My Christmas cactus (schlumbergera truncata) which I got in 2004 bloomed nicely in this past December, its second Christmas, and is now about to have a secondary bloom with fewer and paler buds.
Is a secondary bloom common? My usually reliable houseplant book says nothing about them reblooming.
i'm in zone 5b/6 & put mine out for the summer as soon as it's reliably above 50*F at night. i harden them off in dappled shade & then move them to full sun (don't go directly from indoors to full sun or they sunburn something awful). i leave them out until September. mine usually start blooming by Halloween & bloom heavily through Christmas, then again in the spring. they sometimes bloom lightly outside, too. indoors they're under lights or in south or west facing windows. lee
i use a weak fertilizer solution every 5-6 weeks during the winter. i don't fertilize them in the summer at all. they get watered once per week if i need to water the garden (if it hasn't rained). i take about 2 weeks hardening them off, gradually moving them from shade under a spruce tree (pretty shady) to full sun most of the day. the area they spend summers is somewhat shady in the late afternoon. i haven't had any insect problems with them, but sometimes slugs nibble on them. you can put copper tape (wide) around the pots to stop the slugs. oh, one other thing... Christmas cactus like being slightly potbound. don't keep potting them into bigger pots until you really have to. lee
I put mine under a roofed back patio in bright light but no direct sun. I leave them out until the fall, until the temps get close to freezing. By then they have set flower buds. Then I bring them in.
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