Telling the differance between the holiday cactus is really confusing for a lot of people, usually people are refering to the same plant when they say Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus. These are what's available in stores between Thanksgiving and Christmas and have the wide leaf segments with jagged edges . But the true Christmas cactus are the ones with slim smooth edge segments and tend to hang down and these are what have been passed down through the generations and can seldom be found to purchase retail. Easter/Spring cactus are usually sold between Easter and Mothers day around here and the plant looks a lot like the real Christmas cactus but the flowers are very differant and they open and close up each day. My Thanksgiving cactus start blooming around the first of November and bloom through December than rest for a few weeks and than bloom again but not as many flowers and my Christmas cactus are starting to bloom now. It's still a bit early for Easter cactus to be blooming in most areas. I grow all three types and once you see them side by side it's really easy to tell the differance. Jo

pirate_girl - I've got a small terrarium/fish tank for a few mini orchids, it's only about 90% closed because they seem to prefer a little air movement here. It has damp loose bark on the bottom around their pots to help with the humidity since the top is a little open. A cutting of the cactus will fit perfectly. Great idea for an experiment! tjicken - good to hear yours do like to stay moist. Mine range between moist often then dryer at times. Neither way nor the change between both ways seems to affect them negatively for me. I do have a smaller Thanksgiving cactus in a 4 inch pot that I think I'll experiment with wicking. Possibly, as with the Hoyas, the key might be keeping it barely moist by the mixture and number of wicks and letting it almost become dry before refilling the reservoir. Lots of active growth right now, should be the best time to try!

Thanks, everyone! I won't move it for now. I've decided it's not totally showtime yet for my TC. Emerald, where did you get your peach colored TC? I'm actually trying to find an orange colored TC to add to my collection. My secret's pretty much the same as everyone else's: listening to the people who've been growing these and getting them to bloom. I used MG tomato fertilizer on mine this spring/summer. Right now, it's in the master bathroom, where it's suprisingly the coolest room in the house and it gets light from a skylight and a small western facing window. My Epi. oxypetalum is in the same room and it gets in the mid 60's at night. Brad AKA Moonwolf

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