Got a Christmas Cactus? Do This in October For Beautiful Blooms This Christmas

Hello there, fellow Christmas cactus owners! If you’re tired of the holidays rolling around and having a Christmas cactus without a flower in sight, now is the time to act.

Believe it or not, these plants start getting ready for the holidays around the same time we do – in October. Follow this quick guide, and you’ll have a blooming Christmas cactus this holiday season.

Christmas Cactus Care Basics

Don’t skip ahead! I know it’s tempting to jump to the part where we talk about how to get your plant to bloom, but this all factors in. There are six important things you need to know about these plants to get them to bloom year after year.

1. Don’t Overwater

Christmas cactuses, or Schlumbergera, are members of the cactus family. As such, they don’t like having wet feet (roots). Overwatering your Christmas cactus can lead to root rot and other fungal diseases.

Let the top 2″ of soil dry out between waterings, then give it a thorough watering. If you’re forgetful, like I am, a moisture sensor can be a useful tool. (This one is pretty great.) If your plant is sitting on a saucer, tip any standing water out once it has drained. While most plants should be in a pot with a drainage hole, for Christmas cactuses, it’s a must.

2. Skip the All-Purpose Potting Soil

Because these plants normally grow on rocks or in trees, they don’t do well in basic potting soil. It’s too heavy and holds too much water. If you want a thriving Christmas cactus, choose a potting mix that’s meant for aroids, something light that drains quickly. Gardenera makes a great aroid potting mix.

3. Lots of Bright, Indirect Sunlight

Christmas cactuses come from the coastal mountains of Brazil. Needless to say, they prefer plenty of bright light; however, since they’re usually growing under a tree or in another sheltered area, the light is somewhat diffused. Provide them with similar light in your home. Choose a location where the plant will receive a minimum of 6-8 hours of bright, indirect sunlight a day.

4. Fertilize During the Growth Period

Each spring, as the days get longer, you’ll notice your Christmas cactus is starting to grow new leaves. These are called cladodes.

Once the plant enters this growth period, it’s time to start fertilizing again. (It’s also a good time to prune larger Christmas cactuses.)

Choose a balanced fertilizer for growth. I have had great results with Dr. Earth Organic & Natural Pump & Grow. Towards the end of the summer, I switch to a fertilizer meant to encourage blooming. (This is the one I use every year. I know it says it’s for African Violets, but it works great for Schlumbergera, too)

5. Let Them Get Snug

It’s important to repot plants as they become rootbound unless we’re talking about a Christmas cactus. These guys do best when they’re a bit cramped. In fact, if you pot them up into a pot much bigger than the old one, it’s a surefire way to ensure no blooms for a year.

Let Christmas cactuses get good and snug in their pots. When you do pot them up, only move them up another 1″ in diameter larger than the previous pot.

6. Make Sure You Have a Christmas Cactus

Far too often, folks get frustrated when their Christmas cactus doesn’t bloom at Christmas or it blooms well before Christmas. That’s because the majority of us don’t own true Christmas cactuses – we own Thanksgiving cactuses. (Yes, I know, I was shocked when I found out, too.)

There are three different varieties of (for lack of a better word) Holiday Cactuses, each named after the holiday they bloom around.

Thanksgiving cactus – Schlumbergera truncata

Christmas cactus – Schlumbergera buckleyi

Easter cactus – Schlumbergera gaertneri

Check out this photo to learn the difference between the three, and then check to see what kind of holiday cactus you have. If you have a Thanksgiving cactus, you can still follow these directions, but you’ll want to move on to the second step sooner.

Do This in October & Your Christmas Cactus Will Bloom for Christmas

Follow these steps to ensure your plant has plenty of blooms in time for the holiday. Schlumbergera are shortday photoperiod bloomers. All that means is that they set blooms as the days begin to shorten. To get them to bloom, you need to create the right conditions for them to enter their flowering dormancy.

Fertilize

The first thing you need to do, if you haven’t been doing it already, is to fertilize your Christmas cactus. The plant will enter a short period of dormancy (about four weeks) before blooming. It’s storing up the energy and nutrients it will need to put out blooms. Make sure the plant has enough by feeding it with a fertilizer meant for blooming plants, such as this one. Fertilize every other week this month.

Create Shorter Days & Cooler Nights

While the natural seasonal changes can trigger this short period of dormancy for Christmas cactuses, if you want lots of bloom, it’s best to give nature a helping hand. At the end of the month, move the plant away from its sunny spot to an area of your home that’s cooler. It’s even better if this space gets less light.

My mother always put her Christmas cactus in the pantry off the kitchen that led down to the basement. It was nice and cool (around 55 degrees F), and the only light came from the window of an exterior door.

You can cover your plant with a black bed sheet for part of the day if it’s too big to move. Just remember, you need shorter days and cooler nights, so the evening temperatures need to be cooler, too. Opening a window to cool that part of the house at night can help.

Bud Set

Check on your Christmas cactus every week. Once it begins to set tiny buds at the tips of its cladodes, you can carefully move it back to its normal location. Move it gently and try not to bump it. These plants can be a bit finicky and drop their buds if moved around too much.

Now all you have to do is continue to fertilize and water your plant as needed, and it will be ready for the holidays.

Post-Bloom Care

When the holidays have settled down, and you’ve got a few minutes to spare. You’ll want to give your holiday cactus a little love. Caring for your plant in the off-season ensures that it has enough energy and nutrients to put on a big, blooming display year after year.

Semi-dormancy

After your plant has finished blooming and during deepest winter, it will go into a second period of dormancy. It will likely stop growing. This is nothing to worry about. It’s like us; it needs a break after the holidays.

You don’t need to water it as often, and you can let it dry out between waterings. I water my Christmas cactus once a month during this period. However, as the days start to lengthen it will begin to grow again, and that’s when you can begin fertilizing again with a balanced fertilizer.  

And that’s all there is to it. If you follow these steps and give your Christmas cactus regular care, it will bloom for you every holiday, whether that’s Thanksgiving or Christmas.