looks great as a sleigh!

I'm lovin' your pics, everybody!

Liz, I really love your pale pink one!

Misty, I wouldn't call yours hot pink either! In your first closeup pic I think I'd call it "orchid pink!" VERY pretty!

Mama, I didn't even know they come in yellow, and, boy, would I like to have a couple segments to start one of those when yours gets big enough to give a few pieces away!

Liz! Another addiction to add to your peonies??? :-) Plant addictions are GOOD things!

I finally have current pics of all but one of mine, the red-orange one, and there were pics of that way up above, so I'm gonna post these other three before I forget to do it! Taking pics of these things is really hard--I think--to get the colors to look like they really look! They all have white in the flowers and, at least with my little digital cameras, the lite tends to glare off of the white parts and mess with the other colors. Here are the best pics I've been able to get!

This is the "salmon-orange" one I have, but the color is "softer" in person! Two closeups of the flower and one of a bud.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9AgX0c_CneUPjProrvd5F_A0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ys4SxQZBzkfk5fmAbRK5hPA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BVPMXORNXZl-Ix6zrqWdv_A0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

Here are a couple closeups of my hot pink ones. The color is pretty accurate on these!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MQMra4VYwfLSbnXPyG82AfA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gRMOj-KMPPJIPtoeKsou-_A0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

This is a pic of the whole plant of the one that has both the hot pink and the salmon-orange in the same pot.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NhA-RCRLNZHbuiqnIn4hEfA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

And this is what's left of my Christmas Cactus! Before I over watered it and 99% of it "fell off," it was close to 3' across and was so thick on top that you couldn't see the pot at all thru the foliage! This pic is from 12.09.15 when it had two buds on it! (I never dreamed it would bloom at all this year!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PczR7oayvUjTq3jReJnXk_A0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

And this is the same "stem" today with those two buds open.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/afKGPLPwHnxtk7sZPlH5WvA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

And a closeup of the flower and one of a bud. The color on this one really isn't as "harsh" as it looks in the pics! This is one where the white really messes with the "real" color! The "real" Christmas Cactus also has slightly small flowers than the Thanksgiving ones, and they're more "fully double" than the Thanksgiving ones.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Iod3q3LSDGVTh1BMRedAqPA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xACAZfLMhicCkKymyBTEEPA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

I don't think I'll have cuttings to give away of the Christmas Cactus at the spring swap for sure, but possibly by the fall swap. Before I give any away I want to start a couple more for myself just in case anything CATASTROPHIC ever happens to one of them again! I really did think I was going to loose the whole thing by the time I realized how seriously I had over watered it! But compared to how it looked right after it all fell apart, it's looking amazingly good again, and has been starting to grow new segments for the last month or so, so by next year for sure I'll have cuttings for anybody who wants some!

I always have plenty of the hot pink ones to give cuttings away, and should have enough of the salmon-orange, and the red-orange ones too for the spring swap!

And I would very much appreciate cuttings for anything I don't already have! And since Zach says his "red-orange" one could be different from the ones I posted pics of, I guess that means pretty much anything except the hot pink!

I've had the same ones for so many years, it'll be fun to have some new colors to look forward to!

Skybird

Yes, Skybird--another plant obsession! So sad to see the remnants of a once huge plant in your pics but at least you saved it from dying entirely. I'm sure if anyone can restore it to its former glory it'd be you! Regardless, they all have beautiful blooms. I've so enjoyed seeing all of the various colors from all of the pics in this string. I never realized what a range of shades this plant has!

Since you seem to know the common sense approach to taking care of these plants can you please post back when you think it's time to take cuttings to propagate? And let us all know what your criteria is for the minimum size of the "limb" (for lack of a better word) to pinch back to not harm the mother plant? I absolutely know my almost white pale pink is big enough to take several volunteer pieces so I'll earmark a piece of that for you now! I hope you'll provide guidance on the type of soil to use and how many pieces should go in a pot to make it good for a new plant, I was thinking 3-5 pieces minimum?

