Christmas Cactus

A Christmas Cactus is a tropical plant that does not naturally exist in nature. It was bred from two unique parent plants that both grow in the South American rainforests, specifically in Brazil.

The plant is recognizable by its segmented stem and the brightly coloured blooms that appear at the ends of them. Blooms are typically red, pink, purple, yellow, or white, and the blooms can occur at different times throughout the year. Most notably, they can appear near American Thanksgiving, which is where the name is derived.

Light

This plant likes a lot of sunlight, but it prefers indirect light. Direct sunlight can easily burn the leaves of the plant, so windows that are facing east or north are best. A Thanksgiving Cactus is able to adapt to low light conditions, but it thrives in bright, indirect light.

Watering

Like most succulent plants, it requires moist soil to grow; however, these plants do not like to be sitting in a pool of water. The best way to know when your Thanksgiving Cactus needs to be watered is to check the soil. Once the top of the soil feels dry to the touch, water it again. Too much water can cause brown spots or root rot, while too little can cause issues with the blooms.

Temperature

As houseplants, average home temperatures are fine. Lack of humidity in our homes can be a problem for other houseplants but not this one. It takes the dry air in our homes just fine.

Feeding / Fertilizing

Thanksgiving Cactuses require soil that is well-draining, which means that a mixture of normal potting soil and fine bark works perfectly. You can also use sand or small stones in the base of the pot to help with drainage. And as far as fertilizer, this plant should be fed every two weeks with diluted liquid fertilizer. Make sure to stop feeding it about a month before the winter bloom, which typically means the end of the month of October. 

I have a great one for sale in my shop HERE.  Whatever you do, don’t over-fertilize (too much or too often) and don’t feed in the colder, darker months, because the plant is resting.

Propagation

Propagating a Thanksgiving Cactus is easy, all you need to do is take the trimmed sections of the plant that you cut off during the pruning process and place them in a new pot of soil to grow. For the best results, propagation should be done in the spring of the year, and at last one segment of the plant should be buried underneath the soil.

Toxicity

The Thanksgiving cactus is not poisonous to humans or cats and dogs.