Christmas Cacti (Schlumbergera spp.) are true cacti native to the jungles of Brazil. They are one of the few holiday house plants that can rebloom successfully year after year, even becoming more impressive as they age. Here are a few quick tricks to keep your Christmas Cactus thriving year after year:
- Make sure their soil is draining properly. Christmas Cacti are epiphytes. They use their roots to anchor themselves to trees, collecting run off from the canopy, and rarely have wet feet in nature. It’s vital that their growing medium dries out thoroughly between waterings. While the mix you buy them in will serve you well for the first year or so, it’s important to repot them as that soil ages and loses its structure.
- To encourage blooming, restrict light intake. Although this sounds counterintuitive, in our region nighttime temperatures don’t stay consistently around 60°F in late fall and early winter. This means we have to alter the amount of light our Christmas Cacti get to approximate their native growing conditions. Place them in a closet or cover them with a black plastic bag for a few hours each day to ensure they only get about 10 hours of light for four weeks before you want them to bloom.
- Keep them cool, but don’t let them get cold. If you keep your Christmas Cacti outside, it’s important to protect them as temperatures start to drop into the 50s. Remember, despite their name, these are tropical plants who don’t take kindly to chilly weather.