I actually got a new one through Amazon that has variegated "foliage". That thing is so tiny and is in such a little cup-like container that it's hard to keep watered. I think I'm going to need to put it in a 4" pot just to be able to keep the soil from turning to concrete--the thing seems to dry out in just a day or 2, so I can't keep it on the same sparse watering schedule with the others. When I repotted them before I've put them in a combo of good potting soil and cactus mix, I'll do the same with the new one unless you think something else would be better. The older ones seem to be thriving in it.

And do you fertilize them? If so, when and with what?

Skybird, I love love the idea of two different ones in the same pot! I may have to steal that idea. I really don't know why I never appreciated them as much as I do today. They have all the sensibility of a succulent and yet, they bloom beautifully at a time of year when hardly anything does. What is not to like?

Yes, I sure can share some of the yellow. I'll have to work on propagating a few babies.

My mom just picked up a rather large plant at an estate sale because they were going to throw it away. The picture is a bit small, but from Skybird's information, this one appears to have the more rounded petioles so it should be a Christmas cactus. It isn't blooming yet, so my mom has no idea what color it is. It's fairly healthy and probably very old. Yay!

Mine bloomed beautifully for thanksgiving. Then, as if it knew it's job was done, all the flowers started to shrivel up the very next day.

I tried to get pictures of it, but the lighting was so awful that you can hardly see them. The camera was metering off the bright daylight outside the window, so everything inside is nothing but a silhouette... or maybe I have the only pure black thanksgiving cactus in existence!

All of your guys' cactus (and pictures!) look fantastic though!

I really need to repot the ones on the long "trough" planter. I think there is far too much soil to roots ratio and it wont ever dry out. A good project for January when the lull in gardening really hits me. Assuming they survive...

Skybird, I think our "salmon" ones might be different, like I said, mine has a pink "blush on it, especially on the buds before they open. But, it don't know if it's different enough to warrant you wanting it, plus I think it's just to small to take cuttings.

I do however, believe that holiday cactus will be a huge hit at the swaps! I will try cuttings of the pink ones for anyone who might like those ones later this winter as another "I'm getting sick of winter and need something to do" project haha.

Liz, here are the answers for your questions, but most of
this is copied from one of my replies above, so now that you’re hooked on these
things, you might want to go back and reread my “long” replies above where I’m
pretty sure I answered just about everything.

I can’t tell you exactly when your plant will be ready for
you to take cuttings from it since everybody’s plants will be a little different
depending on how old and/or big they are and just exactly when they finished
blooming—AND how much they bloomed. The
more flowers they get, the longer it will probably take them to “recover.” For my big plants I’d normally “let it rest”
about two months, with very little water, before “doing” anything at all to it
(including repotting it). Here’s a
couple of the blurbs from above—in italics—about “letting it recover,” “pruning
it,” and taking cuttings to propagate. I’ve added a few things here and there
that might help clear up other questions.

Recovery

For those of you that
want to do it, wait until after they’ve “recovered” from blooming before you
remove segments to root—about two months after they finish blooming.

After they finish
blooming they’ll probably look pretty bad for a while! It’s kind of like they
get all worn out when they bloom and it just takes them a while to recover!
Really important to not try to “help” them at that point by watering them more
than they need!

“Pruning”

One thing I might
mention about taking cuttings from, or “pruning,” your plants! Even if you’re
not planning to root them it’s not a bad idea to go over the plant after it
“recovers” and “strategically” remove some of the “end” segments! If any of the
stems are longer than others you can start to “even the plant out” by doing
this, and, most importantly, when you remove a segment(s) from the end of a
stem, it’ll produce TWO stems to replace the “single” stem you removed a
segment from, so you get more stems after pinching/pruning, and since the
flowers grow on the end of the stems, the more “stem ends” there are, the more
flowers you should get! When you do it you can remove just one segment, or two
or more if you’re trying to reshape the plant, or if you have fairly long
“single” stems you might want to shorten them significantly and then “pinch”
them every time they grow 3/4 new segments so you wind up with a compact plant
with a lot of “stem ends!” [I
don’t believe you can remove “too many” segments as long as there are still at
least four or so still attached to the rooted plant!]

