Christmas Cactus

Apparently they are as difficult to grow as that blasted poinsettia. It needs a specific length of daylight and night to flower, and if you do not have that you have to artificially create it. I have never grown a Christmas cactus (don't dare, I kill almost every houseplant I had) but I have found a link that might help you. http://www.fernlea.com/xmas/cactinfo.htm By the way it says that the best time for it to flower is in January, so I guess Christmas might be out.

My Mom lives in northern Tucson Az. She has several christmas cctus in several colors. They bloom every year. I do not know her secret, but I will ask her and add to this later. I think she feeds them but I do not know what. I will ask tomorrow when I call her and if I can get online tomorrow I will let you know. I always wanted one too, I had some but when I had to move out of my home I do not know where they went. I have a friend thaat has some of my plants and some of them are here where I am staying but I do not know where my christmas cactus is. I just remembered that.

*waves* Hi grandma! I have a Christmas cactus that I have had for several years. It blooms around Thanksgiving and through the new year each year. I have been told that it is the change in temperature that causes them to bloom. I don't know if that is true or not. Perhaps you could try putting it in a cool place (basement, garage) for a few days and then bring it back to the warmth of the home. Worth a try!

Yes they bloom every year.They are easy to grow and come in different flower colors. They are actually called zygocactus. I have had several over the years. You can actually break off pieces and they grow into new plants. The big problem is learning the right time to change the light and water so they will bloom for Christmas.

The Fernlea page referenced above is interesting, but we got ours to blooms every year just by sticking it in the bottom of a dark closet and forgetting about it for a while every fall. To encourage blooming, the plant needs to be put in a place where it gets total darkness for at least 13 hours every night and it needs a period of "rest" so we didn't water it until we brought it out in preparation for the holidays. We don't have that plant any more because we no longer stay the whole year in one home, but when we did we kept Christmas Cactus plants and they always bloomed.

A friend of mine who grew hundreds of them successfully told me that you have to leave them outside until the first chill then bring them in. If you have kept it in the house all this time it may not realize that it is winter. When I had mine I put them in a window that didn't really block the cold so they could feel it and they bloomed every year. Just a word of caution. I said chill not frost. You would not want to let them stay out during freezing weather.

They are so pretty when they bloom, your looks healthy enough. I really don't know anything about them. I just mostly wanted to stop by and say hi.

have no idea as I have never owned one. But I do think they are to bloom at Christmas time.

I have had a couple of them, but never gotten them to bloom. My mom has them though, and hers bloom beautifully every year.

I did have one once and it was a long time ago, if I can recall it is suppose to bloom every year. I think it is where you have it placed in your home makes a big difference. If I can recall again I think I had to put it in a place that had direct sunlight, near a window, not touching the window because then the glass will get cold and freeze it. I am going to do a little research on this.