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Growing Christmas Cactus Plants: Watering, Light, Propagation, and More!
The Christmas cactus is a long-lasting holiday plant (move over, poinsettias!) that flowers in winter with colorful, tubular flowers in pink or lilac hues. Learn how to care for a Christmas cactus—how much to water this succulent, how to get a Christmas cactus to bloom, and how to propagate for a gift that will give year after year!
About Christmas Cacti
The Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi) is a popular houseplant that blooms indoors in the winter, so it’s popular at holiday time and makes a great gift, too. Unlike regular cacti, however, this is not a plant from a dry, hot, desert location. Instead, this is a succulent native to tropical rainforests, where they grow on tree branches and soak up the high humidity, dappled sunlight, and warm temperatures.
The bottom line: Don’t treat a Christmas cactus like a run-of-the-mill cactus! It’s important to water these cacti regularly but also to be cautious of keeping them too wet. (See detailed care instructions below.)
Holiday Cactus Types
There are three main types of “holiday” cacti out there: the Easter cactus (S. gaertneri), the Thanksgiving cactus (S. truncata), and the Christmas cactus (S. x buckleyi). For simplicity’s sake, we refer to all three species as “Christmas cactus” on this page since the care is the same. See our article on the different types of holiday cacti and how to tell them apart.
Growing
How to Care for Christmas Cacti
- Plan to water every 2 to 3 weeks, but only water when the top one-third of the soil feels dry to the touch. For example, if the plant is in 6 inches of soil, water when the top 2 inches feel dry. (Use your finger to check!)
- When the soil is sufficiently dry, soak the soil until water runs through the pot’s drainage holes. Place a tray underneath the pot to catch the water. After 10-15 minutes, discard any excess water in the tray so that the pot doesn’t sit in water.
- It’s especially important to water well while the plant is flowering.
- From spring through early fall, feed every 2 weeks with a balanced houseplant fertilizer. Feed the cactus monthly in the fall and winter to encourage successful blooming.
- Prune plants in late spring to encourage branching and more flowers. Simply cut off a few sections of each stem; the plant will branch from the wound.
- If you wish, place the cut pieces in a lightly moist potting soil—they root easily after a few weeks and make for excellent Christmas presents!
How to Get Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom
The blooms of Christmas cacti and its relatives are triggered by the cooler temperatures and longer fall nights. The three main types of holiday cacti generally bloom according to this schedule:
- Thanksgiving cacti are the earliest and longest bloomers, typically producing flowers from late fall through mid-winter.
- Christmas cacti tend to bloom from early winter to midwinter.
- Easter cacti bloom from late winter to mid-spring.
If your cactus is NOT blooming, it may be receiving too much light or too high temperatures. Here are some tips to encourage yours to produce flowers!
- To trigger blooming, nights need to be at least 14 hours long and days between 8 and 10 hours for at least 6 weeks. If you have strong indoor lighting that’s on at night, you may need to cover your cactus or move it to an area that’s exposed to the natural light cycle.
- Flower buds form best when the plant is kept in temperatures between 50 and 60°F (10 and 15°C).
- You can kickstart the budding process by exposing the plant to temperatures of about 45°F (7°C) for several nights in a row.
- Make sure that you are consistent with watering while the plant is in flower. If the plant dries out too much, it may drop its buds.
- If the cactus sheds its buds one winter, don’t worry—it should bloom the following year!
Types
There are three main types of “holiday cacti” available:
- Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera truncata) bloom from late fall to midwinter and are often mislabeled as Christmas cacti.
- Christmas cacti (S. x buckleyi) bloom from early winter to midwinter.
- Easter cacti (S. gaertneri) bloom from later winter to mid-spring.
Catherine Boeckmann
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We have 3 what we have taken to calling "Holiday Cacti" because they tend to bloom around Easter, before Thanksgiving, and around Christmas. We live in Louisville, KY so the days aren't considered extreme as far as light conditions. One is about 30 years old, one is about 20-25 years old, and the youngest I propagated in water almost 5 years ago. So why do they bloom so often without fertilizer or anything other than plain water and, shhh, being talked to?
It sounds like you have some happy plants! And the number one rule with happy plants is don’t make them unhappy! I’d be hesitant to change anything. If you want to feel more involved, you might mix in a mild, diluted houseplant fertilizer every few waterings, just to stay ahead of the curve. But again, if they appear happy, I’d be inclined to stay the course. You mentioned that they get talked to a bit… and I’m passing no judgement here, but might it be that sufficient, um, fertilizer, is delivered to them verbally? Just kidding, of course.
Thank you for the info! I'd also like to add, do not over water during blooming, this can also cause bud drop.
My Christmas cactus is about 40 years old. Ths stems in the middle at the bottom have like a scale of old age on them. Is this normal?
I reported it this past spring. I did use a mixture of potting soil for succulents and regular soil. My plant is special it was started from one My great grandmother gave my mom, close to 60 years ago
Hi Karen,
Thanks for sharing the origin story of what is certainly a very special Christmas cactus. It sure has been part of a lot of holidays during its decades.
As a Christmas cactus gets older, it will develop a woody, harder stem near the base of the plant, which is completely normal. It is one of the signs of aging and is not harmful to the health of your plant. As long as there is newer, green growth emerging from what you described, your plant is doing just fine.
One thing you will want to keep an eye on as it continues to age is the weight of the branches on the older stems near the base. If they get too long and heavy they can cause it to split, opening up a wound that is vulnerable to disease. You should periodically give it a trim, but only remove 1/3 of a stem at a time.
Glad to hear you gave it a new home with fresh growing medium this year, just remember for future reference that the plants flower best when slightly potbound so you want to make sure that you don’t put it in a new container that is too large.
Hope this helps!
I’m interested in different types of cactus
Leaves on my plant are light green, not the dark green as shown on your plant pictures….any suggestions?
It is natural for there to be some variance in the shades of green from plant to plant and even on the same plant. In many cases — including yours, I suspect — you can tweak your plant’s color by making slight changes in its sun exposure. Christmas cactus likes bright light, but can be bleached by too much direct sun. As a first step, I’d try lessening the sunlight it is exposed to and see if that gets it headed toward the darker green you are hoping for.
My cactus looks pretty healthy but it has lots of little "hairs", maybe roots, coming out of some of the leaves... like between sections. I hope I'm explaining myself... Should I just cut those leaves off and put them in water to sprout new plants?
My Christmas cactus is suddenly dropping the tip leaves off each branch. I fertilized it about two weeks ago. Give it some water every week. Any suggestions?