Segments for rooting – I use single of double segments for
rooting, just because they’re “easy” to stick if they’re fairly short! You can use longer pieces, but it’s harder to
get them to stay upright in the soil when you stick them, and the bottom segment
that’s in the soil has “more foliage” to support while its trying to root! I do, when I have them, stick “pieces” that
have three segments that are shaped like this: Y! So it’s a piece that’s “branching” and I
stick the bottom piece most of the way into the soil and there are two segments
showing on top of the soil. That way you
get “two branches” starting above the soil when they start to grow, but most of
the time you won’t have very many cuttings like that!

To root Christmas
cactus break them into one or two “segment” pieces, mark the “bottom” of each
piece with a Sharpie—just to be sure they get stuck right side up. Leave the
segments lay somewhere, out of direct sun for a day or two, and then stick the
bottom of the single segment, or bottom segment, 1/3 to 1/2 into new soil—as
many in a (small) pot as you want—and so they’re not touching each other under
the soil. Water thoroughly—bottom watering is best until they root—and then
don’t water again until the soil is completely dry—then totally saturate the
soil again—and keep repeating. [I
generally put AT LEAST 6 in a pot, but the more you put in, the sooner you’ll
have a bigger plant. Kind of depends on
how many cuttings you have more than anything!
If I get a couple cuttings from someone, I’ll start those 2 or 3 and
then wait for them to start growing more segments, remove the new segments, and
either start them in a separate pot, or make holes in the same pot they came
from and root them that way—but if you do it that way you have to be REALLY
careful about watering since the unrooted cutting need to dry even more than
the rooted ones. Won’t hurt the rooted
part to let it stay dry—but it takes real discipline for the human being to do
it!!!]

So you’ll need to decide for yourself when they look like
they’re “ready!” When they are they’ll
“look” like they’ve “recovered,” and you’ll usually notice that they’re
starting to grow new segments again.
With the small, new plants many of you have, I suspect that the recovery
period won’t be too long—it’s possible they may not even “look distressed,” but
I still recommend waiting at least a month after the last flowers before you
start to mess with them. DEFINITELY
don’t overwater them while they’re in the Recovery Room!

Soil!

[From the “jade” post] This
is a “just me” thing, but, like the X-mas cactus, if it came in some “weird
sort of cactus soil” I recommend repotting it in whatever good quality potting
soil you normally use! If you always use the same soil you know how to
determine when it’s wet and dry. With most of the commercial cactus soils I’ve
seen, I never knew if they were wet or dry! I just couldn’t tell, and if you
can’t tell that, there’s no way to know when they need water! Just my opinion!

I use the same potting soil for EVERYTHING I have in pots,
inside and out—it’s the stuff I brought along to the swap to show you the
comparison to the Hyponex Muck! I’ve
learned over the years that as long as I use the same soil I know “how it
waters”—how long it takes to dry, how much water it needs to be saturated, how
it drains, etc. By knowing all that I
can easily adjust how often different “types” of plants {i.e. succulents or
“regular” plants] need to be watered.
When I’ve tried other soils “for specific plants” in the past it’s
usually been a disaster! When I’m
starting seeds and when I’m sticking cuttings I use “new” soil directly out of
the package which is “sterile” so there’s less likelihood of problems. When I’m just repotting something—inside or
out—I reuse soil from plants that died or went into the Good Food For Future
Plants pile, and since there’s not usually very much of that it gets mixed in
with the new soil. The exact brand
doesn’t matter [I use Sunshine #1], but it should be “light and fluffy” when
it’s moist, and it’ll be composed mostly of Canadian Sphagnum peat. [If it’s workin’ for ya, keep on keepin’ on,
but generally plants should not be watered “on a schedule.” They should be watered “when they need it”
based on soil moisture and the individual plant.] [Same thing with the soil! If you have one that’s “workin’ for ya,” keep
on keepin’ on!]

