The secret to making Christmas Cactus bloom

[FragileWarrior]

I finally figured out what the trigger is thanks to a cutting on a window sill. It's the cold. Not light. Not fertilizer. COLD.

My little cutting bloomed on a cold window sill while my big plant (30 years old) was being carefully lighted for only 8 hours a day, plunged into absolute darkness as well as being carefully NOT watered, all without a single bud in sight.

I dragged the big plant to the cellar -- and, believe me, that took some work -- and put it on a cold windowsill for three weeks and BINGO! Buds.

[readandpostrosie]

thanks! i am so close to drop kicking mine right out the window!

[enigma]

"readandpostrosie" wrote in news:47960866$0$5126$ [e-mail]:

send it to me!!! i suppose i shouldn't mention all my christmas cactii bloom 2 or 3 times per year? usually late October through Nov., around late March & a light bloom in June. mine go outside for the summer in May & come back in in late September to late October, depending on when it threatens frost. lee

[Sheldon]

=EF=BF=BDCOLD.

Mine bloom when not watered for a couple of months and allowed to become really dry... I suppose cold would work too... many plants attempt to reproduce when stressed. People tend to over water cacti and succulents, but they can go a very long time without any water but some don't handle cold very well so you need to define what you mean by cold. No water is easy, no water means *none/zero*... but when you say cold what temperature are you talking... it's real easy to maintain no water but not so easy to maintain a constant temperature except indoors, and I don't want to live at say 50F.

[Johnny Borborigmi]

I leave mine out into the fall for that very reason, the cool temps initiate buds. Never fails. Fertilizer is important though during the growing season as it is for any plant.

[FragileWarrior]

Sheldon wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I mean cold as in "on the ledge of a basement window when it's below freezing outside".* The basement has some heat but I shut most of it off. It's not below freezing but it's quite a bit below 50F on that windowsill, AFAICT.

*The cutting that bloomed on the bedroom windowsill was actually pressed up against the glass.

[FragileWarrior]

Johnny Borborigmi wrote in news:47967366$0$22633$ [e-mail]:

I usually leave this one outside in the fall, too. If it's sheltered (ie: under a tree) I even leave it out when there might be a light frost. It just hasn't bloomed for the last two years, though. However, the year before that, the year I had it in an annex in the cabin that was only heated with a wood stove, it bloomed for four solid months in a show that was out of this world. Maybe it tuckered itself out. :)

[helco]

I always put mine outside for the summer (semi-shade) and don't bring them in until frost threatens. (I usually spray them with soapy water and then rinse them before bringing them back inside.) Buds start to set around the time they're brought in, and then they bloom profusely between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They often have a smaller flush of bloom in the Spring.

helco E. Central Illinois

[Jangchub]

There are many, many varieties of this plant, some of which can bloom several times a year and which are triggered by one or both of cold and/or light. The plant called Christmas cactus depends on cold night temperatures. There is also Easter cactus, looks like the same plant, but has a whole different flowering cycle. It's always best to buy a plant with the full botanical name and the cultivar or variety it is so you know what to do in order to have it bloom when you want it to bloom.