Feeding

I rarely feed
mine—it’s absolutely amazing how they just keep going and going in the olde,
rock-hard soil—but for anyone who wants to feed, I recommend doing it after
they “recover” from blooming, and over the summer when they’re actively
growing, and then holding off when it’s getting close for them to start budding
again. I, seriously, very seldom
feed mine! Usually over summer, when
everything’s
“actively growing,” I tend to add a “little bit” of Jack’s Classic 20/20/20 to
the water I’m using “whenever I happen to think of it” and happen to have time
to do it—both at the same time! With
Christmas Cactus—et al—I definitely wouldn’t feed shortly before they should be
setting bud, while they’re blooming, or during the “recovery” phase. DEFINITELY not during the Recovery
Phase! They don’t need human help at
that point—they just need us to buzz off and let them peacefully sleep!

About Repotting!

I really, reallyreallyreally, recommend leaving them in “the
same pot” unless you believe you have some very good reason to pot them up to a
bigger pot! I don’t know this for sure,
but I do believe that they will produce more flowers if they’re root bound! And if you put them in a larger pot with very
much soil with no roots in it, you will be much, much more likely to overwater
them. The problem with “overwatering” is
that you will NOT be able to tell there’s a problem with the plant until it’s
Too Late! Because they’re succulents and
store water in their “leaves,” they keep looking “just fine” while the insides
of the main stems are rotting out.
That’s what happened to my BIG one!
I had NO idea there was a problem until HUGE sections of the plant
started to, literally, fall off of the plant where they had rotted at the
base. By then the “insides” of the main
stems at the base were all “disintegrating, desiccating tissue,” while the
“segments” on the top of the plant still looked very good. I was in SHOCK when whole “stems” started
falling on the floor—so much shock it took me a week or so to comprehend what
was happening. With Xmas cactus, and
many/most other plants, overwatering is fatal—under watering is recoverable!

More from above posts:
They do seem to prefer to be pot
bound, so don't be too anxious to pot them up to a larger size! I have one in a
little 6" hanging basket (plastic pot with wire!) and it's been in there
forever. The soil is all packed down and I think there may be less soil than
roots by now, but it does just fine. When they've been in a pot that long it
makes them harder to water them because soil that's that "old" gets
really hard when it dries completely, so I generally just sit the whole pot in
a bowl of water for an hour or so once a month--or whenever I get around to it!

If you just want to “change” part of the soil to “refresh”
it, consider putting it back in the same size pot it’s been in. If you REALLY want to “pot it up,” use a pot
that’s “just barely” larger than the one it was in. My BIG one that I almost lost had been in the
same 6” pot (and the same soil) for AT LEAST 15 years! The HUGE one my mother had had probably
stayed in the same pot for at least 30 years!
If you have a reason to want to pot yours up to a bigger size and want
to run it (the reason) by me, I’ll tell you what I think! [In words that won’t get me banned from
GW!!!]

One other thing about The Cactus that I did not mention
anywhere above is this! I very much
recommend “deadheading” the plants when they’re blooming. It’s pretty obvious when the flowers are
“past their prime, and to do it I just hold the segment right where the flower
is attached, grab the flower, and gently pull it off. If a little bit of a segment occasionally
comes off with the flower—no harm! Some
of you will have noticed that the flowers will “fall off” all by themselves
when they start to dry, but from my experience, by removing them before they
get to that point, the plant seems to keep producing more buds for a longer
period of time. The only evidence I have
of this is that when I’ve been “busy” in the past and didn’t get one of my
plants deadheaded regularly, it just didn’t seem to bloom nearly as long as the
ones I had found time to deadhead. If
any of you ever have a “comparison” between plants you did and did not deadhead,
I’d love to know if you notice the same difference I have!

Liz, if you want to really cry for the “plant I almost
lost,” here’s a pic of it three years before I tried to kill it! I went thru all my pics that were taken IN
the house—not very many!—and found ONE where it was in the background! Then I cropped it WAY down to get as close as
I reasonably could to the Christmas cactus!
The resolution isn’t very good anymore because of the severe cropping,
but you can see the size—and in the three additional years it grew before I
clobbered it, it had increased by about another third! It really was BIG—so big it had gotten hard
to walk by it without knocking it off of the plant stand! Compare this to the “little sprig” that’s
left in the pot I linked above! But!
I’m SO glad I have enough left to start more of them! All is not lost!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6UpWjzy4gnlTxiPnqtTGUvA0P_tNk4OZLldfzeRP7xE?feat=directlink

Skybird

Mama, I didn’t “intentionally” plant different colors in the
same pot! Here’s how it happened! When I was working at Paulino’s I’d
occasionally “acquire” a “segment or two” and when I got them home I’d just
stick them in a pot! I often had no idea
what color they were when I “acquired” them—it was pretty much a matter of
“opportunity!” Sometimes I’d find some
segments that had fallen off—and sometimes I’d “find” a couple segments that
“hadn’t quite fallen off” yet!!! So I
never knew what I was putting in the pot, and sometimes it was a couple years
till they got big enough to bloom before I found out what the colors were!

The Pros of having more than one color in a pot!

While I’m not wild at all about the combinations I have in
my pots, they all have the hot pink along with one of the “oranges” [I think
they CLASH!], I think it could be VERY pretty if you “planned” what colors were
going to be in what pot, and, for instance, mixing Liz’s Pale Pink with Misty’s
Orchid Pink [My name!] Or if you mixed
my red-orange with my salmon-orange. Or
maybe the yellow you have with one of the oranges. So I think there could be a lot of pretty
combinations, but just not the ones I happen to have right now!

The Cons of having more than one color in a pot!

Since the plants aren’t blooming when you’re taking cuttings,
there’s no really good way to be sure which color you’re using to make a new
plant for yourself or to give cuttings away to somebody else! That’s why my “rooting info” sheet that I
copied above has the big long blurb about not knowing what color the cuttings
were that folks had gotten from me! It
is possible to mark the separate plants by writing on them which is which color
with a Sharpie, and I have done that with the one with the salmon-orange in it,
but I only have it written in one place down near the bottom, and it’s
surprisingly hard to “follow the branches” out to the ends to be sure you’re
taking cuttings from the one you want!
This year I’m determined to write on more segments which is which, but I
haven’t gotten it done yet! And I really
don’t want “writing” to be “visible” all over the plant, so it’ll still be
somewhat limited! So having more than
one color in a pot can be a real drawback if you’re planning to give cutting
away and want to know for sure what color you’re giving away!

The other con is that many of the colors bloom at slightly
different times, so it mostly looks like only half of a plant is blooming most
of the time! [In that pic, the pink has
been blooming for a while and will finish soon, and the orange is just starting!] So if you decide to do it, I’d wait till they
bloom again next year so you can see for sure when they’ll bloom “naturally, so
you can be sure you’re putting two together that are going to be blooming at
virtually the same time. [And if you do
it, CRAM them both into a small pot so you don’t get “too much soil without
roots” like I talked about in the “Liz Post” above!]

I agree, it looks like the plant your mother just got looks
like a “real” Christmas cactus! It’ll be
interesting to see what color it is when it blooms—this year or next! I’m not real sure if the “real” Christmas
cactus come in many—or any—different colors.
I kind of doubt that that plant is more than five year old because after
the first few years they start to get REALLY big, and it just doesn’t look big
enough to me to be very old.

Wait to see what yours looks like after it “recovers” to
decide if you’re going to start giving cuttings away yet! If it starts to grow nicely you’ll probably
want to remove a few segments off of some of the stems to get it to “branch
out” more like I explained in the “pruning section,” but just hang in there
till it’s getting more toward spring to decide.
Do what’s best for your plant, and don’t cannibalize it just ‘cause I
and others want starts of it! We can
wait if necessary!

Skybird

Zach, I just saw you posted while I was replying to Liz and
Mama! For me to even try to get useable
pics I almost always have to move the plants to somewhere other than where they
live. Because all of mine hang down below
the bottom of the pot I just invert a bowl or “storage container” or something
else “neutral” to sit them on while I take the pics, and then they get
delivered back home! I also often try to
take pics when the sun isn’t shinning (or close the drapes) which helps at
least a little bit with “the white problem!”
And, in my experience, flash is the worst thing you can do when trying
to get a pic that actually looks like the color they are. They really are hard to get accurate pictures
of them! But—if you have a BLACK one—I’d
be interested!!! ;-)

Since it’s so hard to tell from the pics exactly what the
colors are, when yours gets big enough, I’d like to get a couple segments of
your “salmon” one to—eventually—see how close or different they are. Whenever it works out!

And if you have a lot of soil “without roots in it” in that
planter, be sure you read all the “stuff” I just posted for Liz about Too Much
Water. Until you can get them in
smaller pots, be sure you’re letting them dry all the way, and stay dry for a
while. Losing them is SAD! I learned that the hard way!

Skybird

I wonder how many bags of Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus will show up at our spring swap this year! Probably quite a few thanks to you, Skybird! Thanks for the info!

Well it was a weird Christmas cactus year with a short 2nd blooming in March. Now my "Christmas" cactus that normally is a Thanksgiving cactus has morphed into a Halloween cactus--have several colors blooming now. Haven't done anything different at all, in the same spot with the same lighting, no fertilizer, no change in watering--what's going on?

Zone5 on the side of mt Taylor. Mine lives and blooms in a small window. Not much light, a little noon sun. Giving them about 25% bloom buster when I think they need watering. Almost always one in bloom. Move it to Breakfast room

while in bloom. Talking about year round blooms.

Lizbest: This is so funny you posted this because I was just wondering why mine are blooming so early this year. I think mine do normally bloom closer to Thanksgiving. But all three of mine (from very different sources) are blooming and one that I gave to my uncle last year is also blooming. I have no idea what would cause the early bloom.

Mine is getting buds as well. I noticed them a few days ago and thought they probably would be opening around Thanksgiving. But they are developing very fast, so may be a bit earlier than that. But I guess that counts as a Thanksgiving cactus instead of a Halloween cactus!

josephene_gw - very interesting about using the bloom booster and getting year round flowers!

Hi! Well, my Thanksgiving Cactus apparently has decided it wants to be an Easter Cactus, too! It has several buds on it right now. Haven't given it any bloom booster, so don't know why it's flowering again. But not complaining!

One of mine (the yellow one) has some big buds on it too, mstywoods! I thought the same thing wondering why it is deciding to bloom again but very happy it is. Last year, when mine got the withering leaves, I put it outside for the Summer. Cured it. It's been happy ever since. I know it's a while until you can do that here, but I highly recommend it go to Summer Camp outside. You will need to water it more frequently outside.

I have mine potted in gritty mix which means the soil itself basically retains almost no water, so I do water mine fairly often. I water through and then pour off any excess from the tray below.

How funny, popmama! I wonder what's going on with these cactuses?! I will definitely try summer camp for mine - great idea :)

Mine is doing the same thing! I've needed to repot several of them but have hesitated because they've buds and blooms on them....The last 2 years I've seen intermittent blooms in fall through spring. The only thing I've done different is I put up a smaller Christmas tree now which means I don't move them from their (relatively, for my house) sunny spot for a month after Thanksgiving. Might have to re-start that practice to get them on a regular schedule. They were in front of a window in both spots but the temp Christmas spot window is out to a covered deck so no direct sun at all....